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Tomatoes, lettuces and leeks from seed

English_girl_in_FranceEnglish_girl_in_France Posts: 108
in Fruit & veg
Hello, I have been growing my little plants under a light for a couple of weeks now. My last frost date is mid May. I have a few questions that I cant find the answers to on the internet (I guess some is opinion!) So if you have any experience with this I would be very grateful for some pointers....
Tomatoes...
Is it really bad that I have like 4 in each pot? Do I really need to get rid of some so there is just one per pot? Should I wait until they are much bigger of should I plant them straight after the last frost date? And do I need to put them in bigger pots? 
Leeks....
Is it normal that some are all floppy? And they all seem quite tall but thin 🤔 should I wait until the last frost date to put them outside? Is it ok that there are sometimes two per pot? 
Lettuces... 
Is it ok to plant these as soon as the last frost date has past? 
Lastly, I realise there isn't many plants here, I have no idea how many to plant, I read somewhere to just keep planting more every 3 weeks, is that right? Because then I spoke to someone and they said they had like hundreds of tomatoes and couldn't eat them all or give them all away!  
Many thanks in advance! 
Kate 

Posts

  • LynLyn Posts: 23,190
    When your tomatoes get some more sets of leaves just carefully tip out the pot and pot each plant on in a separate 3” flower pot. I always grow my tomatoes in yogurt or rice pots.   4 different sorts, 4 in each pot. 
    Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor. 

  • Allotment BoyAllotment Boy Posts: 6,774
    Lettuce are surprisingly tough,  if you get them a bit bigger,  start to harden them off by putting outside during the day.  After a week,  as long as no very hard frost is forecast you can chance putting them out permanently.  Leeks are similarly hardy,  possibly even tougher.  They certainly are as mature plants and will stand out in all but the most severe winter. 
    AB Still learning

  • purplerallimpurplerallim Posts: 5,287
    Those are definitely looking for the light @English_girl_in_France . 
    A brighter window is needed. The next set of leaves ( as what you have there are seed leaves) will have the proper plants shape, that is the time to gently take them out and plant separately leaving one in your yogurt pots and put the others separately for the tomatoes especially,  trying to separate them later will only damage them. 
  • Nanny BeachNanny Beach Posts: 8,719
    I don't know anyone who does tomato seeds every 3 weeks,only do that with crops you want lot of maybe salad or lettuce,I do it with beans and peas because if you get a glut you can freeze them
  • English_girl_in_FranceEnglish_girl_in_France Posts: 108
    Lyn said:
    When your tomatoes get some more sets of leaves just carefully tip out the pot and pot each plant on in a separate 3” flower pot. I always grow my tomatoes in yogurt or rice pots.   4 different sorts, 4 in each pot. 
    Thank you Lyn! So excited, I think the tomatoes are soon going to be ready to put into separate pots! 
  • English_girl_in_FranceEnglish_girl_in_France Posts: 108
    purplerallim said:
    Those are definitely looking for the light @English_girl_in_France . 
    A brighter window is needed. The next set of leaves ( as what you have there are seed leaves) will have the proper plants shape, that is the time to gently take them out and plant separately leaving one in your yogurt pots and put the others separately for the tomatoes especially,  trying to separate them later will only damage them. 
    I pit the tomatoes in a mini greenhouse outside (just in a clear plastic box) and they are growing much better now thanks 😊
    Unfortunately the lettuces didnt make it, but am re-trying outside and got some little shoots come up today so fingers crossed 🤞
  • English_girl_in_FranceEnglish_girl_in_France Posts: 108
    Allotment Boy said:
    Lettuce are surprisingly tough,  if you get them a bit bigger,  start to harden them off by putting outside during the day.  After a week,  as long as no very hard frost is forecast you can chance putting them out permanently.  Leeks are similarly hardy,  possibly even tougher.  They certainly are as mature plants and will stand out in all but the most severe winter. 
    I'm afraid none of the lettuces or leeks made it 🙄 I put them outside on a very hot day in the sun and when I went back to check on them a few hours later they had just sort of withered away 🤦‍♀️ I guess it's all a learning curve.... am trying again but this time I have started then outside! 
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