Sowing Tomatoes for planters

The Potty Gardener

I went to the garden centre this morning to buy my tomato seeds and was amused to find that all the staff were wearing tomatoes…on their noses! Well I felt that I had to try it for myself and I must say that it greatly enhances the experience of sowing tomatoes and I would recommend it to everyone.

Having learnt last week that it is important to identify with your plants I bought 3 different types of tomato seed to reflect different parts of my character:

Tumbler promise to be small, delicious and good in pots.

Artisan™bumblebee mix are colourful and go on giving.

Tomatillo’s (lime flavoured tomatoes that come in a Chinese lantern) are suffering from an identity crisis!

Sowing tomatoes

I sowed the seeds in seed trays and covered them with 6mm of compost. I then made some smart labels for the trays so that I could identify the seedlings as they appeared and bring them up according to their expectations. Finally I proudly placed them on my kitchen windowsill. However, someone (I won’t mention names, but it wasn't my cheeky chickens this time), helpfully removed the ‘little bits of paper’ from the seed trays so I now have no idea which is which. Someone says that it doesn’t matter, and anyway it is not politically correct to use labels at such an early stage in development!? 

Speaking of labels, Grandpa Haxnicks told me a marvellous fact that made my day- apparently the word tomato comes from an ancient Aztec word meaning ‘plump thing with a navel’. So when my tomato seedlings are ready to be transplanted into their pots or planters I will label them 'plump thing with a navel', and maybe even give some as a present to Grandpa Haxnicks reminding him that it is important for him to identify with his plants.