Gardening with the moon. Sow your tomatoes and collect the seeds

The best gestures in the vegetable garden to grow and then harvest garden tomatoes with the lunar calendar.

Pick the tomatoes at full maturity and respect the lunar dates, they are then full of sun and vitamins.
For which varieties?
The old varieties because they reproduce faithfully by this method of multiplication: the sowing of the harvested seeds will give fruits similar to those of the parents. They are also more difficult to find in stores, you have to buy them by mail order from specialists.

Harvesting the seeds – 1

Find the most beautiful fruits on the best plants. Both should be vigorous, free from disease. The tomatoes have the characteristic shape of the variety and are very ripe. Pick them delicately by hand. Do not mix varieties. Use different or labeled containers.

Harvesting the seeds – 2

At home, cut the tomatoes into quarters and, with a spoon, drop the pulp and seeds into a glass container. You can add a trickle of water. Wait a few days (approximately 48 hours in hot weather), depending on the ambient temperature, until white mold appears on the surface. Watch carefully, because if you delay the seeds will germinate. Indeed, this fermentation has the effect of eliminating the gelatin which surrounds the seeds and it keeps them dormant.

Harvesting the seeds – 3

Pour the pulp into a fine mesh colander and run the tap water to clean the seeds. Remove pulp and small or poorly formed seeds. Let them drain then place them on a smooth surface, tiles or a plastic cover, but especially not on absorbent paper, they will stick to them when drying.

Harvesting the seeds – 4

Separate them from each other because the drying must be fast, otherwise, the seeds can get moldy. Choose a dry, well-ventilated place without direct sunlight. When they are completely dry, put them in paper bags or in small glass jars. Write down the name of the variety and the year of harvest. The germination period is at least four years or even ten years for some varieties.

Sowing in pots

Before the end of April, sow the tomatoes in peat cups if possible, in a special sowing soil. Put 3 seeds per jar, cover lightly, tamp and spray with water. Place in a greenhouse or a bright room, at 16-20 ° C. Keep the best looking plant in each pot and keep at 16-18 ° C and a little humid until planting. If the plant is getting too long, it is lacking in light.

The plantation

To avoid sowing, you can buy seedlings. Install them in the garden, in a sunny place, from mid-May. Plant in rows 70 cm apart, spacing the feet 50 cm apart. Open holes twice the size of the cups. Soak the plants, do not deposit those in peat cups. Bury the base 5 cm to strengthen the rooting. Prick a stake near the root ball, fill it up.

Pruning and other care

Tie the stem to the stake with raffia as it grows. Once a week, cut off the young shoots that form in the axils of the leaves with your fingernails. Head the main stem 1 or 2 leaves above the 5th bunch of fruits to promote their enlargement. Water without wetting the foliage.

The harvest

Every day, harvest the most colorful fruits by checking their maturity: take them in the palm of one hand and, with the thumb of the other hand, exert pressure on the bulge of the peduncle located above the tomato. If the stem does not break, do not insist, the fruit is not quite ready.