My helper transplanting tomatoes and artichokes. I’ve already planted my seeds left over from last year. An entire flat of Brandywine tomatoes…mmm! I always have more Brandywines than anything else. They are the perfect tomato.

I think it’s going to take a little more cleaning than that. But he’s got the right idea!

Now for the brand new seeds! It was so hard to narrow it down to roughly double what we could actually plant in our yard. I mean, how many types of heirloom tomatoes are there? How can that be narrowed down?

I made a huge order with Johnny’s Seeds and a slightly smaller one with Seed Savers Exchange. I love new plants especially heirloom plants new to me!

The tomatoes were Cherokee Purple, Halliday’s Mortgage Lifter, and Black from Tula. The latter is described as “the ugliest, most delicious tomato I’ve ever grown” on the Seed Savers website. Could you resist that? Seriously, we all know the lumpy weird looking tomatoes are the really good ones.

I also ordered a pepper called Fish, a pre-1870s African-American heirloom. Beautiful variegated foliage on 18-24″ plants. Pendant fruits 2-3″ long, ripen from cream with green stripes to orange with brown stripes to all red. Traditionally used in oyster and crab houses around Chesapeake Bay. Perfect for salsa. 80 days from transplant. Heat •3•

That’s the description from the Seed Savers website. So gorgeous random colors, variegated foliage – and they used to use it in crab houses? Count me in!

Here’s the story behind Fish peppers if you’re interested:
http://www.motherearthnews.com/Organic-Gardening/Grow-Cook-Fish-Peppers.aspx

I love the little cubed soil block press from Johnny’s. It really does a wonderful job. Once your soil is all ready, it goes pretty fast. But it takes a little tinkering to get the consistency right. The one that works best for me is 1/2 Jungle Gro potting soil, 1/4 peat moss, 1/4 sand. Any potting soil would probably work. Put enough water in it that you can squeeze it into your hand and it holds shape a minute.

The best trick to seed success I know of is to cook your soil first. Yes, we all know the bag of peat moss sitting outside is still perfectly good. And just because the neighbor’s cat may have been in that sand… No reason not to use it. And the local garden store’s soil from last year, well, it’s sure to be sterile.

However, just in case your dirt is a little less than sterile, microwave it for around 10 minutes. Please make sure you do this with damp or wet dirt if you don’t want it everywhere in a big muddy whomf! Use your best judgment on your microwave’s cooking time. Let it cool considerably, until barely warm to the touch afterward. Otherwise your seeds will be killed. I have found that barely warm helps germination.

If you do this, your tiny seedlings won’t get rot or damping off or any of the multitude of fungi or pest problems. I have a much better success rate with tomatoes and their family when I cook the dirt. Half dried up into little mildewed specks otherwise. I don’t bother doing this when transplanting, just initial germination.

I’m being very easy this year with solo cups. I will recycle them, probably by using them next year, but…

And now, I will perform the clean kitchen magic trick! It only takes a little time to master…