I’ve done it again! Every. Single. Year. I pledge to start fewer tomato seedlings. By mid-May, our entire house is overtaken by tomato seedlings. It’s a green jungle, but unfortunately, I don’t have enough grow lights to keep all of them healthy.
Actually, I did restrain myself by buying only 1 pack of slicer tomato and 1 pack of tomatillo seeds this year.
I intend to work through my seed stash of tomato varieties before adding much more to it.
Not sure what exactly happened when I stood there with the seed packs in hand.
-Was I simply hungry for an evening snack?
-Did the delightful fumes of fresh dirt, or the guilty pleasure of running my hands through it, mesmerize me?
-Did the self-sufficiency and prepper videos on YouTube rub off on me?
2020 tomato seed selection
BEEFSTEAKS
- White beefsteak: pale yellow and almost seedless
- Coeur de Boeuf: red oxheart
- Vintage wine (new): pink and sweet
CHERRIES
- Tiny Tim: red dwarf-cherry variety, determinate, 30cm tall
- Pear-shaped yellow: indeterminate and handles al-fresco well
- Artisan golden bumblebee: very sweet tonal fruit, indeterminate
OTHER
- Tigerella: round, striped, indeterminate, and handles al-fresco well
- Anna Russian: early maturing heirloom red oxheart
- San Marzano: red block-shaped, small seed cavity, good for canning
- Cream Sausage: pale yellow elongated heirloom paste variety, determinate
tomatillos – tomate verde
- Ordinary tomatillo: green
- Amarylla (new): yellow
Starting tomato seeds
I usually use the Rootmaster for my tomatoes to save space initially. Because most of my tomato seed packs are at or past their expiration date, I expect the germination rate to be significantly lower. To compensate, I place more seeds in each cell, sometimes as much as 5-6. I’m prepared to be ruthless when potting up my transplants.
It might not look that crowded now, but unless the germination rate is crazy low, the kitchen table will once more look like it did earlier, and friends and neighbors will be blessed with free tomato plants – again.
