Growing from Seed: Tomatoes

Mmmm.. tomatoes

 As you can see, 1 packet of way more tomato seeds than I can possibly use cost an insane $1.79.  I picked a hybrid because I find that they're more hardy than Big Boy tomatoes.  These are the type of tomatoes you slice up and put on a sandwich, use in bruchetta, stuff with cheese and bake, etc etc. 

Since I'm not one for starter trays, I usually start my seedlings in a homemade pot.  To make, simply wrap a newspaper around a plastic water bottle and glue with non-toxic glue (liquid works better than stick glue). Remove bottle, glue one end shut, and voila, you have a homemade pot.  It's a good idea to set it on a piece of saran wrap in case you over water.

Eight seeds planted- eight sprouts!

The great thing about this technique is that, if you plan on transplanting into a garden, all you have to do is put your paper pot in the ground.  As long as you haven't wrapped the newspaper several times around, the newspaper will biodegrade and your roots will expand into the earth.  I usually cut off the bottom layer of newspaper just before planting into the ground, just in case. 

If you plant too many sprouts in a small container (oops), You'll need to thin the herd.  I left the 2 strongest plants and pulled the rest with a gentle tugging-twisting motion, just in case the roots were tangled.

Finally, when your tomatoes are getting more than 2 leaves, it's time to re-pot.  I picked bright green planters from Target.  The trick to tomatoes is that their stems, when buried underground, become part of their root structure, giving the plant a great head start.  To re-pot, I cut open the side of the newspaper pot and gently separated the two plants.  Then I buried them allll the way up to their leaves in Miracle Gro moisture retention potting soil.  I put the plants pretty deep in the pot so that the leaves were level with the soil, but 4 inches below the top of the pot. 

Let there be light! Tomatoes love sunshine

Now that the plants have had a little more time to grow, I can fill in more soil up to the leaves a second time.  It's even okay (and encouraged) to pluck off the very bottommost leaves and bury the plant up to the second set of leaves.  Once your plant has grown a big strong stem, it's recommended to pluck off the bottom leaves anyway to prevent rot.  I should have fresh tomatoes by mid-June. Mmm. Tomatoes.

May your fingernails remain forever dirty,

Christine