Tomatos can be tenuous

My tomatoes grown from seed this year have been a trial. Partly from my noviceness at growing them from seed and partly from the cloudy, rainy weather we have been having. I lovingly selected a few varieties and purchased seed from eBay and other sources. I planned cherry tomatoes, Sun King tomatoes, Roma tomatoes, and an heirloom- oxheart.

I purchased the seeds, being frugal, from a dollar sale (except for the heirloom which came from ebay) of a well-known garden vendor. The Sun King seeds were back ordered. The cherry seeds only had about 20 in the pack, as did the Roma. The oxheart arrived and appeared to be ready to go with the quantity true as advertised.

I planted a half of the cherry, roma and some oxheart tomatoes in recycled swiffer boxes (left over from house breaking Roxie the pseudo sheepdog) with soil less mix and promptly put them in a southern windowsill in late February per my frost calculations for Zone 7. I checked them twice a day, misting when dry. Nothing happened.

I did more internet research (which contains a lot of conflicting information) and discovered tomato seeds like darkness initially. I replanted, covered for 24 hours, uncovered, installed them in the windowsill, and waited. Nothing happened. The Sun King seeds had still not arrived.

I recalculated my budget for late spring to accommodate the purchase of live tomato plants and in a last bout of "why not" frustration, threw all my remaining oxheart and cherry tomato seed into the swiffer boxes, covered them and *sheepishly* forgot them for four days. When I discovered them, I watered them generously and again installed them in the windowsill. I watered them every other day for a couple of weeks and went to eBay to purchase more cherry and roma seeds as cheaply as possible to experiment with figuring out this dilemma for the next year's crop.

After three weeks, the new seeds had arrived; it was near time to put tall healthy tomato plants in the garden. I analyzed all of the seed trays and custom set ups described in folk's websites to see what I might be doing wrong. I went to the craft store and bought $.30 1.5" clay pots to line the swiffer boxes. I went to retrieve the swiffer boxes from the windowsill to start working on the new set up- and they were green! I had sprouts! I planted the romas and sweet green bell peppers in the new set up and left the oxhearts and cherries to their own devices. Sun king seeds still had not arrived.

Within a week, the peppers and romas sprouted and caught up to the others. I babied the cherries and oxhearts trying to get them to thrive. Once they had piddling second leaves and the days were growing warm, I transplanted into recycled cans. I left the romas and peppers, waiting for second leaves. I put the cans out in the yard one sunny morning to get them ready to go in the garden bed. I came back later to get them and most the cherries had been eaten by a bird. I blamed it on Roxie the pseudo sheepdog, but my neighbor confirmed it was a really big ugly bird.

I found some beef steak tomato plants at a local discount store for $.75. They are now ensconced in the garden bed as usurpers to the space that was planned for the Sun Kings. The major seed vendor has lost a customer as I enjoy watching the beefsteaks double in size. The remaining oxhearts and cherries will be planted in the garden bed this weekend as will the romas and peppers ahead of schedule as they are blissfully root bound in their tiny pots.

And to reflect that this is just the start of the tomatoes, hopefully a full summer season of tomato tales will ensue.

Lessons learned: use small cell-like pots in a tray to be watered from the bottom only when they are dry. Keep the newly planted seeds in the dark 2-3 days before installing into light. When setting seedlings out for playtime, cover them with wire cages, recycled plastic bottles (open at the top) or an upside down laundry basket to protect them from critters. Buy extra seed and be persistent.