First Sign of a Tomato - Week 9, Day 63

Last weekend, I got my first sight of a tomato forming. Now a week later, I have over 20! Start looking in the middle of the flowers for a little green tomato. Pretty exciting!

Types of Tomato Leaves

There are 2 basic types of tomato leaves, potato (PL) and regular (RL). When you are planting different heirloom tomatoes it is important to make sure that the seeds you have gotten are what's advertised. In the few I am planting this year, the Brandywine Sudduth Strain is the only potato leaf. More information can be found on gardenweb about tomato leaves.
PLs are more rounded.

How To Plant Tomato Plants In The Ground

Planting tomatoes is very similar to planting anything else with one small exception. It's a good idea to trim the bottom few sets of leaves off and plant the tomato deeper in the ground. You can see on the picture small spikes coming off the stem. These will turn into roots!

1. Trim with gardening sheers the lower few sets of leaves

2. Dig hole and measure height up to new lowest branch

3. Remove from pot. This seems easier with the plant is dry. 

4. Plant and cover with soil up to new lowest branch

5. Water

If you are going to support your tomato plants with a stake go ahead and put it in the ground so you don't damage the roots later.

That's it. There are tons of youtube videos on how to do this and sometimes it's better to watch than read.

Note for next year: Peat Pots might not be such a great idea. The roots can grow into the side of the pots and get stuck. Plastic pots might be better plus you can reuse them and not have to waste $.

Edit: The small spikes/hairs coming off of the tomato stem are called Trichomes. From wikipedia: "Hairs on plants are extremely variable in their presence across species, location on plant organs, density (even within a species), and therefore functionality. However, several basic functions or advantages of having surface hairs can be listed. It is likely that in many cases, hairs interfere with the feeding of at least some small herbivores and, depending upon stiffness and irritability to the "palate", large herbivores as well. Hairs on plants growing in areas subject to frost keep the frost away from the living surface cells. In windy locations, hairs break-up the flow of air across the plant surface, reducing evaporation. Dense coatings of hairs reflect solar radiation, protecting the more delicate tissues underneath in hot, dry, open habitats. And in locations where much of the available moisture comes from cloud drip, hairs appear to enhance this process."
The roots that come out of the stem are called adventitious roots. From wikipedia: "Adventitious roots arise out-of-sequence from the more usual root formation of branches of a primary root, and instead originate from the stem, branches, leaves, or old woody roots. They commonly occur in monocots and pteridophytes, but also in many dicots, such as clover (Trifolium), ivy (Hedera), strawberry (Fragaria) and willow (Salix). Most aerial roots and stilt roots are adventitious. In some conifers adventitious roots can form the largest part of the root system."

All Grown Up - Week 7, Day 49

Well, well, well...The plants have grown up and I have procrastinated. I will soon post an entry on how to plant the plants in the garden. Meanwhile, I realized Green Zebra is not a true heirloom. Stay tuned for more on heirloom tomatoes plus a post on potato leaf versus regular leaf.

Miracle-Gro - Week 4, Day 29

Nothing that new this week. The plants are growing up before my eyes. I used Miracle-Gro Tomato Plant Food mixed in with my water this weekend. I have read bad reviews of Miracle-Gro but my experiences have only been positive.

Update - Week 3, Day 21

Well, I'm already not living up to my promise. I took the pictures on Sunday but was too lazy to post (it's Tuesday now). I have done a pretty poor job of tracking my original plants but of the total I have planted and have physically made it so far (ones that survived the dogs and umbrella incidents) only 3 turned out to be duds. I think that's a pretty good germination rate.
Today I'd like to talk/post/quote wikipedia about the first 2 leaves called Cotyledon leaves. Here is the except from wikipedia:

A cotyledon (pronounced /ˌkɒtəl.ˈiːdən/; "seed leaf" from Greek: κοτυληδών kotylēdōn, from κοτύλη kotýlē "cup, bowl") is a significant part of the embryo within the seed of a plant. Upon germination, the cotyledon may become the embryonic first leaves of a seedling. The number of cotyledons present is one characteristic used by botanists to classify the flowering plants(angiosperms). Species with one cotyledon are called monocotyledonous (or, "monocots") and placed in the class Liliopsida. Plants with two embryonic leaves are termed dicotyledonous ("dicots") and placed in the class Magnoliopsida.

