Getting tomatoes ready to garden

We were down at our son's a week ago or so having a piece of angel food cake with peanut butter frosting. My birthday had been that week, so we were celebrating. Our son asked if I had some seeds planted. I told him I hadn't, but was fixing to. I would like to get some tomato plants ready to plant around March 15 or so. But to get them ready, I have to get the seeds planted about eight to nine weeks before March 15 which is about now. So now is a good time to get some tomato plants started by planting the seed.

However, unless you are going to protect the tomato seedlings when planted in March, they will freeze. Our last frost date here in Scott City is around April 15, but we can get frost clear up into May. So tomato plants planted March 15 will need at least a month of extra care. When we plant our tomatoes in March, we will plant them in our high tunnels and then plan on covering them with a frost blanket when temps get too low. If we plant the tomatoes in our outside garden, we will plant them in walls of water or frost protectors. Both ways will work.

Almost any tomato variety can be started and planted early. However, none of them, except a select few, will set fruit until the night time temps stay above 55 degrees or so. Last year we tried Moskvich for the first time. We also planted an old standby called Stupice. Stupice is a superb, early tomato which will produce both in the high tunnels and in an outside garden. Tomatoes will be range from about 1 inch up to about 2 inches. Moskvich also did a good job. It produced a lot of fair-sized, 2-inch tomatoes, but I didn't think it was sweet enough. So we'll grow more Stupice and no Moskvich. However, we are going to try Oregon Spring. Oregon Spring is a really early determinate, so we will plant it and see how it tastes. Tomatoes are supposed to be around the 1.5- to 2-inch size, so decent-size tomatoes. We'll see!

I buy seed starting mix from one of the garden supply centers. Each one is a little bit different so you'll have to check them out until you come up with your favorite. I plant my tomato seeds in a 5-by-5-by-2-inch seed flat. I first put about 1 inch of seed starter in the bottom of the seed flat. I then scatter tomato seed on top of the starter mix. If you only want a dozen plants, then plant 15 seeds or so. I normally plant about 50 seeds in the 5-by-5-by-2-inch flat. Then sprinkle just enough starter mix over the seeds to cover them. Maybe an 1/8-inch or so. Then you will need to water them in. I take a water bottle and burn a bunch of holes in the lid with a real small brad. That's what I use. Dampen the seed starter, but don't drown it. Place a piece of clear plastic over the seed flat to keep the moisture in.

Plants should start coming up in three or four days. Once the plants are up about 1/4-inch or so, you will need to get a light over them. I use a cheap shop light -- a 4-foot two-bulb fluorescent light fixture. Prop it up so that the light is about a 1/2-inch or so above the top of the little tomato plants. And as the plants grow keep raising the light, keeping it just above the tops of the tomato plants. Once the tomato plant is about 2 to 3 inches tall, I transplant them into individual 2-by-2 pots. Be sure to keep the light close to the plants or they will get real spindly and leggy and won't be worth a flip. If you have trouble, give me a shout. Maybe we can figure it out.

I'll start my early tomatoes mid-January to plant in March. The next bunch of tomatoes we'll get started mid-February so we can plant them mid-April. Mid-April is about when we can plan on being frost-free. Listen to the radio mid-April, and if the 10-day forecast is good, then one can plant. The tomato plants we start in February are Big Beef, Jet Star, Mountain Merit and Celebrity. All four are good tasting tomatoes with Mountain Merit being the firmest of the four. Normally we will plant these in the high tunnels, but all four of them make darn good outside garden tomatoes. These four are hybrids. We plan on planting them mid-April to the end of April.

The last bunch of tomatoes we will start will be around March 1 with an expected planting date of May 1. If you can get your tomatoes planted May 1 you should have tomatoes for your July 4 dinner. Tomatoes take about two months from planting the seed until they are ready to transplant, and it takes about two months from transplanting them to picking one's first tomato.

This last bunch of tomatoes will include German Johnson, Kellog's, Pearl Plum, Chef's Choice, Ivan, Mountain Merit, Dr. Wyche, etc. Most of these are heirlooms. Most of them will be really nice big tomatoes that should average about a pound apiece. Some are yellow and some red and some bicolor. Really good tomatoes.

There is one simple thing you can do though. Plan on planting a couple, three early tomatoes like Stupice. Stupice is supposed to have tomatoes ready to pick 52 to 55 days later from planting the seed to picking a ripe tomato. I would say 65 or 70 days. If you get your Stupice seed planted this month, keep lights on them until March, plant them mid- to late-March, and cover when it's supposed to frost, you will be picking May tomatoes. I don't think you will be able to find Stupice tomato plants, so you will have to start your own.

Always fun getting some seeds in the ground and dreaming about gardening. Happy gardening.