Growing Tomatoes from Seed in Florida
To grow tomatoes in FL. you really have to know your area and your soil. I have always lived in the Central and North Central part of FL so that is the only places I can talk about.
In Orlando which is the central part it was a lot easier to grow vegetables year round. When I moved to the Marion County area (North Central) I had to learn how to adapt my growing to a different climate and soil.
I have always gardened organically since I started gardening, many years ago. I have always made compost and used everything I could get for mulch. I made compost with grass and leaves that I would pick up from the curb. I also would sometimes just put the green grass around the plants for mulch. It would compost itself right into the garden. New mown grass clippings are the best nitrogen you can get.I I used leaves, hay, newspaper, cardboard and anything that was compostable as mulch. I would go to the horse stable and get the hay that had been raked out of the stalls and put it in my compost. I would spread this on the unplanted part of the garden where it would compost in about the same time it took for my new planted seed to be ready to transplant from my seed beds.
I used only home made and organic bug sprays and fertilizers, like, dish soap and other mixtures for bugs and manure teas for fertilizer.
In the early days I used a tiller. I then found out that tilling destroys some of the beneficial insects and the worms so I quit using the tiller for re-digging my garden. I still use it for new ground. When you keep your garden covered in good compost and mulch it gets easier every year to turn it with a shovel or fork. And when it gets really good you can push the mulch back, put the plants right in the soil and pull the mulch back around it.
I use seed beds for planting my tomato seeds. It is a piece of land that has had plenty of compost and mulch . I rake all the mulch back and plant the seeds. I take my rake and lightly rake across creating some shallow trenches for the seed. Then I shake the seeds in the trench. I take a flat long board and lay it on top of the trenches and tamp down the seeds making sure they have contact with the soil.Then I take hands-full of soil and very lightly cover the seeds or the trench as the seeds may not be visible at this time. I use the board again and tamp the soil down over the seeds. The idea is to have the seeds in contact with the soil on the bottom and the top.When that is done I use newly mown grass if its available and shake it by hand all across the area covering the soil very lightly. You can use any composting or mulch material that is light. My next choice after grass would be hay. You want only a light coverage because the plants need to emerge from the material you use.
Keep your seed bed watered daily until you see the plants coming up. Mine usually come up sooner than they say on the packets when I plant them this way. As soon as you see a plant put a little bit more of your mulching material around it. Don't thin the plants until they get a little bigger and if you have to thin before you transplant then use scissors and cut the plant out right at the soil level. Don't pull it as this will disturb the roots of the other plants.
You can start transplanting when you see two leaves on your plants. Dig the little plants out with a finger or the best thing is a small spoon. Take them to your prepared bed and put them in the soil all the way to the top of the plant leaving only the two leaves above the soil. Put mulch around each one as you plant them. Green grass is great for this because it puts nitrogen in the soil as it composts
that way your tomatoes are getting nitrogen slowly as they grow. Keep mulching as they grow eventually covering all your bed with the mulch and compost.
If you are going to stake your tomato's then this is the time to put your stakes in. This way it won't interfere with the growth.
As my tomato plants grow I pinch-out the suckers that grow between the main stalk and the side shoots, this gives the other stalks more nutrition to grow bigger around and set more tomatoes. I cut strips from pantie hose to tie up the branches of the plants to the stakes. They work great because they are stretchy and don't harm the plant.
Some things to know:
Water in the mornings not the evenings, the plants need time to dry off before the evening.
Never water when the sun is really hot.
Tomatoes and most other vegetables need at least 6 ours of sun each day. They can be planted part in the shade as long as they get 6 hours of sun.
Tomatoes can be frozen right in a zip lock bag, or other freezer container. They can be frozen whole, but I usually mash them down right in the bag.
Be sure and enjoy your tomatoes, and, when you have an abundance, share with your neighbors.
Feel free to email with any questions or help I can give you.
djren28@aol.com
them on http://djren28.tripod.com/roses. Still haven't figured out all the ways to post on there, but the pictures are good. I will try and post the pictures here. This is a place to put all of my thinking in one spot.
This is the big sunflower it will eventually have a stem and leaves on it. $5.99
This is a tiny violet made with size 20 thread. They can all have leaves and stems. There are many other tiny flowers that I can make in any color.
This is a small red rose. $2.99
This is a medium size rose in salmony pink. $3.99
This is a medium rose in light pink. $3.99
This is a gigantic dark pink rose. $5.99
This is a gigantic purple rose. $5.99
This is a gigantic blue rose. $5.99 ...Looks great on the denim purses I make from recycled jeans. Ask me about them.
