I finally let the neighbor kid raise my tomato starts and the leggy ones beat mine

Skyler Reed · 2026-10-17T21:45:05.542536+00:00

Three seasons I babied my tomato seedlings under a shop light in the basement, and every April they came out tall and stringy anyway. Last spring a kid from two doors down asked if he could use our south-facing porch for his 4-H project, so I handed him a flat of my seeds and said do whatever. He put them in the sun from day one and brushed the tops with his hand about 10 minutes a day, and those 24 plants were thick as pencils by May 10 while mine were leaning like they wanted out of the tray. I lost the argument in the nicest way and now my whole setup is out on the porch. The part I still chew on is he did not do anything fancy, he just moved them around more than I was willing to. Has anyone else got a kid or neighbor who quietly fixes something you overthought for years?

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I finally let the neighbor kid raise my tomato starts and the leggy ones beat mine | Changing My Mind - Thought Shares