Hey keepitlow. It takes most tomato plants 60-80 days from germination to first flower. From flower to harvest is another month or more, depending on the variety.

Indeterminate varieties will continue to produce until killed back by frost. The question is, when do you want them to start producing? Kay.

Are you talking about direct seeding in the garden or about starting seedlings in small containers to be transplanted to the garden later but doing it outside rather than inside?

Most discussions in the past on direct seeding in the garden - and there are many of them here at GW but over on the Growing Tomatoes forum instead of this one - find it to be a very unsuccessful way to go. The germination rate is much lower and the tiny seedling are far too tender to tolerate the spring rains, winds, and harsh sun. Plus they are too small to stand up to the early pest and disease problems. End result, in my experience, is that it is an approach to be avoided at all costs. ;)

But it's always best to experiment in your own garden and see if it will work for you. OR as an alternative, explore all the FAQs and info over on the Winter Sowing forum here. Some use that outside technique to do their tomatoes with success.

Dave

Yep I was talking about direct seeding. Guess I will go the inside route if it does not work well starting seeds in the ground. Thanks

I started tomatoes last year with the winter sowing method. I put 1 to 2 seeds in a in 16 0z foam cup that was half full of potting soil & as they plant grew I added more soil. I put the cups in a clear plastic sweater box with drainage hole in the bottom & the top covered with clear plastic with slits for air vents. The plants were a little smaller at first but the root system on them was great, & in a very short time they were the same size as the ones I ahd gotten from the local green house. I wish I knew how to make this a clicable link but for now I hope this helps.
http://wintersown.org/wseo1/Tomatoes.html
jan ")

For lillyjane

clickable link for winter sowing Tomatoes

I'm using gallon water jugs filled half way with potting mix and then transplanting once they are 4 in tall. Have also started some indoors as well. Think the winter sown ones will have better vigor. Time will tell....

George

Here is a link that might be useful: Tomatoes winter sowing

geeboss,
thanks, got time to tell me how you did the clickable link?
jan ")

lillyjane,

Just below the Message box you will notice the

Optional Link URL: paste the web addrees

then below this

Name of the Link: Tomatoes

Thanks geeboss ") I hope this works.?.
Here is the basics of winter sowing:
winter sowing
jan

I've tried starting from seed , but I'm not good at it and I only grow 5-6 plant each year so I buy started plants after the frost date.
HOWEVER. Each year I have some volunteers that I let grow, and have never gotten past the flower stage even into Nov and Dec. here in zone 8ish.
Many people here have great luck growing under lights or in a greenhouse. Just not me!

Last season my cousin tilled up a patch of lawn next to where Id grown an early variety of cherry tomato the season before. She let a volunteer sprawl under her sunflowers. And wouldnÂt you know, it was the FIRST tomato to bear fruit in the garden this year. - beating my cherry by a full week. Stupice or other early varieties might produce if directly seeded but youÂll be compromising flavor.

"keepitlow",

Yes, you certainly can grow them by direct seed sowing in the garden. I have done it most of my life. Although the plants seem to be a bit behind in their size at first, the in-ground ones soon catch up and even surpass the ones I babied all winter in the greenhouse. They are sturdier and healthier.

Here's what I do:

I dig some compost and composted manure into the soil in a chosen spot in the garden. I then sink a bottomless large pot into this prepared ground up to within and inch of the top rim. I use the top half of a 2 or 3 gallon black plastic pot, but you could use any size or type of plastic container, like a gallon ice cream bucket for instance or even a cottage cheese container.
Sprinkle on your seeds, spacing them about two inches apart so their roots won't become entangled. Lightly cover them with some compost and press them into the soil. Then gently water them in, being careful not to wash them out of their positions. Cover the inside of the pot with straw, chopped leaves, pine straw or dried grass clippings to hold moisture in the soil. Sprinkle them occasionally to keep the soil just damp. You don't need to do anything else. Nature will take care of the rest. In the Spring when the soil is warm enough and the night temps are more stable, those little guys will come up and grow. They grow really fast, too.

When they get two sets of true leaves, transplant them out where you want them to grow. Do this on a cloudy day when there is little or no wind for best results.

I set mine in bottomless pots in the ground. You can use large coffee cans or any kind of large pot or container, even cat litter buckets work great, but cut off the bottoms and sink them down into the ground where you intend to plant your tomatoes, leaving them about 3 inches above the soil level. Then when you water them through the growing season, all you do is fill up the pots a couple of times - no wasted water. It all goes to each tomato plant. When I feed them, all the good stuff goes right to the plants.

I put a cardboard cylinder collar around each one to protect them from cutworms. I use toilet paper roll cylinders, paper towel roll cylinders or even the cylinders from gift wrap for the plant collars. Cut them into 2 inch collars. (I am big on recycling things). Cutworms can't wrap around and chew through your tender plants. I do this with all my newly planted veggies, like cabbages, broccoli, and peppers, and even tender bedding plants and flowers, like petunias and asters. Eventually the little cardboard collars will disintegrate, so no need to remove them, and by that time the stems of your veggies will be too tough for cutworms to chew through.

I have found that tomato plants grown from seed in the ground are much sturdier and hardier than in-house or greenhouse plants. Even when there came a late cold front, they did just fine, whereas my greenhouse plants got nipped pretty badly.

Give it a try. Seeds don't cost much and if it works for you, it is definitely worth a try. No pampering tomato plants through the winter and wondering if it is time to set them out. When the ground is warm enough, you'll know because they will come up.

I sow them outside in March when the moon is in the right phase and the sun sign (astrological sign) is in the best house - the most fertile, moist signs, like Scorpio or Pisces. Consult your 2009 Farmer's Almanac for "best growing days for ABOVE Ground Crops". It really does make a big difference.

The great thing about direct seed sowing anything is that you do not have to "harden them off". They harden off as they grow out of the soil. :)

Hope this helps.
~ Annie

And yes, they set fruit earlier too.

i will say direct sowing is the best way to grow anything because they acclimate themselves to the environment, no worry of transplant shock or hardening off but plant hardiness is genetic no matter where the seed is sown.

I winter-sow my tomatoes. They are a bit behind the indoor-started ones, size-wise, but catch up quickly once planted out, IMO. I also have a LOT of volunteers from my compost, so I end up with tomatoes everywhere.

:)
Dee

Found this link on GW

It was said above that after the seeds are sown (is that right?) the "pots" are put outside and will grow at their own rate when the weather allows. I am in Zone 5 (today the high will be - something or other) would I really want to put it outside now? Or are they meaning when it isn't quite this cold?