This Forum will close on Wednesday 27 March, 2024. Please refer to the announcement on the Discussions page for further detail.
Our kitchen garden & rogue tomatoes?
Prologica
Posts: 10
in Fruit & veg
Hi All,
We restarted our kitchen garden a couple of years ago during the first lockdown. Seeds were hard to find so I raised a tin of old seeds I had kept sealed and in our spare fridge in the garage (alongside the Sauvignon Blanc!). Though some were as much as 12 years old they all germinated just fine and produced healthy plants even the parsnip seeds they say are only good for 2 years). We couldn't go out to buy compost so I riddled compost from the heap and the seeds really loved it! For the plants that ideally like rich fertile/manured ground, I dug in well rotted grass compost (I create a new pile each season in a spare bit of land) and they did really well too.
We're doing the same this season but now to my question, many of the pots and trays have a tomato growing in them, including those sown at different times to the tomatoes (so it's not dropped seed during sowing). So presumably it's seed from the compost heap. But it's odd because we always eat the whole tomatoes, we don't deseed, and only sieve cooked tomatoes for sauces so presumably those seeds would be viable. Now I'm a few tomatoes short in the greenhouse. Could the compost freebies be used or will they not come true for any reason? If somehow they are from tomatoes we've grown previously they would be Gardeners Delight, Super Marmande, San Marzano, Moneymaker, or we once grew Ferline.
Hopefully someone will know and maybe our use of old seed and homemade compost will help others
We restarted our kitchen garden a couple of years ago during the first lockdown. Seeds were hard to find so I raised a tin of old seeds I had kept sealed and in our spare fridge in the garage (alongside the Sauvignon Blanc!). Though some were as much as 12 years old they all germinated just fine and produced healthy plants even the parsnip seeds they say are only good for 2 years). We couldn't go out to buy compost so I riddled compost from the heap and the seeds really loved it! For the plants that ideally like rich fertile/manured ground, I dug in well rotted grass compost (I create a new pile each season in a spare bit of land) and they did really well too.
We're doing the same this season but now to my question, many of the pots and trays have a tomato growing in them, including those sown at different times to the tomatoes (so it's not dropped seed during sowing). So presumably it's seed from the compost heap. But it's odd because we always eat the whole tomatoes, we don't deseed, and only sieve cooked tomatoes for sauces so presumably those seeds would be viable. Now I'm a few tomatoes short in the greenhouse. Could the compost freebies be used or will they not come true for any reason? If somehow they are from tomatoes we've grown previously they would be Gardeners Delight, Super Marmande, San Marzano, Moneymaker, or we once grew Ferline.
Hopefully someone will know and maybe our use of old seed and homemade compost will help others
Thanks All
P
0
Posts
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
I grow tomatoes from the seeds of any leftovers in the fridge - I think tinned tomatoes are cooked, but I don't know how long for, so the seeds from those may not be viable.
I must try some seeds from a bought tomato as I am short of cherry tomatoes this year and I will miss my gardeners delight!
P
You can certainly use seeds from a tomato you've bought. I've been doing that for the last couple of years. My daughter kept buying Piccolo toms - the ones on the vine [ridiculous!] so I saved some, and we had a great crop last year. They're being grown again this year. They also seem quite true to the parent.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...