Scrapped Up

For today's Scrapped Up we're giving the dirt on tomatoes!

With over 10,000 varieties, this easy-growing fruit is the perfect beginner plant for those wanting to explore home-grown ingredients.

Belonging to the nightshade family, most of the tomato plant is mildly toxic to humans and animals. Since the fruit, which is a known aphrodisiac, is the safest part of the plant we decided to get planting with our leftover tomatoes.

After making our garden jalapeno hot sauce we still had tomato slices left over. Our philosophy at DCC is to stick it in some dirt and see if it grows; since most fruits and vegetables contain seeds, this should work with most vegetables. What we wanted to know is if we could grow a full plant from grocery-store tomatoes.

Start with premoistened soil and a pot.

The size of the pot is not important at this stage, as long as it is deep enough for roots to take hold. Once the seedlings grow you can separate and replant into large pots with climbing cages or trellises.

We used a 4-inch terracotta pot because that's what we had, but if buying a pot look for nonporous material (plastic, ceramic, etc.) that will keep your seedlings moist as they sprout.

Fill the pot a little over halfway and place your tomato slice in the soil.

Keep the slice thin to avoid over crowding but thick enough to keep the seeds in tact.

Cover the slice with premoistened soil

Fill the pot with soil and give it a good spritz with water. From here we have two options:

You can cover the pot with plastic wrap and poke holes to create a mini greenhouse.

Or if you're like us, you chuck it in a corner of your porch and hope for the best.

Place in a shady spot and keep moist

Keep the pot out of direct sunlight, but allow plenty of indirect or diffused sunlight. Water frequently if outside and mist daily if inside/uncovered.

Transplant to LARGE pot

Once your tomatoes have sprouted, separate the seedlings and plant no more than two in 10-gallon planters and place a cage or trellis for the vines to climb up. **Never let the fruit touch the ground, it will rot before it ripens.

After about 4-8 weeks you should have a mature plant ready to bear fruit! Happy planting.