Tomato Plants from Seedshow to grow tomato plants from seeds

One of the funniest and I think the most crazy dinner parties was one devised by my daughter. It did not start out as being a dinner party but more of a GAME during one of their student ‘get together evenings’ being held at my home.

The GAME was along the lines of that old children’s game of each drawing a body part of a person, fold it over and hand to the next person etc. We had been discussing food and they each took it in turns to write down what they fancied. Because there were 11 of them I got a piece of paper and wrote STARTER, and two folds, DRINK. Then the next was MAIN COURSE, then there were 4 folds for accompaniments and one for DRINK. The next was pudding with two folds. My daughter asked me to add something so I thought of DRINK for that, but I must admit I was conservative in my own addition. BEFORE I undid it my daughter said “OK that is what we shall have next week, Mum s not cooking, you each bring what you have written the day before and NOW……” she put 10 pieces of paper into a vase, three of them had X’s on. “The three people with the X’s are going to help me cook this lot….and……Mum DO NOT OPEN THAT PAPER”

Well in a quiet moment in the kitchen I did take a sneek preview….OH DEAR!

The day before the drink and food arrived, and on the day the three poor devils arrived to cook. I did stay on hand, partly because of my kitchen and partly because I knew they would want a bit of help if they were not all to end up with some gastronomic tummy.

I am sure you are all eager to know what was written and how it was transformed into something ‘edible’

STARTER….Tomato Soup (how I wish he had said just ‘soup’) as it was teamed with melon and Guiness to drink. Oh well it was ‘mum to the rescue’ I suggested a chilled soup with melon balls and I promised I would make a Guiness shandy (a party trick of mine getting the lemonade to float on the Guiness).

MAIN COURSE…..KIPPERS…OK…whic h smart Alec wrote that? with Potatoes, Baked Beans (had to be there)..Curry Sauce and Dumplings. Oh dear! All eyes were upon me pleading. I have got to admit it took me half an hour to come up with something sensible. Kippers laid on a bed of rosti and then followed by the Baked Beans and curry sauce (reduced) with dumplings.. OK not just one main course. The drink was Vodka……

PUDDING….fortunately was ice cream and ice cream. It is surprising how well Neopolitan and Peanut butter taste together…lol My choice of drink was sparkling wine.

Well everyone enjoyed this so much it became a theme once a month and the menu became more and more outrageous as they got the hang of it. No one ended up in hospital and no one suffered the next day.

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