Time to order tomato seeds

Jan 10, 2025, 3:49 PM

Varieties of tomato seeds in 2004 (Larry Sagers)

(Larry Sagers)

Producer

SALT LAKE CITY — It’s not quite time to plant tomato seeds, but it is time to start ordering them. If you’re not sure where to start, here are some things to consider during the planning stage.

Choosing your tomatoes

The three most common types of tomatoes are the sandwich sized tomatoes, the Roma tomatoes and the grape or cherry tomatoes.

First, you need to determine what you would like to use them for. Do you want to eat them fresh? Are you thinking about canning them? Or maybe you want to use them to make salsa. These are the three main ways KSL Greenhouse Host Taun Beddes uses tomatoes.

“You need to weigh your purposes and decide what you’re going to do,” Beddes said. “Because the majority of what I grow … I grow varieties that the tomatoes are useful for multiple purposes.”

If you want to eat them fresh or put them on salads, Beddes suggested growing some heirloom tomatoes or two or three types of cherry tomatoes.

Working with limited space

In addition to determining the use of your tomatoes, you also have to consider the amount of space you have. Yards are getting smaller and, for some, there is no yard space to begin with.

In those cases, Beddes suggested a Roma tomato or a cherry tomato and possibly another Celebrity tomato.

Patio tomatoes are another option.

“There are more and more varieties on the market that are bred so that you can put them in a bucket maybe with a volume of 5 gallons [of soil volume],” Beddes said. “Put some potting soil in there, and grow a patio tomato.”

Beddes said it helps to use a slightly bigger pot because the plant will grow healthier that way.

One thing to note with patio tomatoes is that your yield will likely only be a third of something you would grow in a garden. However, with these you can still easily grow four or five kinds of dwarf sized tomatoes.

Ordering the seeds

You can start by searching the well-established mail order catalogs and local garden centers.

Some of Beddes’ recommendations are Johnny’s Selected Seeds, Park Seed, Harris Seeds and Totally Tomatoes.

It doesn’t hurt to start with the ones that you’re familiar with, such as the Celebrity, the Early Girl, the Glacier, and the Fourth of July.

“I would start small, learn what you’re doing, and then figure out how many you actually need to grow,” Beddes said. “Plant 20% more than you need in case you have some failures.”

Although the actual planting process doesn’t start until the last week of March or the first week of April, it’s better to order them soon because a lot of the popular varieties sell out quickly.