This week finally found me getting into some real seed starting action. The first of my seed orders came in within three days of ordering (here is my seed order for 2011) and today I started my tomatoes! Tomatoes are always the main crop in our garden and without them our garden is incomplete. Fresh from the garden tomatoes are simply a gift from heaven! We can them, turn them into sauces, make pico de galla combined with our cilantro crops, eat them plain or with a little dab of sea salt, and most importantly… make sandwiches! A turkey and tomato sandwich with mayo is a summertime favorite of mine. I know it sounds so simple but it is good! Of course the traditional BLT is pretty awesome too.
Starting tomatoes is pretty easy. I used square peat pot starting cells filled with seed starting mixture to get things off right. Before planting the seeds I moistened all the soil then added the seeds and pressed them into the soil to make good contact. After that I simply covered the seeds with soil. Now I have to wait. Once they begin to germinate I’ll lift the plastic lid to allow better air circulation which will help prevent fungal diseases like damping off.
I started ‘Brandywine’, ‘Woodle Orange’ (you should Google this one with ‘Orange Woodle’- Google will ask you if you meant “Orange Poodle!” I haven’t seen many orange poodles, have you?), and ‘Black Krim’. All heirlooms and all delicious!
The shallots are doing OK but seem a bit spindly and may need to be moved closer to the light. So far I haven’t seen any germination in my other starts but it may be too early yet.
To join in on Seed Sowing Saturday just link back to this post and tell us about your seed sowing experiences over the past week. Be sure to leave a link below so we can come over and visit your post! Oh, and a Tweet or a Facebook mention/like is always a good thing! Happy Seed Sowing!
This Week’s Seed Sowers!
- Sarah at Green Love Grass
- Alison at Bonnie Lassie
- Shannon at The Garden State
I haven't started tomatoes yet, but I definitely plan to. I love all the summer treats that you mentioned. But, I am looking forward to bruschetta the most. I started my basil this past week — yum! Good luck with your tomatoes!
Here's my Seed Sowing Saturday post:
http://greenlovegrass.blogspot.com/
last week i started all my tomatoes and a bunch of other stuff too. this year i'm planting cherokee purple, abe lincoln (slicers), amish paste, and a cherry/grape type that the name for some reason has totally slipped my mind. LOL but only one variety of the other stuff.
We started Purple Calabash Tomatos yesterday and our leeks 🙂
I saw a comment you left on feedscaping. I was wondering how you find out if this was done to your own posts? I would love to know where to look. I have seen a post of mine in Turkey, but they linked back to my blog even though they took images and text from various posts to make a new one.
Hi Dave, Been reading your blog for a while, and thought I would join this seed sowing party. Here's my link:
http://bonneylassie.blogspot.com/2011/02/what-ive-been-doing-and-not-doing.html
I started my tomatoes this week, too. I quite agree that tomatoes are the star of the garden. I can't wait to taste my first tomato of the year!
Oddly enough, my old neighbor had a white poodle that she used to dye for holidays. It was red on Valentine's Day, green on St. Paddy's, and orange for Halloween!
My Seed Starting Saturday post: http://shannon-thegardenstate.blogspot.com/2011/02/tomatoes-and-transplants.html
I'm going to have to join in next week. It's so fun to get seeds started inside and watch them grow. We did start seeds this week and they seem to grow over night once they germinate. We have them set up in our laundry room and we're all checking on them every time we go out to the garage.
Thanks everyone for joining in! Some great posts!
I'm starting mine tomorrow. I'm trying the Cherokee plus I'll purchase a couple others. Sure hope I get some tomatoes this yr.
Looks exciting, Dave! 🙂
Sorry, I was mistaken on the "maters". I've started the Brandywine. Also purchased a Better Boy. Dave, will it be ok & produce as my helper {7 yrs} was trying & broke the top out.
Tomatoes in and going as of this weekend – last year I tried something new and came out with a real bumper crop. Not sure if it was a fluke or not but am trying again thi year: http://www.meliagardening.com