New Hearts

Given my poor judgment about transplanting the Hungarian Heart tomato seedlings, I thought I would try again. It would be a shame for me to lose out on learning about this new (to me) variety altogether. So I replanted. I ran out of the peat pots I used the first time. I bought new pots at Tractor supply. The new ones were a bit bigger than the ones I originally used, 3 inch Jiffy Pots that came 22 to a pack.

I planted 16 seeds. I put them in a bit deeper this time around because I noticed that especially for the Hungarian Hearts, the seed cover tended to stay on the first leaves. I figured thet planting deeper would allow the soil to help rip the seed cover off. All came up. Only 3 had seed covers still attached and they came off easily.


I've also tried something else with this batch. I purposely didn't fill the pots to the brim with planting mix when I started the seeds. As the seedlings grow, I will back fill the pots with soil until it reaches the top, allowing the seedlings to start establishing side roots earlier and giving the stalk a bit more support throughout the early phases. (I've noticed for instance that watering even at this stage knocks over some of the stems.) I've only just started this process. I packed a little planting mix around 5 of the plants this morning, adding only about 3/8 inch of soil to the pots.


Then I went out to the garden to clean out weeds and, to my surprise, I still had one Hungarian Heart alive in the bed. I am hoping this one will continue to do well. I will mark it as having hardy character and maybe take some seeds from it if it also does well as a producer.