Yesterday was a quiet day, and I decided I would get my tomato seeds started. I’m not a devoted vegetable gardener, and for the most part, I just direct sow seeds in the garden in the spring, or else purchase started plants at local nurseries. There is usually a good selection available once garden season begins.
Tomatoes are the exception. I like to experiment with unusual or heirloom varieties and therefore start my own tomato seeds. I purchased some at my local Seedy Saturday event, and others I ordered from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds. I’ve never ordered from Baker Creek before and thought I’d give them a try this year. They put out an impressive catalogue.
My little seedlings do tend to get more leggy than plants you can purchase at a nursery, but I just plant the stems a little deeper, or in a shallow trough, and they’ve always done okay. This year, I have 8 varieties, representing an assortment of colours from purple to green to orange. Here’s my list:
Green Giant
Kellogg’s Breakfast
Nebraska Wedding
Blue Beauty
Captain Lucky
Pink Brandywine
Cherokee Purple
Ozark Sunrise
Willow House Chronicles 
I recall a plateful of sliced tomatoes of various hues that you and Rail Guy enjoyed last year. Looking forward to seeing this year’s palette!
Me too!
Lovely choices! Cherokee purple was a favorite of ours last year! looking forward to seeing how these ones do for you.
Me too!
I used to get a lot of seeds from Baker Creek. Why used to? I didn’t order ANY seeds this year! That’s a first in, oh, eight years? I can’t believe I’m not planning a veg garden this year!
What? No garden? Why not?
I’ll be growing mostly my favourites from last year – Bellstar and San Marzano for paste tomatoes, Hillbilly and Allegory Sunset for slicers, and Tiger Tom and Sweet Gold for cherries. Plus a couple of Seab’s mystery cherry tomatoes she saved seeds from five years ago! My only new variety this year is one I got at the seed exchange called Japanese Black Trifele. Baker Creek sells them and says they’re the shape and size of a Bartlett pear, and that “the flavor is absolutely sublime, having all the richness of fine chocolate”. I’ll believe that when I eat it. 😉 I can start some for you if you want to try it!