How to Harden off Heirloom Tomato Seedlings

I started the last of my warm weather seedlings just yesterday (eggplants, pepperoncinis and Rutgers and Beefsteak tomatoes).  Is it bad that I get sad when I'm all finished with my transplant seedlings and only have my direct sow seeds left?

So far I have had excellent germination rates, I use all heirloom seed from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds and I have not been disappointed yet.  Last year I had great success with heirloom tomatoes.  This year I am trying some new varieties.

We have a whole 36 pot seed tray just for tomato plants:

6 Chadwick cherry

6 Gypsy

12 Amish paste

12 Arkansas Traveler

Hardening Off Tomato Seedlings

Here is the method I use.  With a nod to the medical community, I will use our mantra for starting a patient on a new medication as an allusion to exposing sensitive seedlings to sunlight:

START LOW AND GO SLOW!

• Day 1:  I wait until late afternoon when the sun is gentler and I set them in a sunny spot on our deck that is protected from wind.  I leave them outside for about an hour and a half.  No signs of distress, so I continue on gradually increasing exposure.
• Day 2:  At lunch I set the plants outside again around 1 o'clock.  At 5 o'clock they are still looking pretty perky but I go ahead and bring them inside.
• Day 3:  Saturday is sunny and beautiful so I set the seedings outside from 9 to around 2 during the harshest sun of the day.
• Day 4:  Sunday it rained all day...HARD.  No fun in the sun today guys, back under the grow light you go.
• Day 5:  Back on schedule.  They should be able to handle full sun all day long without any problems.  I take them outside in the mornings, water them in the morning if they need it and bring them inside every evening so they do not get too cold.

Just as with medicines in the body, too much of a good thing can be, well, too much.  Now all I have to do is wait for the soil to warm and I can plant these little guys out in the garden.  Don't they just look beautiful?  And even those little seedlings SMELL like tomato plants.

Can. Not. Wait.

Heirloom Tomatoes

This year I was introduced to heirloom tomatoes. A friend had purchased a few seed packets from Baker Creek (www.rareseeds.com) and after planting all that he wanted he passed the remainder of the seeds on to me. Of course I started them in seed pods as quickly as possible and was eager to learn all I could about what he called "heritage tomatoes". He told me about the Purple Cherokee tomato that turns purple when ripe and how it had been grown in Arkansas by Native Americans for hundreds of years.
First, they are called heirloom because they are not genetically engineered like most seeds that you buy in stores. Those seeds come from companies that genetically alter their seeds, called Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs), to produce more resilient plants that can stand up to harsh pesticides. But in our home garden we don't use pesticides so they are not necessary. Also, GMOs produce plants with sterile offspring. Meaning you can't replant the seeds from those tomatoes and expect much of anything to grow! So the heirloom variety comes from the fact that these tomatoes have seeds that can be reproduced year after year and saved for use the next year. This is the way our ancestors did it for hundreds of years. These specific types were chosen because they did better in our climate and produced fertile fruit. Also these fertile plants can cross pollinate with other tomato species, so you could possibly end up creating your own unique tomato variety! Here are the four varieties that I chose to grow.

• Cherokee Purple
• Brandywine
• Rutgers
• Beefsteak

I started out with 36 seed pods growing 4 different varieties. 31 made it to true "leafing out". Of course I don't need 31 tomato plants, so I decided to pay it forward. Since my goal is to encourage other people to plant veggies gardens as well, I gave 4 plants to my dad and 4 plants to one of my coworkers. From one mans heirloom seed packs he was able to stock his garden, my garden and two people he doesn't even know with fresh tomatoes all summer long. I just love the idea! So now I'm down to 23 plants, still a lot, but I know I can always make the surplus tomatoes into salsa and can it for the winter!