Tomato Dirt Newsletter
Volume 8, Number 5

Dear Tomato Dirt reader,

Welcome back to Tomato Dirt! A few times a month, we’ll send you this newsletter packed with tips about growing tomatoes and using them.

What You Need for Starting Tomato Seeds (and Other Plants, Too)

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FEATURE: The Dirt on Seed Starting Mix for Tomatoes - What It's Gotta Have

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For starting tomato seeds, you need a sterile mix. Its job is to give your tomato seeds a safe environment so they can sprout, develop their first couple of sets of leaves, and remain disease-free. The seed itself provides the initial food for the plant, so seed starting mix need little (if any) fertilizer to do its job.

A seed starting mix with these ingredients is often labeled as "soil-less." In the truest sense, these ingredients contain no soil or dirt and are considered to be sterile. They are not jam-packed with living organisms.

Meanwhile, garden soil is filled with organic matter and is home to active bacteria and fungi. That means if you grow tomato seeds in garden soil, they're much more susceptible to the dreaded damping-off disease that kills so many seedlings.

When you move seedlings to larger pots - or when you plant tomatoes in containers - the potting mix has a different function. It becomes your tomato plants' home (if you're growing tomatoes in pots) or at least until they go into the garden (for maturing seedlings.) That means the mix needs to provide both a good home plus food. The best potting mix for tomatoes must contain nutrients in order to grow healthy plants.

No matter what brand you choose, seed starting mix has at least 4 characteristics (read more) ...

And check out our Tomato Seedlings board on Pinterest for more helpful tips for growing tomato seedlings.

Best Tips for Growing Tomatoes

Tomato Growing Tip: If You MUST Use Garden Soil for Starting Seeds ...

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Get more tips for growing tomatoes on our Tomato Growing Tips Pinterest board.

Some of Our Faves for Growing Tomato Seedlings

For Peat's sake! Sphagnum peat moss and other soilless ingredients	Garden gloves (of all kinds) for digging in the dirt	Dig it: garden trowels from Fiskars and others

More Dirt about Soil Mixes

That’s it for now. More next time.

Until then, happy gardening!