My greenhouse isn't ready yet but I'm still going to get a jump on my tomato plants this year *grin*. After lunch today I rounded up my youngest little helper and we went hunting for the leftover stash of jiffy sevens that I knew I'd tucked away somewhere last spring for safe keeping. You know, one of those super safe places that are so good you don't even remember where it was!
I love these little things :)
You drop the little discs of compressed soil into a little bit of hot water and they magically puff right up providing a lovely warm home for your new seeds.
My five year old is growing by leaps and bounds and becoming such a great little helper that this year I let him do all of the planting on his own. With supervision of course :)
He carefully opened up the top of each of the jiffy sevens and placed three tomato seeds onto the soil and covered them up very gently. I like to plant in groupings of three. That way if any of them die or don't come up then I've got backups!
I planted 9 seeds for each type of tomato and if all goes well I should have 54 tomato plants all together. Most likely I'll loose a few due to poor germination but this will provide a substantial amount of tomatoes compared to the few I did last year. I've got great plans of canning stewed tomatoes and tomato sauce again this year. Normally I just purchase cases of field tomatoes from local farmers for this task but I really want to use my own. They just taste oh so much better *grin*.
I tried to find varieties that were well suited to growing here on the coast or for canning purposes so I went with:
Bonny Best: a strong indeterminate plant with excellent flavor. Especially good for colder climates.
Rocket: medium sized fruit, fast maturing and grow well in the short season of the coastal BC and prairies.
Italian Heritage Roma: abundant harvest of thick walled tomatoes with few seeds, perfect for tomato sauce and paste.
Lisa King: large red beefsteak, good flavor and very productive. This was highly recommended.
Polish Paste: flavorful and meaty, good for tomato pastes.
German Red Strawberry: large 1lb fruits, good producer and canning tomato.
They're all organic, non gmo and some are heirloom varieties so I'm hoping to have a great crop :) If not I'll cull the ones we don't like and pick new ones next year *grin*.
Can't wait until they start to sprout out of the dirt!
Hugs,
Rosina
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6 comments:
How cool are those discs!! I am going to have to get some for the kids and I to plant!!
I wanted to let you know you won the drawing for the book giveaway yesterday!! Congratulations!! Please email me so that I can get Animal Vegetable Miracle to you!! Thanks! MJ
We use those little disk too. We got them that come in a flat with a cover.
I love the photo of those little hands poking seeds in.
I've never used those disks...but have wanted too. I think I'll grab some the next time we are out.
Today we are sowing our leeks, and kale and some lettuce and spinach and broccoli.
I order my seeds from WCS weeks ago and my order is still in progress. I'm unhappy because I NEED those seeds. :)
Love seeing M helping you out. Isaac would have pushed the seed right down to the bottom. Not the best helper...yet. :) xoxo
ps - Animal Vegetable Miracleis a FABULOUS book. Congrats.
those jiffy things are the coolest! thanks for sharing. i can't wait to grow my own tomatoes again. i hope i can set up house soon enough.
Yum...tomatoes! I want to do some little yellow cherry tomatoes this year.
Oh, I am so excited for your tomatoes!!! Yum, yum, yum! I'm dreaming of all the canning you can do with those beauties, too!
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