Tomato Plants from Seedshow to grow tomato plants from seeds

It’s easy, very inexpensive and they taste better too so lets get started!

STEP 1: Which tomatoes should I grow?  If you have a long growing season then you would want to go with an indeterminate variety which grows all summer long.  If your growing season is short then you would go with a determinate variety which produces its fruit quickly (in as little as 85 days or less) and ripens all at once.  Go to www.PennysTomatoes.com for more info on varieties.

Step 2: Now that I have bought my seeds what do I do with them? Six to eight weeks for the end of winter I line up little paper cups filled with peat moss and put one seed in each cup. I then place them in a sunny window sill and water almost daily as peat tends to dry out quickly. Make sure not to over water or let the seed/roots sit in excessive water as this will kill them.

As your seedlings grow transplant them into larger and larger containers, each time burying them up to the first set of leaves.  The plant will send out roots from the buried stem and will develop a stronger root system by the time they are ready to be planted outdoors.  Once your seedlings have taken off and the threat of frosts are over move your plants outdoors for a few hours each afternoon to get them acclimated, or hardened off, before actually planting them in the garden.

Will any soil work? Tomatoes need a rich, well-drained soil ideally full of organic matter, so get started on that compost pile early.

How much sun do they need? Tomatoes require full sun which translates into no less than 6 to 8 hours a day.  Plants will be weak and unhealthy with anything less.

STEP 3: Okay it’s time to transplant. Transplanting is an important step and if you do it carefully, you can look forward to an abundant crop of healthy mouth watering tomatoes.

Once your tomato plants have been hardened, or acclimated to outdoor conditions, and night-time temperatures continually exceed 50 degrees, it’s time to set your plants out into your garden or patio containers.

Raised beds work best and you’ll want to bury your plants up to the first set of leaves.  This will ensure a healthy root system. After planting it’s a good idea to place mulch around each plant. Mulch helps keep the soil most and helps keep fruit off the ground, preventing rotting. The advantages to mulching are that the soil retains moisture requiring less watering. Also, the mulch acts as a slow release fertilizer and helps keep the weeds down.

How often should I water them? Your plants should be deep watered 2 to 3 times a week or more depending of your soil type. If the plant is seen wilting in the middle of the day, ignore it. They will perk right back up by late afternoon. If the plants look droopy in the morning, they need water.

All that hard work is getting ready to pay off and depending on what type of tomato plants you chose more than likely you will have an over abundance of ripe tomatoes.

When the fruits have ripened, pick them by bending back the fruit at the notch on the stem.

Tomatoes store well in a cool, dry location. Do not put them in the refrigerator. While they last longer in the refrigerator, they will lose their flavor and texture.

What do I do with all these tomatoes? We have some great recipes at www.PennysTomatoes.com and we would love for you to share yours so check us out online.

Good luck and happy gardening!

Penny

Living as I do in an upstairs apartment, all my gardening is in containers, some on the pavement downstairs and some on the first-story roof accessible via my back porch. Every year I’ve included tomatoes. The last four years, it’s been cherry tomatoes, grown especially for my grandson who turned five this year.

This was the year my grandson went shopping with me, and we picked out a six-pack of small tomato plants. I only wanted one, so daughter took the other five for her first attempt at her own garden. This was to be a lesson in growing for my daughter and her two little boys. It turned out to be a lesson for me as well.

Here’s what I learned. Whether you are planning to grow tomatoes from seed and to buy plants, read the labeling – all of it – before making your purchase. There are numerous varieties and sizes of tomatoes, of course; but, what I’d never had to deal with before was the fact that plants come in all sizes, too.

I transplanted my tomato into a bigger pot and settled back to watch it grown, knowing most tomato plants take a long time to produce their “fruit”. (Yes, although we treat tomatoes as vegetables, they are actually fruit.) The larger tomatoes can take up to 75 days to grow to full size. Cherry or grape tomatoes take less time. That’s why they are a good pick for children. Anyway, having raised tomatoes before, when the plant reached a height that satisfied me, I started pinching out the end growth on the stems. I also watched for leaves to appear in the V’s wherever smaller stems branched out from the main one. That, too, I had learned to pinch out.

My daughter and my grandson didn’t do any pinching, and one day I noticed their plants were getting quite tall, much taller than I’d ever seen. Well, to make a long story short, about the time their plants reached five feet in height, I went back and read the label. I had purchased vine tomatoes. I knew they were vine tomatoes; I just didn’t realize that meant they’d grow and grow, possibly reaching eight feet in length, or height. The good news is that all the plants (including mine which had to be moved to an even larger pot) have prolifically produced lovely, tasty cherry tomatoes.

