As a backyard gardener, I have been struggling with my tomato crops, of all things. We don’t require a lot of tomatoes, just enough for some sandwich and salad makings, and maybe a few to can. The past two years have not been good.
Two summers ago I bought some small plants from a nursery and they grew mightily, plant-wise. They grew so tall I thought maybe they were tomatoes of the Jack and the Beanstalk variety. As large as the plants were, I got very few actual tomatoes, and before I could pick those, the squirrels performed a little cosmetic surgery on most every one, so it was basically a bust season for the lovely red vegetables – or are they fruits?
Last spring, before I bought any plants, I noticed dozens of volunteer tomatoes sprouting. Hmmm! Maybe since these were “natives” they would do better. So I bought one plant from Lowe’s and let the others grow naturally. As I am wont to do, however, I had too many plants in too small an area, and it was a mess. Plus, every single volunteer was a grape tomato plant, and after you eat 300 or 400, that’s enough of those little fellows. My one regular plant finally produced 10 or 12 edible tomatoes, but overall, it was another bust year.
This spring I decided to grow my own tomatoes from seed and they have done remarkably well. I used a product called Jiffy Peat Pellets, small, golf-ball size pots that sit in a reservoir of water in a miniature greenhouse container. The young plants don’t need above ground watering during germination and in the early plant stages. When the little plants reached three or four inches, I transferred them to larger, cup-size pots, and then I planted directly in the garden. Though it’s been wet and not at all warm until recently, I have the makings of a good crop of tomatoes. I also have garden netting standing by for squirrel duty when the plants start producing tomatoes.
I was really impressed at how well the little peat pellets performed – every single one produced and most sprouted multiple plants where I had planted more then one seed – for insurance.
Next year, if you like to start plants inside, consider these Jiffy Peat Pellets. They really work.