Gardening with Kelly: Tomatoes

They have finally sprouted! I was quite concerned for a number of reasons. First, seedlings are best grown when the soil is 72 to 80 degrees. Nothing in my home is that temperature. So to compensate for this when they hadn't sprouted in one week, I used a little tip I found on the Internet: I put a heating pad on low underneath the planting dish.

Well, small problem ... it was a little hotter than expected. I thought for sure I had cooked the seeds past viability. But alas, Mother Nature is more resilient than I thought.

These first seeds are Early Girl Tomatoes, but based on this success, I started another flat of seeds that include more Early Girl, a container variety of tomatoes, basil, onions, peppers, cilantro, basil, rosemary and parsley.

I didn't know cilantro only sprouts when in kept in the dark, so I replanted those. The tomatoes have all started to sprout, as has the basil and onion. No word on the others yet. I'm hopeful!

I'm looking forward to a summer of roasted tomatoes, salsa, sauce, salads and stuffed tomatoes. Please grow!