How to Grow Tomatoes From Seed


* This article contains affiliate links. For more information, please read my Affiliate Disclosure.

 

Learn how to grow tomatoes from seed with these step-by-step instructions and enjoy fresh or preserved homegrown tomatoes from your own garden all year long! Learn how to start tomato seeds, how to care for tomato seedlings, how to transplant tomatoes and how to get an abundant tomato harvest from your garden. #growtomatoes #tomatoesfromseedTomatoes are a staple in just about every home vegetable garden. They can be grown in garden rows, raised beds or containers, in greenhouses, on acres of land or on balconies. And there are sooo many kinds to choose from. 

If you’re looking for a good canning or sauce-making variety, choose a paste tomato like Amish Paste or San Marzano. If you want a snacking variety, choose a cherry or grape variety. If you want a big, juicy slicing tomato, opt for a Beefsteak. And if you just want fabulous fresh-eating tomatoes or unique colours and patterns, choose any of the thousands of diverse varieties of heirloom tomatoes that exist around the world. 

I guarantee the first time you grow tomatoes from seed will not be your last. Much like chickens are the “gateway animal” to the barnyard, tomatoes are the “gateway vegetable” (okay, fruit) to the home garden.

We’ve been growing tomatoes in our garden every year since, well, since we started gardening. And technically, even before that! I used to grow tomatoes on my patio years ago when I lived in the city. I certainly would NOT have considered myself a gardener at the time, but I did have a few herbs and potted tomato plants on my little ground-floor patio, and it made me feel pretty proud (and a little like I was cheating the system) to be able to snip a few herbs or pluck a few tomatoes right from my own patio. Very cool for a born and raised city girl!

But back then I didn’t grow anything from seed. I bought tomato seedlings from our local garden store and watered them. That was about it. 

They did okay for a while, but slowly the leaves began to curl, the new blossoms began to drop off and some tomatoes developed black spots on the blossom end (I now know this was blossom end rot). 

I got a few fresh tomatoes that year and was over-the-moon about it, but I really had no idea what I was doing when it came to growing and caring for tomatoes. In fact, at the end of the season as I was packing up my life to move overseas for a year, a friend of mine asked if he could take my tomato plants, which still had a few fruits clinging to the vine. He said he wanted to plant the entire tomatoes and let the seeds grow into new plants. I was completely floored that this was even possible. Imagine that! Me, Little Miss Homesteader, had NO IDEA you could regrow tomatoes from the seeds that were inside. Crazy, eh?

But roughy a decade later, now I know. And I’ve been working on my tomato game for the past three years.

Aside from broccoli, tomatoes are the one vegetable fruit we’ve grown consistently year after year. And while we’re no experts after our three, going on four years of experience, we’ve had enough successes (and failures) growing tomatoes that I think it’s high time I start passing on the knowledge and lessons we’ve learned, so that even if you’re a total tomato newbie, you too can grow baskets full of tomatoes this year for fresh-eating all summer long (and even more to preserve for next winter).

Let’s get started…

Related: How to Grow A BUMPER CROP of Tomatoes!

 

How to Start Tomato Seeds Indoors

The Basics:

  • Start tomato seeds indoors 6 to 8 weeks before your last frost date. 
  • Sow seeds ¼ inch deep and cover with soil. Keep watered (but not soaking).
  • Once tomatoes are roughly three inches tall and have a couple sets of true leaves, transplant them to larger pots to give their roots room to grow.

The Details:

Tomatoes love warmth, and tomato seeds are no different. Seeds germinate best in warm soil that’s preferably somewhere between 75ºF and 85ºF (23ºC to 29ºC). For this reason, you should start tomatoes indoors roughly 6 to 8 weeks before your last frost date as seeds will not germinate if you direct sow them outside (or even in a greenhouse) too early in the season when temperatures are still too low. 

