One flat of seedlings transplanted into three flats of cell packs.  And each flat now holds 36 baby plants.  Wait, you say!!!  That’s 108 tomato plants!!!  Of course we won’t plant them all into OUR garden.  In fact, we only plant about 30.  So why do I plant so many seeds?

 

The answer is this:  

 

1)  It’s really hard to plant just 5 seeds of each variety.  What if they don’t germinate?

2)  It’s really easy to plant 15 seeds of each variety.

3)  Not all of the seeds are viable, especially older ones.  This way I can hedge my bets.  If I plant 15 seeds I should get at                least 6 good, strong seedlings (enough for one cell pack). As you can see on the bottom left, I only got 11 good seedlings.  

4)  Seeds have a life span, and packs of seeds usually have more than we can use in one season.  
5)  AND…we have lots of neighbors and friends who plant tomatoes.  So whatever we don’t use, somebody else will.

 

This way we can get them started and everybody gets to grow their own.

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!