Hi, my name is Jen and I am from Pittsburgh.

Around 10 years ago, a friend of a friend of a friend bought the contents of a storage unit at auction. In that unit was a pretty big seed collection, and a number of these seeds made their way to me. I ended up with around 40+ heirloom tomato varieties, mostly dated 2010. Every year since then, I have been picking a few random varieties to grow, which has been fun and tasty. But since the seeds are getting pretty old now (I have been testing germination rates and getting around 50% still), I decided this year I would work on growing for sake of saving seeds and starting a new generation of fresh seeds.

Looking forward to learning as much as I can and sharing some seeds if I am successful.

Welcome to the forum!

Welcome to the Junction !

Welcome sounds like a fun ..

Hello and welcome @jaykray. I'm so happy that you have found us here. That is a fun story and a neat way to get some heirloom seeds. I too have saved seeds from those first few heirlooms that got me started and now I am saving seeds of those that I find are going by the wayside before they are lost to us forever.

Welcome to the Junction from Down Under @jaykray

Welcome!

Yo! jaykray! Wishing you a successful 2024 season! Gardened in Greentree for eight years. Great place for tomato-growing. In the 1970's collected paunch manure at a slaughter house a few miles up the Allegheny River and sawdust/shavings from a cabinet maker in the West End...made great compost...to which was added trace elements.

Georgia sends a big Welcome! Great story about the seeds. You've come to the right place where even the oldest seeds are encouraged to grow!

Welcome from the Land of Cheese and Beer!

The Gotch

Welcome, and best of luck with your season!

Welcome from New Hampshire Jaykray!

Welcome to the Junction!

How's yinz tomatoes growin'?

Welcome to the forum.

We're always looking for more enablers.

Welcome from central PA (though I’m originally from near Pittsburgh). What a fun project! There are old posts here about soaking older seeds in water with a little plant food to aid in germinating old seeds. I’m trying it this year with tomato seeds that a former coworker shared with me in 2001. Hope it works. Anyway, welcome to Tomato Junction. We are happy to have you join us.

Welcome Jen! I have been out of the loop for several months and just saw this. How wonderful that you got these seeds! How is the germination going this year? Would be interested to know some of the varieties you got? I am from NE PA and a bit behind the seed starting this year but wish you good luck and look forward to hearing about your grow outs!