David Hill wrote:
...When I was young we would just squeeze the seed and pulp onto a sheet of
newspaper, let it dry then fold and store.
When it came to planting we would sow with paper still on, that saved having
to space the seed...



Nothing wrong with planting the newspaper along with the seed. However,
unless you put the tomato seeds onto the newspaper to dry at wide spaced
intervals you will be planting a clump of tomatoes. Tomatoes should
probably be more than 18" apart (depending on variety). Also, a typical
tomato produces far more seeds than the average home gardener wants. By
separating the seeds you can plant just what you need and save the rest
for future years. I generally mix several years worth of saved seed when
starting tomatoes, just in case the most recent year's crop has a problem.

Tomatoes benefit from early starting and transplanting. By starting the
saved seeds indoors you can get your tomatoes earlier. You can also
select the strongest seedlings to plant. I generally transplant my
tomatoes 3 times: seeding into a flat tray, transplanting into a 1"
cell, then transplanting into a 4" pot, then transplanting into the
field. The weaker tomato plants are discarded at each step. (I get
tomatoes from my compost pile also, where the discards go).