If you’re wondering why you would want to grow tomatoes from seed when it is inexpensive to buy healthy tomato plants from the nursery in May, then consider this top reason why gardeners grow from seed: more choices of varieties. Nurseries might offer only the most common tomato, vegetable or flower starts, while seed companies offer hundreds of different heirloom and unusual varieties.
News flash: A reader from Puyallup is looking for an “heirloom” tomato called “6th Avenue” sold from a nursery near the Narrows Bridge from the 1920s until the 1970s. Contact me if you can help track down seeds for this old variety.
The planting tips below will help get your tomato seeds sprouting indoors now for setting outdoors later this spring.
1. Start seeds at the right time. For tomatoes, this means six to eight weeks before the last frost date, or mid-April if you plan to set the plants outdoors by mid-May.
2. You need light for the seedlings. You don’t have to have a greenhouse but just a bright window or set of fluorescent lights kept very close to the seedlings. The close lights will be needed to keep the young sprouts from getting too tall and lanky.
3. Use a good seeding soil. This means something that is lightweight without a lot of compost or manure. Special seeding soil is sold at garden centers. The soil drains quickly so your seedling won’t suffer from the dreaded “damping-off” disease, a soil fungus among us.
4. Don’t plant seeds too deep. Tomato seeds should be pressed into the soil and covered with just the slightest bit of very fine soil.
5. Be patient while you wait for the seeds to sprout. Tomato seeds need bright light and warmth to sprout or germinate. Placing the seed trays, pots or flats on top of a refrigerator or dryer will provide bottom heat to encourage sprouting. They need a room at least 70 degrees or warmer to get them growing. It takes one to two weeks for the green sprouts to be seen. Keep the soil just slightly moist.
6. Thin the baby plants when they are 2 inches tall. This means you need to remove nearby seedlings so that each plant is at least 3 inches away from any siblings. When seedlings become too crowded, they grow skinny and weak.
7. Water gently with warm water. Don’t fertilize until each seedling has at least two true leaves. The first set of leaves don’t count. They are the baby leaves. Use a liquid plant food at one-half the strength recommended. Fertilize just once while the seedlings are indoors, then once a month after that.
8. Harden off your seedlings by letting them spend some time outdoors during the day, starting the first part of May. Bring them indoors at night until mid-May when the nights should be warm enough for heat-loving tomato plants to go outdoors. A light wind is good for seedlings. It makes them tough, compact and cold-hardy. Use a fan on your seedlings if you can’t set them outdoors each day.
9. You will know that it is time for your seedlings to go into the ground or outdoor pots when the nights have warmed up (mid-May to mid-June) and the seedlings have several sets of leaves. Water well the night before the transplant operation and remember that tomatoes are one of the few plants that can be planted deeper than their original growing level. This is because tomatoes grow roots all along the length of their stem. Remove the lowest leaves on leggy plants and let just the top four sets of leaves poke out of the soil.
10. Grow in the hot spots. In our area, you must plant tomatoes in the hottest part of the garden; against a west- or south-facing fence or building is best. Surround the plants with black or red plastic mulch on top of their roots or plant them inside a rubber tire that sits on the ground. Black plastic absorbs heat and in our cool summer area, the hotter the better.
Once you learn the art of growing tomatoes from seed, you’ll be able to grow the more flavorful heirloom, Russian, Cherokee Purple and other short-season varieties available as seeds. Celebrate the diversity of flavors and get growing.
Marianne Binetti is the author of “Easy Answers for Great Gardens” and eight other gardening books. She has a degree in horticulture from Washington State University and will answer questions from her website at www.binettigarden.com.
SEE MARIANNE
9 a.m. Saturday, Windmill Gardens, 5823 160th Ave. E., Sumner: “Chocolate in the Garden: Using Rich, Dark Colors and Sweet Scents.” Info: 253-863-5843 or www.windmillgarden.com.
Noon Saturday, Woodinville Water District Spring Fair at University of Washington Bothell Campus,
18115 Campus Way N.E., Bothell: “Waterwise Lessons from the World’s Most Beautiful Gardens.” Info: 425-487-4102.
4 p.m. Saturday, Enumclaw Spring Fair at the King County Fairgrounds, 45225 284th Ave. S.E., Enumclaw: “Spring Gardening Ideas.”
2 p.m. Sunday, Nisqually Valley Home Show at Yelm High School, 1315 West Yelm Avenue, Yelm: “Incredible Edibles and Creative Landscape Design.” Info: 360-458-3505.
