I planted a couple different seed brands: Botanical Interests and pretty sure the others were Lake Valley seeds. I know I planted some California mix as well as some of those Green Envy ones. And a few other varieties. I think I had 5 packets of seeds.

I've had great luck with Botanical Interests seeds, especially thefireball blend variety. Haven't grown Lake Valley seeds. I haven't been spectacularly impressed with Renee's Garden seeds. Botanical Interest seeds seem to have a higher germination rate than Renee's. Currently, I have zinnias from Botanical Interests and Renee's growing in my back yard.

As you may be aware, only the open-pollinated varieties (such as State Fair Mix and Cut n Come Again) will grow true from seed. So if you're thinking about saving seed for next year, avoid the hybrids.

Thanks, Deb! I will make a note of the Fireball blend. I probably won't save seeds for next year but if any decide to volunteer, I will be pleased to see them. I'll be pleased if any of these get big enough to bloom!

Just keep them watered, and you should be fine. I spray mine with Alaska Mor-Bloom fertilizer every week or so to help them along.

Ooh thanks for the reminder. I fertilize my container flowers weekly but I would probably forget that I needed to fertilize these in the giant tomato bed. I'll give them something tomorrow.

I don't have much luck with volunteer tomatoes. The exception is Coyote, I mentioned them in Shule's thread on "Earliest ..."

With a big garden, I have long felt that it was okay to take a chance on a volunteer or two. Often, there won't be anything ripe on these plants until the very last moment of the growing season. Before I go to the bother of taking them in to ripen on the kitchen counter along with the tried-&-true varieties that I really want there, it would be nice to have an idea what they taste like.

Very often, the volunteers are cherries, because cherries get away from me in my harvest and fall to the ground. Weelll, nearly all my cherries are hybrids. Years ago, the then-new hybrids just jumped out at me with their flavors! I was happy to replace the OP cherry that I had been growing and I'm still excited to have them!

The offspring -- not so much. I imagine that it is the hybridizers skill to match varieties with good flavor with those with disease-resistance and such. And, why imagine that it is a single cross? I understand that with chicken hybrids, "lines" of hybrids are often the parents of the one that is commercially available. So, the parents and grandparents may be hybrids. Some of the originals may not have more than a single characteristic that you want in your tomato patch. It certainly may not be flavor.

And, that's been my experience saving their offspring. I missed the good stuff and end up with bland! Now, there is an exception to all this that has been in my garden the last 4 out of 5 past seasons. Coyote.

I wrote about this in Shule's thread. It's an open-pollinated cherry. Very different, flavor-wise. I'm sure that only some folks would like it. No problem with the health of the plants that I have had.

My problem has been getting the seed started! I don't remember a problem in year 1. And, it volunteers just fine - super fine! I counted the days between ripening on those plants that I started and set out in 2015 and the volunteers that sprung up on their own -- 10 days! And, that was in mid-August!

The fresh seed that I saved in 2018 germinated indoors long after every thing else in my containers. I had to make special arrangements for the plants so that older, more vigorous tomato seedlings didn't crowd the Coyote out. Potted up individually and out in the garden for the last 6 weeks, the Coyote are doing fine. This, despite very difficult Spring weather. But, as excellent as Coyote does as a volunteer -- I should just take some mature fruit and scratch them into an out-of-the-way corner of soil this fall. Let them "volunteer" on their own and then transplant them to wherever I want them to grow.

Steve

Thank you for that perspective, Steve. I agree that the volunteers I have had in the past were cherry tomatoes. And because I know your experience, I'm sure you are right that these will likely not be worth keeping. But they are just so darned cute. I don't have the heart to kill them. I do have the heart to pluck them out and put them in pots for my mom. She can decide what she wants to do with them. If they ever bear fruit, she is more resourceful. Even if they don't possess a good "eat off the vine" flavor, she will use them in soups, sauces, stews in the winter. She is like that.