For those of us in Zone 5 this is the time of year when our green thumbs start to thaw out and we begin to prepare for the coming gardening season.
This year I plan to grow lots of tomatoes, so I wanted to start those from seed.
I have started 63 tomato plants. Even if you estimate only $1.50 for each plant buying them from a green house, on sale, that amount of plants would be nearly $100! All I needed was to purchase the tray refills (about $5 at Menards) the seeds ($4 total for all seeds) and soil ($3 at Menards). I already had the heating pads and lights. $12 invested means a savings of $88!
Here’s what I planted:
- Mortgage Lifter – At the recommendation of a coworker from the garden state of New Jersey I decided to try growing some “green shoulder” tomatoes. There has been a lot said about green shoulder tomatoes. My coworker describes it best in his wikipedia article on the topic: “The poor taste and lack of sugar in modern garden and commercial tomato varieties resulted from breeding of tomatoes which ripen uniformly red. This change occurred after discovery of a variety in the mid 20th century which ripened uniformly which was then widely cross-bred to produce attractive red fruit without the typical green ring surrounding the stem on uncross-bred varieties. Prior to general introduction of this trait tomatoes were able to produce more sugar during the process of ripening and were sweeter and more flavorful.”
Plants started: 15 - Roma – These tomatoes are well known for their qualities, meaty cores with low numbers of seeds. Great for canning, which is the end result of lots of our tomatoes.
Plants started: 21 - Rutgers – This is a good smaller tomato which are great on a salad. Larger than cherries smaller than marglobes.
Plants started: 6 - Marglobe – These are great for a burger. Early to ripen and medium sized tomato. Also can be sliced and eaten plain.
Plants started: 6 - Valley Greene Cherry– These are the just labeled as “heirloom cherry tomatoes.” Guess we’ll find out.
Plants started: 15
Here’s all the seeds in the ground. Already sprouted are the green peppers, which I started 2 weeks ago.
