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Hey shoe, I like your writing style.
I love to garden, but have never done too well with tomatoes. How do I get seeds or plants of the 2 tomatoe plants you mentioned in your article? Also can you tell how you grow your tomatoes from seed to plant to harvest? Im in Montana in zone 4b-5. Thanks again!
They not only have a great assortment of both tomato and pepper seeds but have a fantastic reputation for maintaining their seed purity.
As for growing from seed to harvest, that would have to be quite a detailed and long post, much too involved at this time. (Perhaps that can be covered in future articles?)
Very briefly though, start your seeds in a sterile seed starting mix (I recommend Metro Mix or Promix, available at most garden centers.) Best soil temperature for germination will be around 70º although anywhere between 60-85º should be fine.
Once the plants "declare" give them plenty of light and grow on at cooler temperature, 65º would be perfect! When their true leaves appear I'd recommend moving the plants into bigger pots (I used 4 inch pot but you can also use 12-16 ounce paper cups with a couple holes punched in the bottom for drainage). The seedlings can be planted right up to their leaves.
That should get you started for when the time comes, and that time should be around 6-8 weeks before your planting out date (no longer or you'll end up with spindly plants).
As time allows perhaps we can continue this more in-depth. As for now you might also like to check out a book by Carolyn Male (a wonderful heirloom tomato guru) called "100 Heirloom Tomatoes for the American Garden". Not only does it have seed starting tips/growing but has wonderful pictures of various tomatoes, their history, growth habits, etc. I can't say enough good things about that book or about Carolyn herself!
Thank-you for the quick response. I understand the time constraint situation! You gave me some food to work with and thanks for the link to tomatoe growers supply. DM
You're welcome, DM. Hope to hear back from you as to how things are going. And please feel free to ask questions should you need to. Or just post and brag a bit on how things are going for ya! :>)
fireant, to find your planting out date, especially for tomatoes/peppers/squash, you can either contact your local Ag office (they'll even have free handout literature for you!) and ask them when your last frost is or you can ask at your local garden centers/nurseries. (Although I was born in Florida I'm sorry I am just not familiar with your area, weather, plant-out times.)