You can do like I do every year and buy plants, moving them larger pots as they grow. However, if you want to start from scratch, meaning grow them from seed, consider where you live and pick a planting time accordingly. We’re located in upstate New York and in order to have

A tomato plant growing outside your kitchen door in an attractive pot is not only decorative but is heart healthy. Even better than one, why not have two, one on each side of the door. For this you will need a larger than usual container, maybe even a tall kitchen trash substituting. At least with a large pot, there will be enough soil to allow the roots to spread and or a tomato stake. Although, smaller containers can be used successfully.

What kind of soil for container growing? Ordinary potting soil that has about a third of the soil organic matter with a pH level 0f 6.0 to 7.0 will do fine. A calcium healthy soil is one with added bone meal if you are growing in questionable soil. This may be just the perk the plant will need to set on flowers and fruit.

Of course you can readily purchase prepared soil from the garden center. Yet in container growing keeping nutrients from leeching out is another consideration. All in all, soil

Requirements should be no problem, but keeping the plant well watered but not overly watered will take a little of your time. You will need to have some kind of drainage for your soil; if you have rainy growing season you could end up with tomatoes that are watery and not at all tasty or none at all.

The basic requirements for container growing of tomatoes are a soil allowing for quick drainage, a well aerated soil, and some water remaining the soil after drainage. You can readily see why drainage is an important part of container growing. Sand or perlite – sponge rock – are good additives that keep the soil breathing after drainage. Were this not so, the soil particles would stick together and block the needed nutrients.

If the container does not already have drainage holes, put some in with a pick or an ax and use gravel or small rocks in the bottom of your pot. This is a must. It will keep the roots from getting waterlogged. Once this is done, then fill the pot with your specially prepared soil and set out your plant. If there still is danger of frost in your area, you may have to cover the pot, or pots, during the night.

Sunshine will be a key growing necessity no matter if you are growing your potted tomatoes in areas where it is unlikely to have at least eight hours of continuous sunlight, then place your pots on a wheeled platform and moved them to where the sun is. Admittedly, this could become a chore if you are growing your tomatoes in large pots; therefore it may be better to consider a smaller variety that adapts well to being moved around.

Regular fertilizing should begin about three weeks after starting the tomato plant. A good fertilizer to use will be Miracle Grow and this can be bought in dry or liquid form. Whatever type you use it should have a nitrogen-phosphorous ratio-potash ratio of 6-18-6.

• Jiffy-7 5710 Mini Greenhouse 12 Peat Pellet
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Contains reusable tray and dome made from recyclable plastic and 12 Jiffy-7 peat pellets. Convenient, no-mess way to start flower and vegetable seeds and cuttings. Add water and pellets expand to form starter pot/soil with Canadian sphagnum peat moss to provide a rich, high-quality growing environment. Transplant directly in ground or larger containers. Clear dome maintains greenhouse humidity and temperature for healthier seedlings…. More >>

Jiffy-7 Greenhouse, 12 pot

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• FERRY-MORSE SEED CO./JIFFY

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The perfect indoor start for your garden. Easy to use, just add water and seeds. Transplants directly into the garden or larger containers. Clear dome maintains humidity and warmth during germination period. 72 cells. No. 5272: Greenhouse No. 5708: 72 cou… More >>

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This variety is excellent for growing in containers! Small treelike bush grows from 8 to 16 tall and up to 12 inches wide. Small red fruit grows from ¾ to 1 ½. Certain parts of plant may be poisonous if ingested…. More >>

Open Pollinated Tomato Seeds – ‘Tiny Tim’ Vegetable Seed Packet

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For people who dont have space or time for traditional gardening and who need expert advice on choosing and using plants and containers to create their own container garden, large or small. At long last, a smart and sensible gardening guide from the most trusted name in gardening. Compiled from the pages of Fine Gardening magazine, Container Gardening will inspire readers with dramatic plant combinations as well as provide step-by-step techniques to plant and care f… More >>

Container Gardening: 250 Design Ideas & Step-By-Step Techniques

We are all keenly aware of the health benefits of vegetables. In the peak of the season, there is nothing that tastes as delicious as a freshly picked tomato, or a perfect pepper, or a magnificent head of broccoli, or something as simple as a salad made from freshly picked lettuce. It’s hard to envision any of this until you have tasted something so fresh that the extent of the distance it has to travel is from the garden to your table.

Long before the economic situation in this country went from bad to worse, and things became ever more precarious by the day, I had already experienced the wonders of growing my own vegetables. There were times when I questioned whether I was really being rewarded for all of my efforts.

Once again, I have to admit that even though there is a tremendous amount of work involved in “growing my own vegetabless , the rewards of my labor are consistently evident in every bite I take of something I have grown myself.

There are huge advantages to growing your own vegetables from seed. First of all, when you grow any or all of your vegetables from seed, you have an enormous selection of different varieties of vegetables from which to choose. You are freer to tailor your planting or choose your seeds to fit the length of your gardening season.

