Planting tomatoes from seed

On January 1st I always plant my tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant seeds for the Spring crop.  Early in my gardening, I would simply purchase plants from the hardware store and transplant the six inch tall plant into the garden.  The more I read about it, the more I wanted to grow my own plants from seed.  Yes, it is more work and time-consuming and can be quite frustrating at times.

The pay-off, however, comes at harvest.  I now plant only open-pollinated heirloom seeds.  These seeds can be saved year after year, whereas, the hybrid seeds are sometimes sterile and the quality falls apart after a year.  I find heirloom seeds produce better tasting vegetables.  It may just be in my head, but I don't think so.

I order my seeds from Baker Creek Heirloom seeds, but there are numerous companies out there that sell them.  Below, I've laid out all my seed packets and record keeping regarding the seeds I'm about to plant.


2013 Tomato, Pepper, and Eggplant selections

This year I'm planting the following tomatoes:

Moneymaker: produces smooth medium sized red fruit
Arkansas Traveler: produces smooth medium sized rose-pink fruit resistant to heat & humidity
Black Krim: a rare, Russian, black Beefsteak tomato.  Delicious with a rich flavor!
Abu Rawan: a sweet, medium sized tomato from Iraq that handles heat well.
Amish Paste: Roma-type blocky tomato from Wisconsin Amish community great for paste or canning. 
Thessoloniki: Greek tomato with good flavor and high yields.
Valenciano 749: Italian, yellow flesh tomato that adds color to the garden and tastes good.

I save the plant containers and use the same ones year after year.  Spray the seed trays with a bleach solution to sanitize them and to achieve higher germination rates.


Pull out the seed trays collected over the years

Add a seed starting mix to the containers and place in flats for easy transportation. 

Filling the containers with seed starting mix

I'll get some freezer tape and label the containers with a Sharpie.  This enables you to keep track of what variety you have planted along with the date.  You don't want to be caught guessing what types of tomatoes are growing if your labels fall off or get lost.


Labeling the container

I'll generally plant two to three seeds per section in the container to ensure I have enough plants.  It is better to have too many than not enough.  If you have too many, there are always friends and neighbors to share with.  If you have too little, well, you won't be able to enjoy delicious tomatoes or won't be able to make salsa or tomato sauce to can and put in the pantry.


This year's seeds being planted

I plant the tomato seeds in slight indentations in the soil I make with a screwdriver that are 1/8 to 1/4 of an inch deep and then cover with soil.  

Cover seeds with soil once planted

All of the tomatoes are now planted with individual containers labelled.  We're just about done.


All tomato seeds are planted

I get a spray bottle and dampen the soil with a mist of water.  This will allow the seed to swell and the germination process to begin.


Moistening the soil

I cover the entire tray with plastic wrap.  I do this to retain the moisture and warmth of the soil.  I found that if I don't do this, I have to water the soil repeatedly to keep it moist.  This is not necessary, but is a time saver.  Obviously I monitor the seeds daily.  When I see sprouts, I remove the plastic wrap from that particular container in the tray.


Putting plastic wrap on top of the trays

Tomato seeds will germinate in 5 to 10 days, depending on the soil warmth.  The minimum soil temperature for tomato seed germination is 50 degrees F.  The optimum temperature is 85 degrees F. I initially put the trays on top of the freezer in the laundry room as it seems to be the warmest place in the house.  Once the plants have all sprouted, I'll move them to the cold frame that we just built separate them once they put on their first set of true leaves and eventually transplant them in the garden to grow.  All the varieties of tomatoes I plant are indeterminate, meaning they are vine - not bush-type tomatoes.  They will need trellising.  But I'm getting way ahead of myself, the plants haven't even sprouted yet!


Watching & waiting for sprouts

In January, normally some of the coldest parts of our winter in South Louisiana, it may seem odd to be planting tomatoes since we're a couple months away from being able to plant them in the garden.  Actually, you want to get a head start on the tomato planting to get ahead of the bug pressure, heat, and drought that typically plague us during the summertime.

We'll check in from time to time on the tomatoes.  I'm sure there are better methods, but this process seems to work for me.  As Louis Armstrong sang, "You like to-may-to, I like to-mah-to..."