Now is the best time to start your spring crop of tomatoes, peppers and eggplants. You may not realize it, but at this time of the year it takes about six weeks to have a transplant from seed ready for the garden in March. If the winter is warm, you might be able have the plants ready in four weeks but don't count on it.
- Sweet Treat - larger of the small types
- Sweet Chelsea - N
- Sweet Million - N
- Solid Gold - orange & a favorite
- Juliet Hybrid
- Big Beef - N
- Champion - N
- Early Girl - first to ripen
- Bella Rosa - N - determinate
- Mountain Merit - N - determinate but lasted a long time
- Park's Whopper - N - must order from Park's Seeds
- Keep the planted containers moist
- Keep in filtered to full sun until they germinate
- Then give them a full sun location.
- Start feedings with a half strength water-soluble fertilizer solution when about a week old.
- Feed weekly.
- Remove all but one seedling per cell or transplant when small.
- Let them continue to grow until the size you normally see in the stores and they are then ready for the garden.
Now, it is a temptation, but the window is not the best place to grow your seedlings. They want the very highlight levels and that is normally outdoors or in a greenhouse. Move them in and out as needed to protect them from the cold and bad weather. Remember at this time of the year it takes about six weeks to produce a transplant for the garden.
Better start your tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants soon to have transplants for the March garden.