Starting Tomato and Potato Seeds. 2.23.2021

 Recovering from hospitalization, and raining outside, so no outdoor gardening for a while.  I planted some tomato and potato seeds today.

Here are the varieties that I'm trying this year:

Potato Seeds - I never grew potatoes from actual seeds before. I'm skeptical.  However, I like to try new things in the garden.  Potatoes from seeds as opposed to "seed potatoes" that are actual small potato slices, have these advantages:  The seeds store well, so I can buy in advance.  Supposedly not carriers of diseases that the potato slices can carry.  They have disadvantages:  Probably smaller potatoes.  Unknown entity at this time.  Limited selection.  No standard varieties, because those won't come true from seeds and some apparently wont even make seeds.  I'm trying the F1 hybrid "Clancy".  The seeds are pelleted and sold in a vial, in a typical seed envelope.  I've only planted six cells, four seeds each.

Tomatoes - This year I'm just growing one of each variety, but more varieties.  Those "Bodaceous" that I grew last year were awful, tasteless, not productive.  So not this year.  I'm growing some Russian varieties that are supposedly more likely to grow and produce in my cooler, shorter season climate.  Also, I think these Russian tomatoes are not hybrids so are candidates for me to save seeds this fall.  It's too early to start sauce tomatoes, these are just cherry, salad, and slicing tomatoes.

Muscovich - a 4-6 ounce slicing tomato, early (60 days), indeterminate, Russian.  info from Victory Seeds:  "Developed in the early 1970s at the famous N. I. Vavilov Institute of Plant Industry, Moscow, U.S.S.R"

Golden King of Siberia- a large, oxheart shaped slicing tomato, indeterminate, mid season (80 days), Russian, disease resistant,

Purple Russian - also called Ukranian Tomato brought back from Irma Henkle, according to multiple websites, indeterminate, mid season, 5-7 ounce.  The photos look like a paste tomato.

Lemon Boy - I like this yellow slicer.  I've been looking for seeds for years. Adaptable, disease resistant hybrid, indeterminate 7-8   ounces, midseason (72 days).

Sugar Rush - Cherry tomato.  Indeterminate.  53 days.  3/4" to 1-1/4" fruits.

Braveheart - 1 ounce cherry tomatoes described as crack resistant, which is good because my usual sungold and supersweet-100 crack and split.  60 days.

Unicorn - included free in seed order.  Indeterminate, described as "coctail tomatoes" but look like cherry tomatoes to me, 76 days.

Early Goliath - I've seen these offered and never tried them.  I'm hoping for an early sandwich slice tomato.  Disease resistant hybrid, 8 ounce which is a good size for me, 56 days, indeterminate.

Better Boy - I grow these every year.  Midwest-type big  hybrid tomato that is what I think when I think of garden tomato.  70 to 75 days, disease resistant.

Classic Beefsteak - heirloom 1-2 pound fruit, from Baker Creek.  I got these because they are not hybrid, so if they do OK might save the seeds.  

Yellow Volunteer Cherry Tomato - this was a yellow volunteer cherry tomato in my garden last year.  It didn't get water or plant food and was crowded by other plants.  I thought I would save some seeds and see what happens.  It was a smaller plant, actually tasted as good as any cherry tomato.

This was the vial of pelleted potato seeds.  I've never seen seeds packaged like this before.  Interesting and handy.

Starting More Seeds Indoors. 2.11.19

 Here are the seeds that I started yesterday.  It's too early for tomato seeds. I wanted to test them, and also see how they do in the sunroom.

The Supersweet 100 seeds are from 2015, as are the Sunny Boy hybrid.  The Brandy Boy seeds are from 2018.  If any don't germinate, there is plenty of time to try again.

I'm also teying again with the peppers that did not germinate 2 or 3 weeks ago, and trying a very early start of some perennials, Ridbeckia, Echinacea, and  Goldenrod.  Interesting, the goldenrod seeds were so tiny, they were like fine dust.

Seedlings - tomatoes, peppers, some brassicas, and onions. 3.31.18.

 The tomatoes, peppers, and brassicas germinated nicely.  They are under lights in a West window.

I always plant several seeds per cell.  I thinned to 1 or 2 plants per cell.  When they are a little larger, I may separate some into 2 plants for further growing.

The Brassicas (collard greens and brussels sprouts) are a little leggy.

 I may try again outside.

The onions seedlings that I started 2 months ago didn't do as well.  I was not able to give them the attention that I wanted to then.  Still, they look OK, so I planted them in the garden bed. 

Starting Seeds. 3.15.18

 Now the seeds are tucked away into a seed starting tray.  I like to start peppers now or a little earlier, and tomatoes a little later, but there is flexibility and you never know what the weather will do.

This time I tried 3 different types of sauce tomatoes, which I process and freeze in the summer and freeze for winter use.  I go through a lot of those.  "Roma" and "San Marzano" always seems to have a lot of blossom end rot, which none of the others have.  Last year I added more lime, but there was still blossom end rot.  So this year I'm trying 3 other types of paste tomatoes: "Big Mama" hybrid from Burpee, and "Ranger F1" and "Heinz 2653" from Territorial seeds.  I'm holding on cherry tomatoes, because there are always lots of started plants of those in the Spring anyway.  There are also my favorite, "Better Boy", and some others for early crop ("Beaver Lodge 6808 and Glacier") which did seem earlier last year, and some experiments.

 For peppers, my favorites last year were the Jalapenos, which were productive and earlier than some of the other chilis. I'm trying a different one, sold as "Early Jalapeno",  I had too many cayennes, so just one cell of those, and Sweet Banana, Bird Thai, Mini Bells, King of the North, Peter Pepper, and Tabasco.  I think the Tabascos are later but would like to make Tabasco sauce this year if they do produce.

I also threw in some hybrid Collards (Hi Crop F1) and Brussels Sprouts (Franklin F1).  I've never grown Brussels Sprouts before, and I don't know when they are best planted, but it wont hurt to experiment.

Starting Seeds. 4/11/17

 Started seeds today.  This is later than I usually do.  I'm not sure there is an advantage to the really early start, especially for semi-tropicals like tomatoes.  They sit in the cold ground, sulk, and sometimes never have the vigor that later starts have.  This year I was not as enthusiastic in March, so here we are.  A lot of the packets are old.  I don't know about those 10-year old Celebrity tomato seeds.  That was my mom's favorite type.  No loss if they don't grow.

I usually try some reliable well established varieties that I know will do well, and some experiments.  The experiments are tomatoes, San Marzano (Roma type), Beaver Lodge and Glacier (early Northwest types), Longkeeper (one to keep for ripening past the normal potato season), Black Vermisssage, and Atomic. 

I also bought some Tomatillo Amaryllo, which might not be suitable for our cool and fairly short summer, but you never know.

My favorite tomato is Better Boy.  My favorite cherry tomato is SuperSweet 100. 


I had 2 types of collar green seeds, so I'll grow both and see how they do.    The collards from last year survived the winter, and the spring leaves are excellent to add to salads.  No holes from cabbage moths, they are crisp and mild.

Next to find the pepper seeds.