In the case of dicot seedlings whose cotyledons are photosynthetic, the cotyledons are functionally similar to leaves. However, true leaves and cotyledons are developmentally distinct. Cotyledons are formed during embryogenesis, along with the root and shoot meristems, and are therefore present in the seed prior to germination. True leaves, however, are formed post-embryonically (i.e. after germination) from the shoot apical meristem, which is responsible for generating subsequent aerial portions of the plant.

I find that pretty interesting and as you can see from the picture the first true leaves are forming!!!

Status: Truckin'

Part 2 Small Setbacks - Week 2, Day 16

As you know I planted half my seeds week 0 and then half week 1. The 1st batch I put in my fire pit which protects them from my dogs. The 1st half filled up the entire pit so the 2nd half was put on the ground. Big mistake! It got attacked by my dogs so I replanted. After learning my mistake, I moved the newly replanted 2nd half into my wheelbarrow away from the dogs. Today a freak accident happened. Our umbrella was knocked over by the wind and hit the wheelbarrow spilling 4 of my 2nd half seedling. Planting #4 will take place by the end of the week. It looks like a Yellow Pear, 2 Kellogg's Breakfast,  and a Green Zebra got taken out. Oh well, it's still early.

Brain Rot Not Seed Rot - Week 2, Day 15

As soon as I hit publish post on my last entry on Friday, I noticed a couple stems bending about to pop up. Today, Sunday, there are 9 tiny tomato plants poking above the ground of the first 14 I planted. I guess patience is a virtue I don't have.

The second set I planted is a week behind so I hope to see a few more break ground any day now.

Status: relieved, hopeful for the 5 slow starters.

Black Thumb - Week 1, Day 12

Well it's now almost been 2 weeks and I still have cups off dirt with no sign of tomato plants. Looks like I messed up. Did I plant the seeds too deep? (probably) Did the storm the day after cause seed rot? (maybe) Did I plant them a week too early? Were the seeds bad? Who knows?
It's supposed to rain tonight so maybe tomorrow afternoon I will attempt Tomato Launch #2. Same blog same place. I found this website about planting seeds that looks like a winner: http://www.reneesgarden.com/articles/grow-tomato.htm
Status: sad, but still optimistic. I have seeds left.

Week 0 - Part 1

Yesterday I planted about half of the tomato seeds due to the fact I didn't buy enough Jiffy-Pots. Here's how I planted the seeds:

1) Put Miracle-Gro Seed Starting Potting Mix into Jiffy-Pots.

2) Dampen the soil with water.

3) Make a small hole about 1/4 inch (1 centimeter) deep.

4) Add seed.

5) Rake a little soil in hole and cover with a little more potting mix.

6) Water a bit more and then sit in sun.

All went as planned until I missed counted the number of Jiffy-Pots I needed and then it rained (poured) all night into the next day.

I try and use the biggest pot at first (Jiffy-Pot 5) because I don't like transporting my plants in to bigger pots. These pots are bio-degradable but I plan on pealing the shell off before planting again or for good.

Planted so far: Aussie, Black Cherry, Black Krim, Brandywine, Dagma's Perfection

Week -1

Last year, I started with 5 tomato seeds of the same type and 3 came to fruition. This year I am going to plant 10 different varieties of heirloom tomato seeds and try to grow 3 of each type for a grand total of 30 plants! (Yes, I am probably nuts.)

I ordered a pack of Gary's Favorites (Aussie, Black Cherry, Black Krim, Brandywine [Suddath's Strain], Dagma's Perfection, Flamme', Green Zebra, Kellogg's Breakfast) plus Super Snow White and Beam's Yellow Pear from TomatoFest.

My goal is to post once a week with my progress (including pictures) and write a little info about each of the heirloom tomatoes I am growing along the way. I hope you will enjoy the journey or at least I will be able to look back on this many years from now and laugh about it.

Note: I just received my tomato seeds in the mail today and look forward to getting started this week/weekend.

Last Year

I learned a whole lot last year. I had no idea my tomato plants would be 6 FEET TALL!!! I thought I was growing a little tomato bush. WRONG! Along the way I figure this out and successfully grew some big beef size tomatoes. This year I'll be bringing you along for the ride.

Why?

Why am I blogging about growing tomatoes?

I tried to get my wife to start a blog because I thought I had a great idea for her and it could be something fun to do. While attempting to encourage her to start a blog, she turned the tables and said, "Why don't you start a blog?" So here I am...

Why tomatoes?

I'm not exactly sure how this started, but last year I decided I would try and grow tomatoes. It was probably an impulse buy at the grocery store and after learning a whole bunch and growing 3 successful plants I am back at it. I like tomatoes and I find growing fruits and vegetables fascinating.