Today marks day 1 of my 2026 tomato growing season. The last months have been especially hectic as I hunted/packed up/moved into a condo, and I now find myself planting my tomato seeds a full month later than I wanted for the second year in a row. Alas. At least it’s a bit windier here, so I shouldn’t need to manually shake the sprouts as much as last year. And while my tardiness puts these crops at a disadvantage, I believe that all the knowledge I gained from last year’s misadventures will give this year’s tomatoes an edge. This year, they’ll thrive.
I think it is actually realistic to believe that this will be a more successful harvest than last year. The bar is not particularly high. I’m shooting for a 16% survival rate to outdo last year. Since I planted 17 seeds this year, that means only 3 need to survive. I feel like that’s doable, but I also don’t want to get cocky.