I was hoping to ask @SurprisedJ but I figure I might as well ask anyone who has a talent for keeping plants alive. I just planted some tomato seeds and strawberry seeds. I planted them pretty shallowly in a plastic tub that pre cut vegetables come in. They’re pretty squished together but I’m going to move them to happier homes if they sprout. I think I have maybe a week until they should definitely have sprouted if they are going to. What should I do then? Do I have to buy one of those little pots with the individual slot for each plant? How long before they go into the garden? Can strawberries survive a deep south winter? Do seeds ever expire?
Please help. If this works out I’m moving onto carrots.
Unlike most plants, tomatoes actually like to be transplanted. As my mom sometimes says, “they like a little abuse, every now and then.” I would just keep and eye on them and see how happy they are. When they get around 3 or 4 inches tall, then they should be planted into your garden, or into individual pots.
I’ve never grown anything from seeds - except I got cactus seeds to come up interestingly enough. But my late father grew tomatoes and some strawberries in middle Tennessee - both in full sun.
He grew the tomatoes from seed but the strawberries…I THINK he bought the young plants from Stark Bros or one of those catalogs they send out in early winter.
When you plant seeds you usually plant more seeds than you need - then thin them - pull some seedlings up before the roots grow + throw them out. It doesn’t work well to separate the young plants to thin them - the roots get disturbed…more likely damaged and don’t restart well.
Hey, I’m really tired. I’m going to ask @Turnip? if she knows any more she can tell you. She might have done gardening.
I have strawberries but they’re outside in a raised garden bed. I just put the seeds a bit under the dirt and they grew just fine, have been coming back every year since then. I’m not really a good gardener, I only deal with plants that I can let loose outside and forget about, and they’ll still flourish.