A Tomato with Flavor
Visit the grocery store and you can find organic tomatoes, hydroponic tomatoes, tomatoes still on a bit of vine—every kind of tomato except one that tastes and smells like a real tomato, the home-grown variety. If you’ve never had a home-grown tomato, there’s no way to describe the taste and smell except by analogy: store-bought is like a postcard, home-grown is like being there.
Besides the great taste, there's pride in growing something yourself. I’ve found that tomatoes are among the easiest plants to start from seed. You don’t need a greenhouse or a grow light, just a seed tray, potting mix, some seeds, and a sunny, sheltered place outdoors to put the tray. Yes, outdoors, in a few weeks if you’re in zone 5: it’s called "winter sowing."
Fill the cells in the tray with the potting mix, plant the seeds according to directions on the packet, water, cover with a bag or tray cover, and set outdoors. Once the seeds sprout, make sure they have some ventilation. You can bring them in during especially cold nights, but I usually set them back outside the next day.
By mid-May, winter sown tomato plants are a few inches high—a fraction of the size of the tomato plants for sale. But they’re hardy and they quickly catch up to the big $5 plants from the store. A few years ago, my father planted some of my winter-sown tomatoes along with some tomato plants he bought. The winter-sown ones stood up to weather that ruined the others. He didn’t think the tiny plants would amount to much, but once the weather turned hot, they grew fast and started setting fruit.
After what you believe is the last frost, plant the tomatoes in full sun, spacing them according to the directions on the packet. They’ll be tiny then, but they’ll grow. Dig a big hole and loosen the soil so that the roots have room to spread. If you have really sandy or heavy clay soil, add some compost to it. Once they’re are planted, keep some pots or buckets handy to cover them in case it snows. Don’t overwater, since tomatoes seem to like it just a little on the dry side; I find that two soakings per week suits them.
A few years ago, I had tomato plants that looked great, but weren’t setting fruit. I knew tomatoes grew well during hot days—and it was very hot that summer—but they also needed cool nights, below 70 degrees. I’d planted them close to the house; a spot farther away might have been cooler. Once the nights cooled off, tiny green fruits appeared.
Once the days cool off as well, you can cut off the tomato plants from the roots and hang the vines inside for the fruit to ripen. They may look like the ones on the vine in the store. But yours will have something those don't: flavor.
Besides the great taste, there's pride in growing something yourself. I’ve found that tomatoes are among the easiest plants to start from seed. You don’t need a greenhouse or a grow light, just a seed tray, potting mix, some seeds, and a sunny, sheltered place outdoors to put the tray. Yes, outdoors, in a few weeks if you’re in zone 5: it’s called "winter sowing."
Fill the cells in the tray with the potting mix, plant the seeds according to directions on the packet, water, cover with a bag or tray cover, and set outdoors. Once the seeds sprout, make sure they have some ventilation. You can bring them in during especially cold nights, but I usually set them back outside the next day.
By mid-May, winter sown tomato plants are a few inches high—a fraction of the size of the tomato plants for sale. But they’re hardy and they quickly catch up to the big $5 plants from the store. A few years ago, my father planted some of my winter-sown tomatoes along with some tomato plants he bought. The winter-sown ones stood up to weather that ruined the others. He didn’t think the tiny plants would amount to much, but once the weather turned hot, they grew fast and started setting fruit.
After what you believe is the last frost, plant the tomatoes in full sun, spacing them according to the directions on the packet. They’ll be tiny then, but they’ll grow. Dig a big hole and loosen the soil so that the roots have room to spread. If you have really sandy or heavy clay soil, add some compost to it. Once they’re are planted, keep some pots or buckets handy to cover them in case it snows. Don’t overwater, since tomatoes seem to like it just a little on the dry side; I find that two soakings per week suits them.
A few years ago, I had tomato plants that looked great, but weren’t setting fruit. I knew tomatoes grew well during hot days—and it was very hot that summer—but they also needed cool nights, below 70 degrees. I’d planted them close to the house; a spot farther away might have been cooler. Once the nights cooled off, tiny green fruits appeared.
Once the days cool off as well, you can cut off the tomato plants from the roots and hang the vines inside for the fruit to ripen. They may look like the ones on the vine in the store. But yours will have something those don't: flavor.
posted by Lori Miller at 10:40 PM
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