How to grow tomatoes from a seed/ harvest vegetable seeds

It may be easier to go by your local garden store for starter vegetables, but the satisfaction and reward of starting them yourself is well worth it. Not to mention the money you will save on starter plants as well as on shopping from the grocery store!

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• Tomato or any vegetable
• napkin
• planter tray or shallow cardboard box
• potting soil

1. You can use any vegetable you would like. I have used this method for cucumbers, squash, tomatoes, and peppers all with great success.
   The first thing you will need is a good starting vegetable. For this article and because of their popularity I am going to use tomatoes. It is important that you have a good fresh tomato with no blemishes and work with it at it's peak ripeness.
2. You cut the tomato in half and use a spoon to gently scoop out the seeds. You don't have to use kid gloves but you don't want to damage the seeds either. As you scoop them out, place them onto a paper towel that has been triple folded. You can use the remainder of the plant as you wish. Now try to remove as much of the membrane surrounding the seeds as possible. I use my fingers on this step because it seems easier to work with. Separate them into as even a layer as possible. Let the seeds stand in a dry warm area. I usually lay mine on my stove (while it's not in use) or counter top. Let this stand until the next morning.
3. At this stage check the seeds to see how dry they are. This is also a good time to remove whatever membrane you couldn't before because it will be dry and more pliable. Let the seeds dry for another 24 hours to make sure they are completely dry. Any moisture will cause the seeds to rot, especially if you are storing them over winter (This is good to do once you have started growing your own vegetables consistently but you can do it any time of year as long as it dries well enough). After the second day you can work with them or store them in a storage bag labeled appropriately. You don't want to forget what seed is in which bag, this is easy to do with certain seeds.
4. Using a planting tray or even a shallow 3 inch deep cardboard box fill to the just short of the brim with the potting soil. If using a box use a knife or your finger to section it off into parts such as dividing a square pizza. Use your finger to push about half an inch down into the soil in each section. Drop in two to three seeds per hole, cover and gently tap soil level. After the tray is planted water very lightly to be sure the soil is thoroughly damp but not saturated. Set in warm sunny area and watch them grow.
   After they have grown to about two inches tall thin them out by selecting the best looking plant in each cup and pulling the others. This will leave you with one healthy plant per section and when they are about 1- 1 1/2 feet tall they are ready to transplant.
   Enjoy knowing that you have planted these tasteful treats yourself!

Tips & Warnings

• Remember you can use any vegetable with seeds.
• You can also mix and match per tray, i.e. two sections of tomatoes and two sections of cucumbers, etc.
• Always plant extra to be sure you'll have enough after thinning.
• Remember, if your nightly temperatures are still too cold, you will want to bring in the tray.
• Also, tomatoes do not grow as rapidly as when temperatures are steadily warm at night.