Popping the Ol' Tomato From Seed Cherry...

With the move behind us, I was finally able to get my tomato seeds started at the end of April. Very late to the party, I know, and it definitely stressed me out. I want awesome delicious tomatoes damnit! But as I have yet to master the space-time continuum, I had to sow when I had to sow. I had the best of intentions on getting an early start on the tomatoes this year. I ordered my heirloom seeds from Gary Isben's TomatoFest months in advance. And then of course life happens, and moving happens, and then you find yourself 6-8 weeks behind in getting your seeds started wondering where all the time went. Le sigh.

This is my first year sowing from seed. I am very picky about my tomatoes - the bland mealy sandwich tomatoes that you find everywhere just don't cut it for me. I want different flavours and colours and textures. Sauce tomatoes, snacking tomatoes, cooking tomatoes, big tomatoes, little tomatoes. I feel a little like a prepubescent boy in the throws of pokemon fever. I want them all! The delicious possibilities are almost endless and, wanting to explore them, I bought every seed that caught my eye - Pink Ping Pong, Super Snow White, Riviera, Flamme, Evergreen, Black Krim and Black Prince, and TomatoFest threw in a Tropic hybrid freebie.

After consulting the seed pack, website instructions, myfolia.com and pretty much every other possible resource, I got to sowing. I decided to use 3" Jiffy peat pots, largely because they were on sale and I am cheap. Everyone says to use potting soil, but I was fresh out, so I used my garden soil, which was probably not the best idea I've ever had, but my impatience often leads me to roads less travelled.

I sowed 3 seeds per pot, gave 'em a good watering and put them on a tray in small trash bags with one end open. Within 10 days, all of the seedlings had sprouted, with the exception of the Black Prince seeds. Whether those failed me or I failed them, I have no idea, but they did a fat lot of nothing. I placed all the sprouts under my little 2ft Jumpstart light in our craft room and tried really hard not to forget about them. I've been keeping them on about 14-15 hours of light per day, watering any time the soil looks dry (but at most once a day).

A week after sprouting, I unexpectantly went out of town for the weekend. And forgot to turn off the lights. I know, I am a terrible person and a worse gardener. I almost killed all the little mofos because booty comes first. I have priorities, don't you judge me. Anyway, most of them bounced back pretty quickly, but the Rivieras, Snow Whites and Evergreens are still looking a little stunted. The rest of them have 2 or 3 true leaves and were big enough to be potted up this weekend. I finally replenished our potting soil supply, although I don't even know if it matters at this point. Thomas and I peeled off the old peat pots and ever-so-delicately separated each seedling. We planted each one in its own pot as deep as we could. I've heard that planting with the first little leaves beneath the soil encourages root growth so that's what we did.

As of this am, everyone seems pretty perky. Will upload a pic of the transplants just as soon as I get less lazy. Next up - Hardening Off!


Update: Less Lazy!