You can plant seeds in just about anything (containers, egg cartons… eggshells!) but I like using peat pots. They’re easy to use, cheap to buy, have adequate growing space for seedlings to grow strong roots, they drain well and they can be planted directly into your garden without having to mess around with trying to get the seedling out of the pot and into the soil. But hey, the choice is yours;)

You can plant two or three seeds per pot to ensure good germination rates and then thin them out when they start to grow, or just plant one seed per pot. In my experience tomato seeds have a pretty good germination rate so I usually just plant one or maybe two per pot. 

Plant tomato seeds ¼-inch deep and cover with soil. Water regularly to keep soil moist while seeds are germinating. 

Learn how to start tomato seeds, how to care for tomato seedlings, how to transplant tomatoes and how to get abundant tomato harvest. #growtomatoes #tomatoesfromseed

Seedlings will need a place to grow indoors that is consistently warm and has adequate light. You can purchase your own set of indoor growing lights or make your own. You can also keep seedlings near a sunny window, but beware that keeping them near a window in cold weather could stunt their germination and growth if there’s a draft. Plus, plants will grow toward the window instead of straight up toward the grow lights, so if you can use indoor growing lights, I recommend doing so to start your tomato seedlings.

Keep in mind that seeds do not need light to germinate, just warmth. Once they sprout, however, the seedlings themselves will need light to keep growing.

You’ll also want to make sure you have adequate space where you will have room to transplant your baby tomato seedlings into larger pots to help their roots to keep growing before transplanting them outdoors.

 

Transplanting Tomato Seedlings Outdoors

The Basics:

  • Transplant seedlings outdoors when all chance of frost has passed and nighttime temperatures stay consistently above 50ºF (10ºC). 
  • Tomato seedlings should be hardened off for about 7-10 days to get them used to the outdoor temperatures.
  • To transplant, dig a hole that is a few inches deeper than the height of the pot that the tomatoes are in. Plant tomatoes deep enough that the soil reaches the first set of leaves at the bottom of the plant. 
  • For best results, fertilize/add calcium to the soil before planting.

The Details:

Make sure to wait until outdoor temperatures are consistently warm enough before transplanting tomato seedlings into your garden. Nighttime temperatures should not drop below 50ºF (10ºC). If you have a greenhouse you might be able to transplant them outside a few days or even a couple weeks earlier if temperatures inside the greenhouse stay consistently warm enough.  

Tomato seedlings will also need to be hardened off before transplanting permanently outdoors. Hardening off simply means you get the seedlings used to being outside slowly instead of just putting them outside and leaving them there. After a sheltered, warm “upbringing” indoors, this violent shove into the outdoor garden can shock the plants and even kill them. So be gentle. Go slowly.

To harden them off, bring potted tomato seedlings outside for a few hours the first day and then bring them back in. Put them outside for about an hour longer every day and then leave them outside overnight on about day 5 or 6 (while they’re still in their indoor pots). Transplant into the ground or into their permanent spots by day 7 to 10.

When planting, dig a hole that is deep enough that the soil will reach the first (bottom) set of leaves, then prune the bottom set(s) of leaves so that no leaves are touching the soil. This encourages a strong root system which makes for stronger, healthier plants and helps ensure tomatoes leaves stay dry which helps to prevent blight and other common diseases.

For optimal results, sprinkle in some fertilizer and/or add some finely crushed eggshells to the soil. The calcium in the eggshells helps to prevent common problems like blossom drop and blossom end rot.

Work the fertilizer/eggshells into the soil, place a tomato plant in each hole (up to its bottom leaves) and fill with soil. Give plants a deep watering.

Learn how to start tomato seeds, how to care for tomato seedlings, how to transplant tomatoes and how to get abundant tomato harvest. #growtomatoes #tomatoesfromseed

 

Caring for Tomato Plants

The Basics:

  • Grow tomatoes in a warm, dry, sunny location. Tomatoes do especially well in greenhouses and under high tunnels if you have them. Otherwise choose a warm, sunny location outdoors.
  • Tomatoes should be planted in well-drained areas as soggy soil can rot a tomato plant’s roots.
  • Water tomato plants at the base of the plant so that the leaves stay dry. Water deep every two or three days.
  • Indeterminate (vining) tomatoes will need to be staked or caged to help them stand up straight. Here are the stakes that we use and recommend.
  • To prune tomatoes, remove any damaged, yellowed or diseased leaves and any leaves at the bottom of the plant that are touching the soil. Pinch off suckers on indeterminate plants.
  • Harvest tomatoes when they turn red (or ripen to the colour they’re meant to be!)