“Heirloom seedsn offer gardeners the opportunity to grow vegetables that have been grown by other gardeners for 50 or more years. These seeds are as pure as they can be. They don’t undergo any of the genetic engineering that is characteristic of disease resistant hybrids.

Additionally, when you grow vegetables from seed, you have the ability to find unusual varieties that may not ever be available in smaller local garden centers or bigger retailers. You may be able to find seeds for vegetables that can be grown in containers. These choices are never available anywhere.

For anyone wishing to grow tomatoes, deciding to grow your tomatoes from seed can mean the difference between being able to grow tomatoes that are suitable for growing in containers, or finding a variety that is adaptable to “extreme heat, but it can also mean deciding whether to grow determinate varieties (those that yield a lot of tomatoes all at once,) or growing

One of the greatest advantages of growing tomatoes from seed is that it affords the gardener the opportunity to grow a far greater variety of tomatoes than they could otherwise grow. It also enables the gardener to grow heirloom varieties that aren’t traditionally available in garden centers. If you plan to grow your tomatoes in containers, be sure to check out “Container Seeds.

When considering seeds, you need to know that a tomato variety that is determinate is one that will produce a large crop at one time, and will not produce much if anything after the large crop. Indeterminate varieties are those that produce an even supply of tomatoes throughout the growing season.

Determinate varieties may be a better choice for people in very warm climates. If night time low temperatures don’t go below 70 degrees, even though a plant may have many flowers on its branches, those flowers may not yield actual fruits.

When planning to start your tomato plants from seeds, it is vital that you do so ten weeks before you plan to plant them in the ground. The reason I recommend ten weeks is because that gives you eight weeks during which the seeds will sprout and grow, and you have an extra week if some of the seeds are slower to germinate. The tenth week will be used for hardening off the plants prior to planting them in pots outdoors or in the ground.

To harden the plants off, simply take the flats outside during the day and bring them back inside at night. If the seeds germinate quickly and the plants have reached a decent size by week nine, then you can use that week to keep them outdoors during the day and bring them in at night. The following week, you can leave them outside all the time, and that may keep them from suffering from “transplant shock when you do plant them in the ground or in pots.

To grow your own tomato plants from seed, you will need your seeds of course. You will also need containers to plant in. I prefer to use peat pellets because they are completely self contained. You simply soak the pellets in warm water and they expand. Once they have expanded, they look like a little sack that is filled with peat moss or dirt.

Peat pots are also very useful, but they can be more expensive. They are made of compressed peat moss and will decompose in the ground or in the pot. They add organic matter to the soil while adding a substance that will help allow

Getting the first ripe tomato in the spring is no accident; it has everything to do with timing and the type of seed that is sown. First of all, you sow your seed indoors in February in a basement window and if all go well, by the time of the last frost around the middle of May or the first of June you will be ready to transplant them out of doors.

Although if you are really intending to take the first tomato prize for the season you must be brave. Set that plant out, or at least a few, and be prepared to cover them when the temperature drops. Those extra hot days of sunshine, which is a must for tomatoes to grow, will indeed give you and your tomato growing race a few laps ahead.

Yet first, you must know how to grow them inside, as well as outside, and what kind to grow and what to expect. Whatever your area your seeds need to be started at least eleven to twelve weeks before planting time. There is no need to make hard work out growing tomatoes by seed. Early in the year, at gardening centers you will find all kinds of help. From there you will find peat cubes, peat pots, jiffy-7 pellets, seed starting kids, flats of every description.

Or if you are a recycler, you probably have a stash of growing containers. Actually, all you really need is a flat filled with a loose growing medium – soil with lots of sand or prelite, or crushed limestone, or a tray of little pots filled with soil. You can make this as fancy or as simple as possible. Simple is a pot of loose soil and seeds sown and place in a sunny window. Or, artificial lights and a heated container may work quite well as a tomato seed incubator.

The seeds themselves make most of the difference: The early varieties are a must if you want to break your neighbor’s record of always being first to have a ripe tomato. The earliest still will need 50 days to mature. The Rocket is one such variety and is a medium sized tomato but will grow well in tubs. That means on cold nights you can bring them back inside.

My source of information is “All About Tomatoes” and is an old book – but a thorough one with nothing left out about tomatoes – of the Ortho Book Series. Since its printing there are newer varieties and better resistant varieties but still what hasn’t changed is the necessity for an ample amount of growing time. There are some late growing varieties of tomatoes that require over seventy-five long eight hour sunshine growing days. It’s useless for me to list all the varieties, it’s best you browse according to your location, and your interest.

Take your pick. But choose a later variety and new seed. No sense sabotaging your best effort by using last year’s varieties. This year’s may be an even better improvement. The best way to find out what grows best sooner or later is go online and search out tomato seed facts and select the ones acclimated to your growing conditions. Or, an even better tried and true method is to buy from your local source who knows what is better for that particular growing location.