Makes them tougher, Natalie. And by that I mean, sturdier!

I sure hope so Arlene! I just need to remember to check the weather before it gets dark every night. I missed the forecast one night, and apparently it got much colder than I expected. Had some damage to the leaves, but the plants are still doing okay. I can almost taste the fresh tomatoes!

Debra, are you planting tomatoes this year?

A little trick that keep tomatoes from being spindly when you are starting them: put a fan on them, on low, to keep them moving. It works on other plants as well. Your plants will be a lot sturdier.

Oh, wouldn't a home grown tomato taste good now?

Karen

Hi All!

I'm starting tomatoes from seed for the first time and am SO happy to read I can ws them. Thanks for all your posts and links!

For those of you who have started them both inside and outside-ws, barring any crazy weather, can you tell a difference in their growth/production through out the growing season? Thanks!

I winter sowed some Broad Ripple currant and Roma yesterday , The last time , I get better production and larger BRC plants ,, The Roma did not do to well ,
I am really not that good at winter sowing , I keep at it anyway ,
These are both old time type tomatoes ,so not so exciting , but the success makes it worth trying ,

I think it mostly depends on the weather. I've had fantastic WSown tomatoes most times, but in cold years, not so much.

Karen

AnnofPA I use to read an article , from Penn, Where an older farmer /Market Gardener would save a few tomatoes , Then would make small hills , Shallow plant the whole small tomato or pieces of a larger type I believe
He would winter sow them at the end of the season that way for his later season tomatoes ,

kqcrna One of the few times I ever saw a perennial Tomato was in Ohio , lived about five years , a larger Beefsteak type , I still wish I knew what they were ,,

I heard of that. You're sure they weren't volunteers?

Karen

I am entirely Sure , An older women grew them next to her fence , in a sunny place , While the plants would die back to the root they would return from the same root , I watched for three years of that , she let me when there ,,
They would however . self sow some if you let them

Amazing.

Karen

Commercial growers keep them going for a long time.

I suppose what one of us should try :--- is taking a potted tomatoe plant in for the winter, and see if it would produce for the second summer.

I may be up to that because last year I took a sucker from a tomato plant and planted it in the ground in the GH. By May I was picking tomatoes and it grew up to the ceiling and back, producing well into November then I got sick of it and cut it down. But this time I am going to sucker whatever grows in the GH so maybe I can overwinter it as well. I'm sure it would work. For me, it's about space.

I just (today) wintersowed the only two tomato cultivars I am going to do.

Tennessee-Britches, and Porter-Pink.

Hi Tom, I'm going to winter sow too, but thought I needed to wait until March-ish. I'm zone 6b. Have you started them this early before? Thanks!

Yes I am in zone 6-A.

I have only had one (ever) failed crop in a bitterly cold winter.

Also Trudi Davidoff has a web site and facebook page.

I "met" Trudi on GardenWeb in 2006 as she was just beginning her "Wintersowing career". She headed up the wintersowing forum for a number of years until she struck out on her own, with the Wintersown Foundation and her website and all of her efforts have paid off.

Anyone new to wintersowing should at least visit her website, and check out the various lists as to when to WS any kind of seed. Her research is ongoing and anyone would gain knowledge from visiting her site.

I have to edit this as her website is down for the moment. I will try to contact her and see what is up.
The best thing for now is to check the winter-sowing forums here on this website.
http://www.wintersown.org

Always good to have a resource like that