Planting seedlings

• Review Growing Great Tomatoes before planting your seedlings.
• Harden off your seedlings
  • Hardening off means gradually acclimating plants to outdoor conditions for 4–7 days before transplanting.
  • Start by placing the plants in a sheltered location like a covered patio. Then expose the young plants to an increasing number of hours of outdoor sunlight until they tolerate at least 6 hours of outdoor conditions.
• When you plant your tomatoes, be sure they are clearly labeled.
• Tip: Punch a hole in the plant tag and hang it on the tomato cage at eye level for easy reference.

Using SeedLinked

We will schedule a webinar to demonstrate SeedLinked and answer questions about how to use it.

• Log into SeedLinked, either online or on the smartphone app. (Note that the app is great for reporting directly from the garden, but it's a bit easier to see and get familiar with the options by looking at the online version.)
• Select this year's Master Gardener Tomato Trial.
• Click the ‘Review’ button to enter planting dates or ratings.
  • Enter the planting date: February 28. That's the date all of the seedlings were started.
  • Enter the date when you transplant your seedling(s) into your garden or containers.
  • Later in the season, enter the date you pick your first ripe tomato.
  • Rate your plant and tomatoes on various criteria like blossom end rot or flavor.
  • Upload photos and add comments.
• Participate in the discussion forum
• If your seedlings don't make it for some reason (we understand, we've all had plants die), you can click the icon marked 'Report failure' and optionally add a comment to explain what happened (irrigation failure, stem broke, early disease, etc.)
• At the end of the season, we will prompt everyone to finish their reports and press ‘Submit my Reviews’/’Complete Trial’  to finalize and submit your results.

Once you’ve completed a trial you’ll be able to see results.

Have questions or comments? Email us