 The Details:

Tomatoes originated in South and Central America, so naturally they love the sun and the heat. Plant them in a warm, sunny location in your garden or in a greenhouse.

Tomatoes also like to be kept dry, so make sure to plant them in an area that is not likely to get too much rain (put them under a high tunnel or an awning on a balcony to keep them dry if you live in a really rainy area) and water close to the base of the plants in order to keep the leaves dry. Wet leaves invite fungus and diseases like blight.

Make sure tomatoes are planted in well-drained areas. If you plant them in pots, make sure there are enough holes in the bottom of your pot/planter to allow water to drain. We’ve grown our tomatoes in 5-gallon buckets for the past couple years and punched around 10 drainage holes in the bottom of each bucket. This has worked well for us.

Soak tomato plants once every 2 or 3 days (depending on how hot and dry it is). Tomato plants respond best to a deep watering every few days rather than light watering every day.

Learn how to start tomato seeds, how to care for tomato seedlings, how to transplant tomatoes and how to get abundant tomato harvest. #growtomatoes #tomatoesfromseed

Make sure you know whether your tomato plants are determinate or indeterminate. Determinate simply means that they will grow to a pre-DETERMINED height and then stop growing. Indeterminate plants are vining plants that will keep growing. They need to be caged or staked, and they also need more pruning than determinate varieties.

When it comes to keeping them upright, I much prefer to stake them than to cage them as I find our plants fill out the tomato cages really quickly and it’s harder to prune and even get at some of the fruit, but whatever works best for you is just fine. We started using these spiral tomato stakes with out tomato plants a couple years ago and they’re fantastic and easy to use and adjust as the plants grow taller. I don’t think we’ll ever use anything else.

Prune all varieties by snipping off any yellowed, damaged or diseased-looking leaves at the base of the branch that they’re on. Discard and destroy these leaves and branches in the garbage or fire pit. Do not add diseased leaves to your compost pile as they can infect your compost and damage other plants.

Also, prune any lower leaves that are touching the soil. These leaves are more susceptible to moisture from the soil and can be a conduit for blight.

When it comes to indeterminate plants, you’ll also want to prune off the suckers. Suckers are new vines or side shoots that grow out of the “crotch” between the stem and a branch. If left un-pruned, these suckers will grow into brand new vines. While they will produce more blossoms that may eventually fruit, if you let all the suckers grow then your tomato plant will use all of its energy to produce more suckers and leaves instead of producing fruit.

Best practice is to prune most of the suckers, but leave a few (maybe two or three) closer to the middle of the plant so that you get a couple new vines and some more fruit. Otherwise try to be diligent about pruning suckers while they’re still small.

Learn how to start tomato seeds, how to care for tomato seedlings, how to transplant tomatoes and how to get abundant tomato harvest. #growtomatoes #tomatoesfromseedFinally, harvest tomatoes when the entire fruit has turned bright red (or whatever colour they’re meant to be when fully ripe). Indeterminate plants will usually continue to grow and produce fruit until it gets too cold, so if you end up with unripened green tomatoes that you know won’t have time to ripen in the fall, you can still put them to use. Maybe make some fried green tomatoes or a batch of green tomato salsa!

However you slice ’em, tomatoes deserve a place in your garden this year. So, whaddya say? Will you be growing some from seed? Let me know, down below 🙂

Oh, and don’t forget to grab your FREE Seed Starting Cheat Sheet. It includes at-a-glance info on exactly when and how to start 10 common garden vegetables from seed (and yes, tomatoes are on the list!)

>> Download your Seed Starting Cheat Sheet now!

