Audience gathering for my Epic Tomatoes workshop at the Feb 22 Joy of Gardening symposium.

Sue and I are back from a wonderful short trip to Richburg SC, a roughly 2 hour drive east, to speak at the Joy of Gardening symposium hosted by the York County SC Master Gardeners. Extra thanks go to Dan, who organized the event and invited me to speak, and Karen, who was there for AV support. I last spoke at this event in 2012 - so much has happened since then, but the enthusiasm and warm hospitality remains the same.

Ah, home sweet home! Despite being gone only a little over 24 hours, we missed our dogs and cats and own bed (and my home roasted coffee), and our status as home bodies is always reinforced. There’s no place like home!

Before the trip, I made the initial planting of tomato seeds. Half a dozen varieties were from my recent crosses, and lots of these were sent out to those who requested seeds. Another 25 were quite old saved seed of favorite varieties, and will serve as a germination vs seed age test.

Here are day 4 germination results - these will be helpful for those who received seeds from me in terms of guiding expectations for your results when you plant them.

Triply (Cherokee Purple X (Dwarf Choemato X Dwarf Walter’s Fancy F1) F1 - planted 6 seeds, 2 are up so far (33%)

Triply F2 - planted 10 seeds, 9 are up (90%) - Quite a few of you got some of these seeds.

Captain (Captain Lucky X Sun Gold F1) F1 - 3 seeds planted, 3 seedlings (100%) - again, quite a few of you received 1 or 2 seeds, so it is good to see high germination.

Captain F2 - I was most worried about these, as the tomatoes too a long time indoors to ripen and the seeds were very small. I planted 10 seeds and 5 are up (50%) - I am very relieved to see this. Lots of you received some of these, so you should be in luck with getting at least a few plants to grow out.

No surprisingly, nothing has germinated yet from seeds that range from 11 to 14 years old. These are various savings of Brandywine, Cherokee Purple, Cherokee Chocolate, Lillian’s Yellow Heirloom, Anna Russian, Halladay’s and Mullens Mortgage Lifters.

I hope to make a planting of more recent saved seeds, as well as recently received family heirlooms, today. I also plan to do my second Instagram Live of the 2025 season this upcoming week.

I really appreciate all of the new gardening friends Sue and I made at the South Carolina event. Many of you have already found me on Instagram. Like I always say - gardeners are going to be a big help in saving this world!