Indoor January Task

I like to use January to get the garden cleaned up, the fruit trees pruned, the fencing for peas reset for the upcoming season and general sprucing up. I also like to get a couple of tomato seedlings started on the windowsill.

I know, I know January is much too early to start tomatoes, I have been told this every year I begin. Yet it comes down to my tomato passion, I love to have the little seedlings stretching up out of the soil, to re-pot as they grow (several times into increasing in pot size with each growth spurt), getting them set out into the garden when they already have blossoms and sometimes itty-bitty tomatoes already forming on the vines.

I do not have a greenhouse or grow lights for these little cuties. I did not even purchase a single item this year to begin the project. I sanitized a small cell, plastic, seed starter tray that I have used for several years. There was still a half of bag of potting soil tucked under my workbench since last year so I used a few handfuls to half-fill the starter tray (I’ll fill the soil in and around the seedlings as they emerge and stretch skyward), and a hunk of plastic wrap to keep evaporation at a minimum. I put in enough water to moisten the potting soil and sowed the last remaining seeds of a packet that I had opened three growing seasons ago. The seeds are now sitting on the window sill on the west side of the house to get as much sunlight as we have available this time of year.

This packet was from Renee’s Garden and  can be purchased through Amazon. The seed packet happened to  have been gifted to me several years ago, and I have been told that this is another no-no and that one is not supposed to keep old seeds around especially after the packet has been opened yet I have had great success with this one and will continue on. Every year,  the tomatoes produced have been the most liked and most talked about vegetable that I have ever shared! The specific of this variety is called Heirloom Cherry Tomato – Isis Candy and is touted as:

This beautiful cherry tomato variety yields bicolor fruits of rose-red with yellow-gold marbling, often with a star-burst pattern at the blossom end. Besides their unusual beauty, these cherry tomatoes have a delicious flavor best described as wonderfully rich and fruity, not just surgary sweet. The vigorous vines are loaded with heavy cluster of 1 inch round fruits throughout the tomato season. Kids of all ages really love these garden treat. A top winner at heirloom tomato tastings.

This year, with my schedule of REALOregon and being away from the farm more than usual, I’m worried about starting those tender little seedlings that are the last of my precious packet. Not only am I testing myself to make sure to remember about the plants before I leave and then right away when I get back. I guess that is just another reason why I have this blog, it is always a good reminder that I have my readers watching my successes and those other times too!

You can find the Amazon links to this seed product at my official site, SchmidlinAngusFarms.com. Thank you so much for supporting our stories. We appreciate every reader we have and love it when you spread the word about SchmidlinAngusFarms, fill out the FOLLOW information so you get each story right to your email each day and/or leave comments about the stories. I would also like to take a moment to thank those who click on the icon to do shopping with the affiliate, your clicks give me credit for directing people to their site (clicking on the affiliate icon does not make you purchase, only gets you the their site) and sometimes I get a small commission from your purchases if you do shop, without a cost to you! As always, Prime and special codes work with the icon and you do not have to purchase any item that I promote. Please consider using my link when you do your cyber shopping. Thank you for your support