Wishing you health, wealth and baskets full of delicious homegrown food:)

 

 

 


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1 Comment

  1. Jane Allan

    Anna there is a lot of great info in this post. I dont plant tomatoes at all. That doesnt mean they dont come up in my garden. I have what I call tomato weedlings popping up all over the place right now. Autumn is the best time for growing traditional salad like plants, here in sub tropical Aus. We also have a garden pest, Queensland(my state) Fruit Fly. This nasty creature lays eggs inside soft fruits. You upen up a beautiful fruit to find it full of maggots. The fruit fly is not as active in the cooler months and doesnt seem to like the cherry tomato varieties. The last lot of tomato seeds that I actively planted was the first lot that went into this garden, when we moved here 5 years ago. This year I have actually planted 8 tomato seedlings. These were self sown tomatoes in my daughters garden. We are not sure what variety they will be. I love gardening and growing some of our own foods.

    Reply

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ABOUT ANNA
Hi! I’m Anna, and I’m a city girl turned modern homesteader who’s passionate about growing, cooking and preserving real food at home, creating my own herbal medicine and all-natural home and body care products, and working toward a simpler, more sustainable and self-sufficient life each and every day. 
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If you haven't checked-in lately, the last week or so, we've sorta been in the trenches of homesteading and life over here. While some make it out to be glamorous all the time there are high's and low's just as there are in life. ⁣

With all that's going on, I've been making a point to find my way back into the garden, which is not only needed to feed my family, but also for some personal spiritual nourishment. ⁣

I just want to take a minute to love on my favorite veggie today, Broccoli! 🥦 It's one we plant over-and-over and I'm leaning into its abundance this year. ⁣

Not only is it one of my favorites, but we've also found it's one of the easiest veggies to grow so if you haven't tried it or added it to your garden yet, there's no better time than the present. ⁣

I've got an entire post on How to Grow Broccoli from Seed here: https://thehouseandhomestead.com/how-to-grow-broccoli-from-seed/ if you're looking for any tips or tricks.⁣

In my "How to" post you'll also find a link to one of my favorite recipes for Cream of Broccoli Leaf Soup!
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Can I be honest?

Sometimes you've gotta take a step back and look at the life you've created for yourself and ask yourself "is this truly what I want?"

The other day I shared about losing two of our rabbits this week to Rabbit Hemorrhagic Disease. The stress of losing them comes amidst a backdrop of heightened tensions around here...

From work pressures for Ryan to me trying to run a business and handle a very fussy, colicky 2-month-old (and a very busy 6-year-old), to things ramping up in the garden again and all of the other million things that need to get done (including multiple loads of laundry a day thanks to more spit up than I ever knew a baby was capable of producing), I finally felt like I was ready to crack this week.

Oh, not to mention we're doing this all on next to no sleep thanks again to our sweet boy.

I know this is all part of what we signed up for, but when it all happens at once, it can feel completely overwhelming. And when I'm completely overwhelmed and stressed out, that's exactly when I get sick too, which is exactly what happened a couple days ago.

Then yesterday (Saturday) I woke up feeling awful and decided to scroll Instagam as I nursed Noah. I saw other mothers with 6, 8 or even 10 kids somehow keeping it all together getting three square meals on the table every day while managing to keep a tidy kitchen and find time to Instagram about it.

I saw other homestead bloggers reaching new levels of success in their business that I can only dream about right now. And as I sat there in bed, covered in spit up with a ravenous baby nursing off me as I tried to console him, I felt sad for myself in that moment that I couldn't live up to the folks I was comparing myself to.

Later in the day I had to work, so Ryan took the kids to the beach and I stayed home. And I felt sad once again; Sad that I was missing out on yet another weekend with my family because I had created a life where I now have to work weekends just to keep up.

But the silver lining was that the work I had to do yesterday forced me out into the garden, and it was probably the most soothing thing I could have done for my soul.

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Sometime homesteading looks like homegrown vegetables and freshly laid eggs and sourdough rising on the counter.

