Tomato Dirt Newsletter
Volume 7, Number 4

Dear Tomato Dirt reader,

Welcome back to Tomato Dirt! A couple of times a month, we’ll send you this newsletter packed with tips about growing tomatoes and using them.

What You Need Starting Tomato Seeds (and Other Seeds, Too)

Tomato Dirt is on Pinterest!

FEATURE: The Dirt on Potting Mix for Tomatoes: Does It Need to Be Sterile?

Image: Tomato Dirt

The answer is yes and no. 

For starting tomato seeds, you need a sterile mix. Its job is to give your tomato seeds a safe environment so they can sprout, develop their first couple of sets of leaves, and remain disease-free. The seed itself provides the initial food for the plant, so seed starting mix need little (if any) fertilizer to do its job.

But when you move seedlings to larger pots – or when you plant tomatoes in containers – the potting mix has a different function. It becomes your tomato plants’ home (if you’re growing tomatoes in pots) or at least until they go into the garden (for maturing seedlings.)  That means the mix needs to provide both a good home plus food. The best potting mix for tomatoes must contain nutrients in order to grow healthy plants. 

What exactly is a sterile potting mix?

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And check out our Tomato Seedlings board on Pinterest for more helpful and inspiring ideas.

Best Tips for Growing Tomatoes

Tomato Growing Tip: 2 Kinds of Sterile Potting Mix

Image: Tomato Dirt

Get more tips for growing tomatoes on our Tomato Growing Tips Pinterest board.

Some of our Favorites for Starting Seeds

For Peat’s sake! Sphagnum peat moss and other soilless ingredients	Garden gloves (of all kinds) for digging in the dirt	Dig it: garden trowels from Fiskars and others

More Dirt on Potting Mix