Guys and girls, I’m beyond excited:
It’s January, which means it’s about time to get some pepper and tomato seeds started!
What better way to celebrate than to whip up a quick informational post for my fellow gardeners and homesteaders in zone 7a?
If you’ve got your pepper and tomato seeds in hand, itching to plant them, fret not; the time is nearly upon us!
(Oh and, enjoy this image of a seedling sprouting from one of my ripe tomatoes! Yes, this is perfectly natural, albeit odd!)
When to Plant Tomato Seeds Zone 7a (Tennessee, Middle TN)
Tomato seeds should be planted 6 to 8 weeks before the estimated last frost date.
For us, that’s roughly Tuesday, April 21st, 2020.
Therefore, we should technically start our seeds between February 25th 2020 through March 10th 2020. This is just the recommended starting date.
Generally, people transplant their tomatoes into the garden 1 to 2 weeks after the last frost date, just to be safe.
If you keep reading, I’ll tell you how WE are doing it this year, to maximize space and to get tomatoes faster than we normally would by following this timeline.
Tomatoes are one of the most vital crops all homesteaders should grow, so I’m pretty serious about my ‘maters; I try to get as much out of them as I can, both as early and as late as possible.
When to Start Pepper Seeds in Zone 7a (Tennessee, Middle TN)
Pepper plants take longer to reach maturity than tomatoes usually do. July is when peppers typically begin to produce, with bumper crops arriving sometime during August.
Thus, they’re usually started 8 to 10 weeks before last frost; or, February 11th through February 25th 2020. If you’re getting started late, I have a few tricks for getting pepper seeds to germinate fast so that you can catch up.
Again, they’re usually transplanted by gardeners into the ground 1 to 2 weeks after the frost date, to be safe.
I will likely start all of my peppers on this timeline, aside from one or two for earlier peppers (likely being Jalapeno and a Murasaki Purple Pepper.)
How I’m Going to Space Out My Tomato Plantings for Our Garden (and for Our Seedling Sale)
For the less common varieties, I will be starting 99% of them on time.
With the exception of some that I plan to grow in pots, that is; they’ll be started roughly 3 weeks ahead, as the pots can be moved to the porch over a month before the last frost date- they can be brought into the house on those nights, which will be fairly easy to manage.
For the run-of-the-mill, commonly sought after varieties that I intend to sell bulk amounts of (more about our journey to buying a greenhouse), I will start them around 5 weeks before the last frost date. A few hundred of my plants will consist of red beefsteaks, delicious, roma, a variety of cherries, other pastes, and more; these will also be priced lower to compensate for slightly smaller plants and being widely available.
I will also be growing out Tiny Tim seeds fairly prolifically this year, too. I’m waiting on my indoor plants to ripen, so that I can ferment the tomato seeds for later in the season. I’d like to collect a lot of seeds from this variety, so I will be planting several. I will start these 4 weeks before the last frost date, so that they are just really starting to get big when transplanted outside.
