On 9/13/2014 7:30 AM, Terry Coombs wrote:
Steve Peek wrote:
On Friday, September 12, 2014 3:10:50 PM UTC-4, Terry Coombs wrote:
Turns out that NONE of the tomato seeds I bought at Walmart that were

supposed to be beefsteak actually are ... We got cherry tomatoes ,
and we

like them , but that's not what I wanted to plant . The rest are a

run-of-the-mill medium tomato , average about tennis ball to
baseball size .

And they're good , much better than store-bought . But they're not
what I

wanted ... so next year guess where I'm NOT going to buy seeds ?

I need to find a local "seed bank" of local growers , I figure
that's the

best way to get plants that do well up here . And i have a bunch of
seeds

saved to swap . Plus , I've got volunteer bok choy growing in the
garden now

, and just yesterday I scattered some spimach and romaine seeds from
the

early crop this year . Now if we can nurse these tomatoes along a
while

longer we'll have some more nice salads .

--

Snag

Moral of the story: Never buy seeds from Walmart!

I ordered 3 heirloom tomato (beefsteak , mortgage lifter , and san marzano)
and a cantalope and some serrano pepper seeds from a supplier in Tennessee
yesterday . Bet ya a nickel I get what I ordered ... I can't really blame WM
, their supplier screwed up . But I still won't buy any more seeds or sets
from them .

I mostly buy from a local nursery that stocks good seed of many kinds
but also there's Pinetree and Johnny's Seeds that, generally, you get
the proper seed. It's a PITA to buy seeds somewhere and they turn out to
be something else.

We bought tomato seeds at a local grocer once long ago and, when the
packet was opened they were flower seeds. Never went back there.

I just tossed out some saved some chile seed from 30 years ago. Dug it
out of the freezer in early spring and started them and they were a
different chile than I wanted. That's what happens when you do your own
hydridizing. But there's always a chance you will get something really good.