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Ryan went out to feed the bunnies yesterday and Flopsy -our little black and white bunny- was laying dead in the pen. There was no blood, other than a little bit by her mouth. Seems like something internal happened. We’re not sure what.

Evelyn helped lay her to rest yesterday. It was a hard weekend for her. First she stayed with grandma and went with her to put her sick, 17-year-old cat down. Then she came home to the news that Flopsy was gone.

But I believe she’s more resilient because of it. We talked to her about how death is a part of all life, and allowed her to go through the stages of grief and process it however she felt she needed to.

Homesteading isn’t always sunshine and rainbows and snuggly barnyard animals. Homesteading teaches us hard lessons and helps us to become stronger and more resilient by challenging us daily.

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The spring issue of Modern Homesteading Magazine is out now!

It’s that time again...

The time when things begin ramping up in the garden, the barnyard and the home.

From trays of seedlings to baskets full of eggs, spring is in the air and I don’t know about you, but I’m here for it!

It’s also time for a brand new issue of Modern Homesteading Magazine, and boy do we have a good one for you…

In the spring issue, we cover a diverse range of topics from how to trade your skills for land to the realities of going off-grid, from seed-starting to what to do with too many eggs, and from the simple joys of a homemade herbal cocktail to the sometimes heavy emotional toll of raising meat animals.

In this issue, you’ll find:
🌱 What it really takes to live off-grid, with Tammy Trayer of Trayer Wilderness
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Visit modernhomesteadingmagazine.com to login to the library and read the spring issue (current subscribers) or subscribe for just $19.99/year to read this issue and gain instant access to our entire library of past issues!

#modernhomesteading #homesteading #selfsufficiency #springonthehomestead
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If you grow plants from seed (or if you want to), you’re likely going to want to start a few of them indoors. And if you start your seeds indoors, something that will make your life so much easier (and make your seedlings bigger, stronger and healthier) is an indoor growing stand with grow lights. ⁣

I've got a post I'm sharing with you today that will walk you through choosing the best type of lighting for whatever you're growing and then a step-by-step guide of how to make your grow stand, along with product recommendations if you want to make yours just like mine! ⁣

Ours can accommodate up to about 200 seedlings, but you can make yours as small or big as needed:)⁣

You can check out the post here https://thehouseandhomestead.com/how-to-build-indoor-growing-stand/ or at the link in my bio. ⁣

Let me know in the comments what you're growing new, or what you're most excited about in your planting journey this year!
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Theme of the Month: ADIDAS ⁣
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Before you just start throwing seeds in the ground or into red solo cups on your windowsill, it’s important to take some time to read your seed packets and get to know each crop’s specific needs.⁣

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Set yourself up for success and take a minute to read through my 𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘰 𝘙𝘦𝘢𝘥 & 𝘜𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘚𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘗𝘢𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘵𝘴 𝘎𝘶𝘪𝘥𝘦, before your weekend gardening plans begin. ⁣

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Ever thought about growing mushrooms at home??

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The mushrooms are ready for harvest in just a few days. No gardening experience or land necessary! Even a newbie homesteader in an apartment in the city can grow these babies!

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Visit modernhomesteadingmagazine.com to subscribe or login to the library and read the current issue.

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65 16

If you’ve been following me for any length of time, it probably comes as no surprise that I don’t exactly love relying on the grocery store to provide for me and my family, and that sentiment is only getting stronger as time goes on.⁣

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Usually by late February/early March, right about nowish, I’ve pretty much had enough of winter and the thought of enjoying a tropical fruit platter and a cold adult beverage on a sunny beach in *insert tropical vacation destination here* seems to be just about all I can think about...⁣

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If you do have tropical vacation plans, have a piña colada for me 🙏🏼, but if you don't then this recipe may be just what you need to "escape" for a few minutes into that tropical paradise:) 🥭🍹⁣

Check out the recipe here https://thehouseandhomestead.com/low-sugar-mango-jam-recipe/ or at the link in my bio. ⁣

Let me know how the recipe works for you, and if add in any additional fruits to change it up!
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