Seeds, Tomato Mountain Merit F1 (West Coast Seeds)

Sow Mountain Merit tomato seeds indoors, five to seven weeks before transplanting out in late spring. This fantastic bush tomato produces a giant, concentrated set of medium-large red tomatoes around 75 days from transplant time. Its fruits are perfect for slicing in sandwiches and burgers.

Best of all, Mountain Merit has one of the best disease resistance packages available, including a high resistance to late blight, which will have a serious impact for coastal tomato growers, as blight can be such a problem.

It also has high resistance to Fusarium wilt races 0-2, nematodes, and tomato spotted wilt virus.

These seeds are coated with an inert, organically certified layer which helps to minimize clumping in storage and seed sowing machines. The coating is approved by organic certifiers in Canada, the US, EU, and Japan.

Determinate (bush), Matures in 75 days. (Hybrid seeds)

Exposure Full-sun

Timing
Start indoors in early spring over bottom heat. When seedlings germinate, remove from the heat and grow under bright lights. Grow seedlings on for 6-8 weeks at around 10°C (50°F). Early season tomatoes can be planted out once night time temperatures are reliably above 7°C (45°F) - or later. Other types should be transplanted out when night time lows are 10°C (50°F) or warmer - or later. Optimal soil temperature for germination: 25-35°C (68-95°F). With bottom heat seeds should germinate in 7-14 days.

Starting
Sow seeds 5mm-1cm (¼-½”) deep. Keep seedlings under very bright light to prevent legginess. You may have to pot on seedlings more than once before they go out to allow for root growth. Space bush (determinate) transplants 45-60cm (18-24″) apart and vine (indeterminate) types 50-75cm (20-30″) apart in rows 1m (3′) apart.

Companion Planting
Another sensitive plant when it comes to companions, tomatoes benefit from asparagus, basil, beans, borage, carrots, celery, chives, collards, cucumber, garlic, lettuce, marigold, mint, nasturtium, onion, parsley, and peppers. Avoid planting alongside Brassicas and dill. Corn will attract tomato pests, and kohlrabi will stunt tomatoes’ growth. Potatoes may spread blight to tomatoes, so keep them apart. Do no plant tomatoes near walnut trees.