Tomato Seedlings Sprouting!

As I posted about here, we planted our 2014 tomato, pepper, and eggplant seeds in early January.  Seed planting is one of the most hopeful and optimistic things you can do.  You are taking what looks to be a dry, dead item and placing it in dirt and adding water.  What others may see as a simple, mind-numbing process, I see as hope for the future.

That is not a dead seed going into the ground.  I see fresh, wholesome food that will be on my table (and the tables of those I love) in a few short months.  Sure, there will be much work between placing that seed in the soil and the time at which you'll pluck that fruit or vegetable off of the plant at the height of its succulentness - I'm not sure that's a word!  But that work will be well worth it.

After planting the seeds into moist soil in individual seed pots, I placed them on a top shelf in our utility room and sprayed them with water and just waited patiently for about 10 days.  My patience soon paid off as the seeds sprouted.  The photos below evidence the new growth!

Tomato Sprouts!

I will keep the seed pots covered with plastic wrap until the seed sprout.  If I don't do this the soil will dry out prior to me being able to spray it with water.  You must keep close tabs on it, though, because if you don't remove the plastic, the sprouts will reach up and hit the plastic and not have room to grow.

Time to remove the plastic

Although all planted at the exact same time, they all sprout and grow at slightly different rates.

Tomatoes sprouting

Barely peeking out of the soil

This tomato seedling has already shed the seed pod and the green cotyledons are opening.

First signs of green!

You can see that some varieties have really jumped out of the soil, while some have not sprouted at all.  Two seed varieties that are from seeds I saved are the slowest to sprout - Arkansas Traveler and Valenciano 749.  They are sprouting, but they lag behind the other seeds that I purchased.  Perhaps because they are a couple years old?

All sprouting at different times

The Big Rainbow and Pink Brandywine varieties have sprung from the soil with particular vigor.

Sprouts with 'dew' from my spray bottle on the stems and seed

Keeping the soil and sprouts moist helps the seedlings to emerge from the soil and to easily shed the seed pod from the cotyledons.

You can almost watch them grow!

In the warm environment of our utility room, it will take no time for this sprout to transform to new green cotyledons, then the first true leaves.

Next up once the seedlings are all out of the ground will involve me moving the four foot grow light to be positioned directly above the baby tomato plants.  We're off to a nice start, but we've got a long way to go. We will keep you updated with our progress.  You can follow our progress and our pitfalls too!