The Signs of Springs Are All Around; Time to Plant Tomatoes

The signs of spring are all around us. The mesquite trees are budding. Bluebonnets and Indian paintbrushes popped up in our pastures. Our post oak trees dropped a huge crop of acorns last year, and a million little seedlings have sprouted in our yard.

Our youngest son Sam got a kitten last year. Lola is her name. He took her to the vet to get fixed a couple of weeks ago, but the vet said to wait a month because she was too young. Now Lola is in heat, which is another sign of spring time. Cats often go into heat at the end of winter.

The patch of banana trees next to our house started to grow again. Farmers are planting corn. I had to mow my grass twice in two weeks. A new calf was born at my place a few days ago, and the cows stopped eating hay. Yep, I think it’s spring time.

That tells me it’s time to plant tomatoes. Here are a few of my recommendations.

I didn’t start any tomatoes from seed this year. Greenhouse growers start tomatoes from seed in January. Tomatoes grow slowly from seed. Most tomato varieties take 60 to 100 days to grow from seed to maturity. They don’t grow well in temperatures below 50º F. And they won’t set fruit when nighttime temperatures stay above 80º F. If you plant them from seed now, they won’t reach maturity until temperatures are too hot. Accordingly, most people plant tomatoes from greenhouse transplants this time of year.

There are two main types of tomato varieties – determinate and indeterminate. Determinate tomatoes grow into a bush and set all of their fruit at one time. After you harvest the crop, the plant is basically done producing. Indeterminate tomatoes grow into a vine and set fruit periodically over a longer growing season. Common examples of determinate varieties include Ce-