PLOW & HOSE
The cold and crisp days of January hardly inspire garden chores, but mid-month is the ideal time if you want to start your own tomato and pepper plants from seed.
Starting seeds can be a challenge, but they are a much better value than store-bought transplants. For the price of one seed packet, you can grow a lot more plants, but transplants save you quite a bit of time.
There are significantly more varieties sold as seeds than grown for the transplant market. If you are looking for rare or unusual plants, seeds are the best option for unique varieties. With a little planning, you can save money and grow lots of interesting crops by starting seeds.
Tomatoes, a favorite plant of Texas gardeners, boast more than 10,000 identified varieties across the globe. Seeds are incredibly accessible, more than ever thanks to the internet.
Even though it’s chilly now, tomatoes and peppers are large, heat-loving plants. They are slow-growing plants, so starting them inside now is advantageous. Planting seedlings outside in early March gives them plenty of time to get established, grow and become productive plants before summer’s brutal heat overwhelms the garden.
To get ahead of the game and transplant your favorite warm-season veggies as early as possible, tomato seeds need to be started six weeks before the last average frost. For our part of Central Texas, March 5 marks the end of freezing temperatures when it’s generally safe to transplant warm-season crops outside.
Six weeks from the last average frost date for us is the week of Jan. 18. This is the ideal time to start your warm-season vegetables indoors, so they will be the perfect size for planting in your garden.
Tomatoes grow well and quickly in Central Texas. They aren’t without their challenges, but you can minimize issues and increase yields with a little extra attention during the growing season. Carefully selecting varieties and understanding specific growth habits will help you achieve a better harvest.
Decide what type of fruit you would like to grow, then learn about their growing style. The larger the fruits, the longer they will take to grow (80-90 days). Beefsteak and slicing tomatoes require more days to harvest. Smaller fruited varieties, like grape and cherry tomatoes, grow more quickly and will be ready to harvest sooner (45-60 days).
When shopping for tomato seeds, you may notice them described as determinate or indeterminate. These are terms that describe how the tomato plants will grow, either as a vine or as a bush.
Determinate tomato varieties are also called “bush” tomatoes because they are fairly compact and only get to be about 4 feet tall. Once they grow to this size, they will stop growing and start setting lots of flowers. They have one primary flush of fruits before going dormant. Determinate tomatoes tend to be early producers so you can harvest lots of tomatoes quickly into the growing season. Since they are smaller plants, they are better for container gardens and don’t require extra support, but stakes and cages will help keep the fruits off the ground.
Determinate tomatoes put all their energy into making flowers and fruits so that you get one abundant crop. A simple way to remember this term is that bush varieties are determined to make tomatoes.
Vining varieties are called indeterminate. Their stems continuously grow through the summer until the first frost. Indeterminate tomatoes produce flowers and fruits all throughout the growing season. Vines can grow 10-15 feet long and require large cages or stakes to keep them upright and prevent them from breaking from their own weight.
Heirloom or heritage tomatoes tend to be vining, indeterminate varieties. Hybrids and improved varieties are often bushy determinate plants.
Try growing both types of tomatoes. Grow determinate varieties for larger harvests to freeze or can as sauces. Plant indeterminate types to enjoy fresh tomatoes through the growing season.
With 25 years of backyard gardening experience, Rydell is a plant and nature enthusiast. She lives in Taylor and hosts the “ Plow & Hose Organic Gardening in Central Texas” podcast.
