Thanks to my sacrificed tomato seedlings, I succumbed and bought a few replacement tomato plants at Lowe's today. Here's what I've noticed (yes, a picture would be helpful, but that would require me finding the camera, putting my shoes on, heading outside, taking pictures, and then waiting for the upload--I'm counting on my fellow gardeners' imaginations here):
Lowe's plants are much bigger, taller, leafier, and prettier than mine. Am I discouraged? Maybe.
But then I remember: tomato plants gain more root structure each time you repot them more deeply (you can bury up to 80% of the plant when you transplant it and it will grow roots from the buried stalk). Mine are in their 3rd pot, having been buried nice and deeply each time. So, we'll see which plants do better when the hot, dry summer weather hits: the fancy, leafy Lowe's ones or the looks-can-be-deceiving-killer-root-system-home-started ones. Any guesses? I'll make sure I label them clearly so when the rubber meets the road in August, we'll know.
Incidentally, one of the ones I bought was a Mr. Stripey--these are very fun looking tomatoes in case you want ANOTHER tomato plant. (Maybe I should have taken the tomato murder as a sign from the Lord that I already had too many tomato plants--especially for a family that doesn't like them raw very much.)
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