Late Season Tobacco Crop

Inspired by a Hank Williams Jr song, I've decided to grow my own tobacco. I've never smoked or dipped or chewed, but I have friends who like cigars, so it seemed like a worthy experiment. I wasn't even drunk at the time I made this decision.

I watched a video series on taking tobacco from seed to cigar and then found an online source for seeds. The plants grow quickly and tobacco is unpopular in San Diego, so seeds were my only choice. The seeds are tiny. I mean really tiny.

This tiny.

It's way late in the year to plant a crop, but I'm doing it anyway. First, I don't really care if it works or not and second, San Diego stays mild up into December, so I might get away with it.

I went the Dave Ramsey way with my seed starting kit and used some paper cups as planters, punching holes in the bottom with a screwdriver.

As I'm on travel this week, I've had to ask wife kitteh to keep the seeds watered. She agreed with a wry roll of her eyes. She wasn't in favor of the idea of growing tobacco as I'm sure NPR has told her how awful it is, but she finally went along, figuring it would keep me occupied.

From time to time, I'll post updates to the experiment. The tomatoes in our backyard raised bed are just about played out, so as the seed sprout, I'll recycle the bed and refresh the soil with some organic fertilizers. I'm thinking I'll get them about halfway finished before the weather gets too cold and the sun too dim to finish them. I've tried late season tomatoes and they never work. They fruit and then the fruit just sits there and doesn't ripen.

Oh well. There are worse things you ca do with your life.