This weekend I ran into a few problems with getting my tomato seeds into the dirt.  The first being that I was out of dirt.  We’re being really careful where each and every dollar is going right now, so I really had to weigh whether or not it was a good time to buy a new bag of potting mix.  I decided it was, and Andy stopped and picked some up for me.  Then, with dirt in hand, I had to dig around the house to find something to plant the seeds in.  Lol.  My seed starting trays are all occupied at the moment with beautifully starting seeds.  Some of those, I actually need to transplant today to a larger container, but the problem of the moment was where to plant tomatoes.

After having success with the plastic drink cups a few weeks back, I went to grab some more of those when I decided to grab the paper cups instead.  I was thinking there that I could just write on the cups then what was going in them.  Then, after I chose the cups, I needed something to set them in to catch water for watering purposes. Gosh, I really need to bulk up my gardening supplies.   This time, I ended up grabbing an aluminum roasting pan from the basement.  I poked drain holes in the bottom of my cups, filled them 3/4 of the way with dirt and set them in the pan.  Then I very carefully started getting out the seeds- I wanted to be sure which seeds went in which cup, and I really had to think about how many I wanted to start.  I have 12 varieties going- most of them I only want one plant for myself, and the rest are meant to be shared with anyone who wants them.

You may be reading this asking if it’s worth the trouble to start my own tomato seeds when I can just go to the garden center and buy a few plants. Well, first of all, a packet of 25 seeds is about $2.50 average for the seeds.  A plant costs at least that for just one plant.  So cost wise it makes more sense.  I am also all about growing real tomatoes.  I don’t want the Better Boys and the Celebrity tomatoes that everyone else is growing because they just don’t taste as good to me. I want to grow heirloom tomatoes- the ones that are different in each and every way.  Some have more seeds, some have more juice, some have more pulp, and they all have a different color, which is fun too.  Each one also has a unique flavor- they’re not just tomatoes, they’re something special, and I enjoy each and every one.  I also enjoy the process, oddly enough.  Last year was the first time I ever started tomatoes, and it was so exciting to watch them sprout, and grow and turn into tomato plants.

So the tomatoes have been started.  Now we’ll see how long they take to germinate in the greenhouse.