How to grow tomatoes- Part 4

The next step in the tomato growing process is staking. The rationale behind this is, once the actual tomatoes start growing, they become quite heavy, and will eventually weigh down the whole plant, which is not so good.  So, you have to stake your tomato plant to provide some support.  And, as our tomatoes will obviously be succulent and bountiful, and thus very heavy, our plants definitely need the support.

So...here's how our version of staking goes:

1) Go outside and find some sticks, roughly 3-5 feet in height that are sturdy and relatively straight and no wider than an inch in diameter.  You'll need one stick per plant.

Now, in our situation, we realized that sticks are actually extremely difficult, borderline impossible to find in the city.  So, when we ventured up to Vermont to go hiking one weekend, we decided to stock up on sticks.  Before we began the hike, I collected some absolutely perfect looking sticks and left them in a neat little pile at the bottom of the mountain, so we could pick them up on our way home.  But, when we returned later that day, THEY WERE GONE.  So we learned a valuable lesson that day: no matter where you are, whether it's New York City or the mountains of Vermont, sticks are, and always will be, in very high demand.

2) If you fail at Step 1, as we did, you can always just go to a hardware store and buy some "sticks."  These usually come in the form of bamboo or plastic.  When we took a trip to our local hardware store, look what we found!!

3) Buy a pet pig.

Just kidding! But wouldn't that be nice? Sigh....

4) Place each stake next to each tomato plant.  The stakes should be pushed about 6 inches into the soil- enough so that they can stand alone.  Take some string and gently tie each stake to it's corresponding tomato plant. I tied each tomato/stake combo together in 2 places- near the bottom of the plant and near the middle-top of the plant. 
 
Below you can check out my staking skills!

How to grow tomatoes- Part 3

Remember in my "How do grow tomatoes- part 2" post when I said that once the seedlings reach 5-6" in height they should be moved outside? That was, and definitely still is, good advice.  It is advice that I, in spite of having written it down, did not follow.  So our seedlings were...a little too big.  Some of them had outgrown their cartons, literally.  And some of the cartons were, after being moist for so long, (perhaps because of my overly enthusiastic watering), a little moldy.  However, despite the tight quarters, excessive watering, and furry growths, every single one of our seedlings was THRIVING!!!

Which of course left us with a huge problem:  we had roughly 75 seedlings ready to plant, and only enough space for about 4 full grown tomato plants.

I guess we didn't anticipate that we'd have such an amazing success rate.

And so, I did what I could:

First, I disposed of the more moldy/runty looking ones.  Sorry guys.

Second, I planted the healthiest looking ones wherever I could. Our original plan was to plant one tomato seedling into each giant pot (we have 4).  Instead, I planted 2 or 3 into each pot. (I figured they could handle the crowding, based on what they were already used to).  I also found more space in our upright beds, near the mesclun, and planted a few more there.  Then I found/purchased a few more pots and planted a few more.

Ideally, you would want to strategically place these tomato plants in the areas that get the most direct sunlight.  Obviously, that isn't exactly what happened in our case, given the circumstances, but I think most of our tomatoes ended up in fairly optimal spots.

That left about 25 seedlings without a permanent residence.  I left them in their little cartons outside, and thought about where I could plant them or who I could give them to.  I brainstormed for days, maybe a week, and by the time I went outside to check on them, my decision was already made. They were dead.  It was somewhat heartbreaking.  But it certainly made my life easier.  Off to the trash.

Lesson of the day: tomatoes seedlings are fairly indestructible, therefore don't plan hundreds of seeds unless you live on a farm.

How to sow seeds

This was, fortunately, extremely easy, especially in comparison to our efforts on the garden thus far.  Listed on our seed packets were instructions on how deep and how far apart to plant the seeds.  We simply read the directions. And about 15 minutes later, we sowed our seeds.

The only slightly odd thing we did was to create mounds of dirt in which to plant our squash and cucumber seeds. Why, you may ask? I actually have no idea. But Pat told us to do it, so we did it.  I think it has something to do with drainage....I was obviously not paying attention during this tutorial.

How to grow tomatoes- Tips

GROW LIGHTS

If you don't have an area in your house that gets abundant sunshine, try a grow light! They are very inexpensive and easy to set up.

As you can see from our photo here, we rigged up our grow light onto the bottom shelf of a book case.  We also added tin foil to the sides for added reflection.

PET YOUR PLANTS

Yes, you read that right. Because your tomatoes are inside, they have yet to experience wind.  By petting them, lightly petting them, you are simulating wind and thus making them stronger and more prepared to move outdoors. 

How to grow tomatoes- Part 2

1. Once your cute little seedlings grow their second set of leaves, they need to be thinned out and transplanted into larger containers. 
2. First, let's discuss thinning out. Because you planted 1-3 seeds per container, (in our case, we may have planted more like 10 seeds per container...whoops, don't do that) there's a chance that all 3 seeds have sprouted (again, in our case, we had some containers with all 10 seeds sprouted...we may have underestimated our growing abilities). So you need to literally thin out the seedlings, aka, separate the sprouts from each other so they can grow individually and not crowd each other. Do this CAREFULLY as the roots are very delicate.  I found it was easiest to scoop everything out of the container and then gently pull each sprout with it's roots apart from it's neighbor.
3. Next, re-plant each individual sprout into a larger container with potting soil. If you were like us and a little too generous with how many seeds you initially planted, you'll end up with lots of containers... so you'll have to be creative about finding places to put them...

   4.  Same as before, give them lots of water and sunshine.

   5.  Once your seedlings grow their third set of leaves, (they will be roughly 5-6" in height), they are

        ready to join the big leagues in the garden!

How to grow tomatoes- Part 1

We were told that tomato seeds are the only ones, of the ones we purchased, that we cannot plant directly into the ground of our garden as they are too fragile. Instead, we need to germinate them indoors (yea I said germinate, check ME out) until they become sturdy little sprouts, and only then can we transplant them to the outdoors. So, these were our steps for growing tomatoes:

1. Start with a series of small containers that can be functioned into a seed starter tray. You don't have to buy anything fancy (we ended up buying a proper seed starter tray but only because we happened to be at Home Depot and there was one staring us in the face). Dixie cups or egg cartons work just as well. Just make sure they are somewhat porous to allow for drainage, or you can poke a few small holes at the bottom.
2. Fill each container about 3/4 of the way full with seed starer soil.
3. Create 1/4" deep little indents into the soil.
4. Drop 1-3 seeds into the indent and GENTLY cover with soil. (I had trouble with the "gently cover" part which is why I'm emphasizing it here).
5. If you're growing more than one type of tomato (we are- Heirloom and Cherry) this is a good time to notate somewhere which container is growing what.
6. Water! The soil should stay moist, but not sopping. We had to water twice a day in order to keep the soil moist. A spray bottle of water is the best tool for this so you don't accidentally dump a ton of water on your delicate little seeds.
7. Keep the containers somewhere warm, about 75 F (above the refrigerator is actually a great spot).
8. It should take a week or so for them to sprout. Once you see little sprouts, move them to a place where they can get LOTS of sunlight. And don't forget to water!!