Repotting Tomato Seedlings

My tomato seedlings go through a series of repottings before they get planted in the garden. My goal is to have small sturdy healthy tomato plants by the time it’s warm enough to plant them outside.

Tomato seedlings seems to thrive on being repotted (unlike other plants), so I repot mine several times during the growing season. Each time I pot them I cut off the bottom 2 branches and bury those under the soil level. This way when it’s time to plant them I have a short tomato plant with a large root ball. If you look at a tomato seedling closely you’ll see lots of little hairs along it’s stem. Each of these will become a root if they come in contact with the soil.

Yesterday was a very productive day here at Chiot’s Run, I was able to repot about 70% of my tomato seedlings (since I currently have over 200 seedlings, that’s a lot of repotting).

I always like to do my repotting on a cloudy day, it seems to be much easier on the plants. Yesterday was perfect for repotting.

I always make sure I label each tomato pot when I repot it. I used to try to keep them organized in rows and only label the first one, but too many times I’ve had to wait until fruiting to know exactly what kind of tomato it was.

I just love the look of all the little plants. These plants signify a lot of delicious homegrown goodness!

Do you have a specific technique for repotting tomatoes or other seedlings?

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Heirloom Tomato Seeds from WinterSown

A couple weeks ago I found out about Winter Sown on Annie’s Kitchen Garden. Wintersown will send you free heirloom tomato seeds for nothing more than a self addressed stamped envelope. They have a list on their website and you choose 6 kinds that you would like and some alternates (in case they don’t have the ones you want). I was super excited when I looked through their list because they had Tumbling Tom as one of their options and Principe Borghese as well. I was hoping to find Tumbling Tom tomatoes because I want to try growing them in hanging baskets on my front porch. Principe Borghese are superb drying tomatoes, so I was hoping to find these to dry for winter use.

I sent off my SASE last week and I received my seeds on Monday. When I opened up my envelope I was delighted to not only find my first 6 choices of seeds, but some of my alternate choices as well and some cucumber and parsley seeds.

They also included a brochure with directions on how to save your own seeds and they encourage you to send in your saved seeds so they can give them to others. What a great idea! I have saved tomato seeds for a few years, it’s super easy. This summer I saved a few from some farmer’s market tomatoes. I made sure to ask if they were heirloom plants. I’ll have to save a bunch and send in my extras this fall.

What seeds did I receive?

Cherokee Purple ~ Deep, dark rose-tone beefsteak, known for great flavor, most fruits over a half pound, IND, about 80 DTM

Cold Set ~ Canadian saladette has red fruits up to four ounces, fast and early, DET, about 65 DTM

Tumbling Tom ~ Loads of red cherries on dwarf plants are perfect for pots or hanging containers, DET, about 70 DTM

Costoluto Genovese ~ Italian heirloom has ribbed fruits, about 5 – 7 ounces, IND, 90 DTM

Roller Coaster Cherry Tomato Mix ~ Delicious and colorful blend made from varieties of cherry, pea, currant, wild types and rarities; 10+ seeds per pack, IND, 70 – 85+ DTM

Azoychka ~ Lemon-yellow beefsteaks can weigh about a half-pound, yummy early cropper, IND, 70+ DTM

Principe Borghese ~ great drying tomato, DET, about 75 DTM

White Beauty ~ Creamy white, meaty and delicious, most about a half pound, IND, 85 DTM

Kitchen Herb: Parsley

Marketmore Cucumber

I’m super excited about trying all these different kinds of tomatoes.  I really want to grow San Marzano as well, but those may have to wait till next year.  I’ll be starting these seeds in a month or two and I’ll probably give all the extra plants to my mom.  I’ll keep you posted on how they do.

What are you favorite tomato varities?  Have you ever saved seeds from you tomatoes?

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Tomato Soup Success

I finally settled on a tomato soup recipe, I chose this one for it’s simplicity. On Sunday evening I made up a batch and canned 13 pints (I did can for longer than the recipe stated, I think the canning times may be a bit outdated, I water bath canned my pints for 35 minutes, I also added 1/2 cup of lemon juice to the soup). So how does it taste – deliciously local!

This will be perfect for a quick meal this winter, accompanied by a grilled cheese of course (but no Kraft or Velveeta here, ours are made with local cheddar from Heini’s or from Colonial Classics Farmstead Cheese (raw milk cheese that’s super local, only a few miles away) on homemade sourdough of course)

I will probably still make Roasted Tomato Garlic Soup, but I plan on making a small batch just for eating and perhaps freezing. I was reluctant to make a huge batch and pressure can it for 70 minutes and risk not liking it. If I have a chance I’ll do that this week and let you know if it’s worth the time.

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Tomato Soup Recipe Anyone?

Anyone out there have a great recipe for tomato soup to can? Mr Chiots and I love tomato soup for a quick meal and I’d like to get away from the canned stuff and go local. I found a few on-line for Roasted Tomato Soup and a Spiced Tomato Soup and this one for regular Tomato Soup. Just wondering if any of my readers had a great recipe they’d like to share? I’m planning on making a few different kinds to see which one we like best.

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Empty Promises

Here is NE Ohio frost will be arriving soon. Now I love winter, there’s just something about a hot bowl of oatmeal on a frosty morning. The only think I don’t like about winter is the lack of fresh tomatoes and other fresh green veggies. Especially now that Mr Chiots and I are trying to eat locally, I foresee a winter lacking in green things. Now don’t get me wrong, we will be eating veggies this winter, they’ll just be frozen ones from the garden or squash that stores well. We didn’t even come close to preserving enough food for us to last the winter, so I’m sure some California produce will be making it’s way onto our place (probably some steamed broccoli).

I think what I am most sad about is the lack of fresh homegrown tomatoes. I have only bought tomatoes a few times at the grocery and they are sad little things, not really fit for eating. So I’m trying to get the most out of my tomato harvest this year. I have canned a bunch of tomatoes and I plan on buying more at the farmer’s market this weekend for even more canned goodness.

I think I should be able to get a few more ripe tomatoes out of my plants. How? Well, I’ve read that if you pick all the large green or partially ripened fruit and trim all the growing tips off the plants you will get more mature tomatoes off your plants that you can harvest and ripen inside well into November. Since I have a ton of green tomatoes on my plants still, I’m going to give it a shot.

So yesterday I went out and picked all the largest ripening tomatoes. I also clipped off all of the growing tips of the plants. It was tough cutting off all of the new blossoms knowing that if given enough time these would have become delicious tomatoes. When I was done I had 6 pounds of greenish fruit and a bucketful of tomato cuttings.

It is sad cutting off all of the flowers knowing that if given enough time they would turn into delicious tomatoes. Oh well, anything to get a few more ripe tomatoes from my vines. Not all is lost though, the clippings made it into my compost pile to become plant food next year.

So what about you, what food will you miss most some winter?

For more info on pruning tomato vines visit Fine Gardening.

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