I have been meaning to start my seeds indoors for over a month now and life keeps getting in my way! So, today was the day...I finally started them. I only got as far as the tomato seeds but truthfully that is where I needed to start. I planted 36 starts of Amish Paste Tomatoes. These are absolutely the best for spaghetti sauce and sun dried tomatoes...two of our favorites around here. Last year when I really went hog wild planting everything from seed I ordered all these flats for growing and starting seeds and honestly...I was not that impressed. The flats broke under the weight of the soil and the soil I used compacted and became very cementlike...live and learn.
I did learn...from a dear lady in the local garden club who has been gardening for over 50 years. Know her secret? Nope, not fancy plant cell flats and high tech grow lights. She uses styrofoam cups and sunlight. Ingenious right? I decided to try her method since hers were the tomato plants I purchased when I accidently left my tomato seedlings out overnight and killed a whole flat of them. Unfortunately, I was unable to use my own compost as I had hoped because what I should have done was put a bucket of it in the garage last fall for this purpose, but since I did not and it has been frozen and now raining outside my compost is a bit useless to me right now.
I did learn...from a dear lady in the local garden club who has been gardening for over 50 years. Know her secret? Nope, not fancy plant cell flats and high tech grow lights. She uses styrofoam cups and sunlight. Ingenious right? I decided to try her method since hers were the tomato plants I purchased when I accidently left my tomato seedlings out overnight and killed a whole flat of them. Unfortunately, I was unable to use my own compost as I had hoped because what I should have done was put a bucket of it in the garage last fall for this purpose, but since I did not and it has been frozen and now raining outside my compost is a bit useless to me right now.
I also decided to use a different medium than last year. As I mentioned the potting soil I had purchased became so dense and brittle after awhile that I asked what other gardeners used to start their seeds and overwhelmingly they were using a mixture of pearlite, vermiculite and soil. This combo is so light and airy. I also received the tip that I should water my tomato plants from the bottom not the top once they sprout. What you cannot see from the pictures is that each of my little cups has holes in the bottom for drainage.
Eve with the soil compound in them the cups were so light they kept wanting to tip over.
The little seeds are so very tiny that it is nearly impossible to get just one in each cup. I put in two just for insurance that at least one will sprout, however I must confess that I hate to pull up one of the plants when it is time, I just really dislike killing one of them as they grow. I will be ordering a few more rare varieties of tomatoes this next week to also start as they rare heirlooms are the ones I will be selling at local farmers markets, but these that I started are my standard canning tomato.
