It's Almost Planting Time!

This year, I planted about 30 cups of tomato and pepper seeds.  I was using a combination of new seeds and seeds that were a few years old from my seed box.  Normally, I put two seeds per cup, but since I had some older seeds and wasn't sure how they'd germinate, I put three seeds of the older seeds in each cup.  Wouldn't you know it?  Just about every single seed germinated!!  I am now the proud plant parent to 95 seedlings!  I only know the exact number because I had 100 sixteen ounce Solo cups and I have 5 left.  (That's some old-school Math right there!). 

This year's tomatoes, all heirlooms:
Marmande (from seeds saved last year)~This is my husband's favorite tomato and has performed very well in our garden the past 2 years.
Century~First time in our garden
Earliana~First time in our garden
Large Red Cherry (from seeds saved last year)~This is a reliable producer and has performed well in our garden the past 3 or 4 years.
Rutgers~We grew this variety a couple of years ago with moderate success.  I decided that since I had 2 seeds left in the packet, I'd sow them and see what happened. 

This year's peppers:
Red Bullnose~Sweet red pepper that does well in our garden. 
Yellow Belle~Sweet yellow bell pepper that produces great tasting peppers and is prolific.
Orange King Bell~An orange bell pepper that we've grown in the past, but it's been a few years.
Jalapeno~No Texas garden is complete without jalapenos!
Greek Pepperoncini~New to the garden this year.  Hubby has plans to pickle these.

We won't be planting most of the 95, so I'll be selling them and giving them away to friends.  I don't think I even have space for 95 total plants in my garden plot!  We'll probably plant about 15 tomatoes and 10 peppers, max. 

Even though we've had an unseasonably mild winter with some days in the 70s, 80s, and even hovering around 90º, I know how fickle Texas weather can be.  This morning, we had a light frost with temps in the upper 30s/low 40s and we're expected to be chilly again tonight.  This is why I wait until the end of March to the beginning of April to start planting my spring and summer veggies. 

Yellow Belle pepper with flower buds already!  I'll pinch those off because the plant isn't strong enough to support any fruit that might form.