More tomatoes and garden stuff

My little tomato sprouts are growing slowly but I seem to be losing a few every couple of days. They are too small to replant in the garden at this point but I need to do something to keep as many as possible.

(I do know that these particular tomatoes are too close together but they were only supposed to have a 60% germination rate, the other types aren't so crowded)


I read that they should be replanted just below the two leaves to generate more root growth so that is my plan. At this point I'm loathe to do anything for fear I will kill them all! It's like I'm obsessed, I need to make these work or I'm a failure.

The rest of the stuff is coming up wonderfully. Before I received Square-Foot Gardening from the library I had read a website about this method of gardening. Unfortunately either I read it incorrectly or it had some wrong information and I planted the squash plants way too close. They all need to be replanted in a spot that has a lot more room, not the end of the world but I'm hoping I don't lose any since they are doing so well.



The information in the book was extremely helpful on how to fix our dirt so it will support a garden. We have a small compost pile going and almost enough stuff to start another pile. To start off with I bought compost from Wal-Mart, not the best solution but the only one available and it has worked great.

Since the garden is as close as I am going to be able to come to homesteading I am turning my attention to more books about the self-sufficient lifestyle. Any suggestions for good reading material would be appreciated!

Just because I love how green the strawberry plants are I thought I would include a picture of those too. I bought them at the hardware store a few weeks ago but they already have tiny berries on them.