Headstarting Your Tomatoes
 
There isn't any question that tomatoes are the most popular of all homegrown crops. They are grown by home gardeners of all climates all of over the world. In part, I suppose, because of the tremendous differences that exist in tastes between homegro wn tomatoes and those that we find in the supermarkets.  As I'm sure you've noticed, supermarket tomatoes have been bred to have thick skins and are, often, picked green. Neither of those contribute to good taste.

The three basic types of tomatoes are, of course, those that we slice for sandwiches, the sauce type tomatoes or plum tomatoes and the cherry tomatoes mostly eaten fresh off the vine or in salads.

Since tomatoes take a specific number of days to ripen, if you can give them a head start you will be eating fresh tomatoes sooner. Starting the seeds indoors about seven weeks before the night temperatures in your area remain consistently above 60 degrees can give you that head start.. Another way of calculating when to plant your new seedlings is to plant two weeks after your area's last projected frost.

When you plant the seeds, they should only be planted about 1/4 to 1/3 of an inch deep. When the seedlings first appear, thin them with small scissors to give the survivors some growing room.

Before you think its time to move them outside there is an important first step, "hardening off." Move the seedlings first to an unheated garage or outside but against a protective south wall of your house. Twenty-four hours later, move the flats or pots to the garden where you will be planting them. This process helps the tender seedlings acclimatize themselves to the outside world.

Now you're ready to plant. Pick the sunniest location you have. Hardly any plants you'll grow crave sunshine like tomatoes. Plant to space your babies about 18" apart. A neat thing about tomatoes is their ability to sprout roots all along the undergr ound stems. So if your seedlings are leggy, no problem. Plant them up to their second or third set of true leaves. You can trench them, lie them on their sides and the exposed top will quickly turn its face to the sun. You will benefit from the roots that will form all along the buried stems. I generally plant in groups of three or four.  Once they get going, thin all but the strongest in each group.

I've found it to be a good idea to protect your little beauties from cutworms by making paper collars for them. Once they get some growth you can remove the collars. It's just the tender little stems are an attractive target for the worms and not big enough to withstand more than a single bite.

Generally tomatoes are easy to take care of but be sure to water them whenever the soil feels dry more than an inch deep.

Tomatoes are heavy feeders so several times during the season plan to supplement nature with fertilizer. Be a little cautious about using fertilizer too rich in Nitrogen (the first number on the box) because our goal is fruit, not foliage.

One of the benefits of growing your own tomatoes from seed is the chance to pick superior varieties. My favorite tasting tomato, and that's why we are doing this, is the heirloom variety, 'Brandywine' or its twin 'Red Brandywine.' This is an ugly, lumpy big tomato that takes a long growing season to reach maturity. But once you've tasted it, you'll never again be satisfied with the tomatoes on sale at your grocery's produce department.
 
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David Soper, The Garden Guy, writes and lectures on gardening topics. Read more on his website, Adventures in Gardening, www.gardenguy.com