When should I really have started?

supergirl · July 13, 2006

Last year was my first year really trying to grow tomatoes, and I started with purchased seedlings. But then, I became a tomato forum addict and learned about all the varieties I should have been growing. Since many (most) of the plants I got last year ended up being mislabeled, this year I decided to grow from seed. It's worked out pretty well, definitely still learning, but I have 12 nice big plants out, including Carbon, Neve's Azorean Red, and Kellogg's Breakfast. However, reading others' posts about ripe tomatoes now, I have a feeling I started my seed and planned to plant out much later than I needed to.

I'm in zone 9b, in Silicon Valley. The trick here is that while it never gets really cold -- maybe a couple of very light frosts during the whole winter-- it always, even in the summer, cools down in the evening. I am fortunately out of the fog belt and get nice warm summer temps. I was aiming for nighttime temps above 50 when I planted them out and that doesn't really happen until May. So everything went out the first week of May. They're doing great, really thick stems (much bigger than the purchased ones last year), lots of green tomatoes, but nothing even starting to blush yet (which makes sense, given that I have no early toms out there.) Reading that folks in colder zones have been picking for a few weeks, I think I was over-cautious. Could I put them out sometime in April next year? Should I just be looking for "not freezing" as opposed to "above 50"? I'm growing on a south-facing deck in containers, next to the house, so I also wonder if being in a relatively sheltered environment would mean they could have gone out earlier as well. It did seem like it was more than 8 weeks to really have nice big stocky seedlings to put out, more like 10-12, but I have a new light setup for next year that I'm hoping will help with that.

July 13, 2006	#1
supergirl Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2006 Location: Palo Alto, CA Posts: 107	When should I really have started? Last year was my first year really trying to grow tomatoes, and I started with purchased seedlings. But then, I became a tomato forum addict and learned about all the varieties I should have been growing. Since many (most) of the plants I got last year ended up being mislabeled, this year I decided to grow from seed. It's worked out pretty well, definitely still learning, but I have 12 nice big plants out, including Carbon, Neve's Azorean Red, and Kellogg's Breakfast. However, reading others' posts about ripe tomatoes now, I have a feeling I started my seed and planned to plant out much later than I needed to. I'm in zone 9b, in Silicon Valley. The trick here is that while it never gets really cold -- maybe a couple of very light frosts during the whole winter-- it always, even in the summer, cools down in the evening. I am fortunately out of the fog belt and get nice warm summer temps. I was aiming for nighttime temps above 50 when I planted them out and that doesn't really happen until May. So everything went out the first week of May. They're doing great, really thick stems (much bigger than the purchased ones last year), lots of green tomatoes, but nothing even starting to blush yet (which makes sense, given that I have no early toms out there.) Reading that folks in colder zones have been picking for a few weeks, I think I was over-cautious. Could I put them out sometime in April next year? Should I just be looking for "not freezing" as opposed to "above 50"? I'm growing on a south-facing deck in containers, next to the house, so I also wonder if being in a relatively sheltered environment would mean they could have gone out earlier as well. It did seem like it was more than 8 weeks to really have nice big stocky seedlings to put out, more like 10-12, but I have a new light setup for next year that I'm hoping will help with that.