[Monday – Liza’s Plants] Tomatoes and Coleus

As you may recall, I broke a tomato stem off a few weeks ago, stuck it in a glass of water on my kitchen windowsill, then marveled as it started to grow fruit. It also finally grew roots, so I decided to pot it up to see if I could encourage those tomatoes to ripen.

I’m going to let it chill outside for the next couple of weeks, then bring it in when it gets colder.

I’m going to attempt to grow tomatoes indoors this winter, because why not? If they have a south facing windowsill, they may just grow. And if they don’t, no harm, no foul. (I’ll probably have to give the plant a bigger pot but at the time I decided to put it in soil, I didn’t have one.)

I’m a big fan of experimenting, because ya never know.

Also an experiment, I’m going to attempt to overwinter these Coleus cuttings in the house:

Because they are pretty. Because I want to try. Because it’ll save me from buying new plants in the spring.

A client’s Mother told me that she had been at the doctor’s office, and was lusting after a big gorgeous Coleus plant they had by the front door. So she stole a leaf and hid it in her purse. From that single leaf, she grew two enormous plants. She’s been encouraging me to take cuttings. Even though the plants have a somewhat nefarious history, I totally took her up on her offer. How could I resist those pretty leaves?

The plant will get as much light as I can give it, and hopefully will do fine this winter. They are enthusiastic growers (the cuttings took only a few days to grow roots in water), so I have high hopes.

When was the last time you tried to grow Coleus or tomatoes indoors, and what happened? I’m curious to hear your stories.

I’ll be back tomorrow, hope to see you here!