Tomato Variety Gained

I am exchanging some of my tomatoes and other things I have started for some tomatoes from a co-worker I also carpool with.  This guy's family has been saving a particular yellow tomato they've named Carlson Gold for years.  As you can see from the paper towel in the picture, they use the paper towel method.  This is a method I totally forgot about.  I remember seeing it when I was younger.  An older gardener I knew would spot a fantastically large and beautiful tomato he thought an excellent specimen for its variety and simply squeeze out as many of its seeds as he thought necessary on a paper towel and then put it someplace to dry and then store it until next year.  He then ate the rest of the excellent tomato.

For years I've tried fermenting and had some luck, but my over-busy lifestyle for a time and the fact that I lived in a very hot climate, led to many problems--mostly that I would forget about the seeds and they'd go past the ideal time frame to remove that gel stuff that inhibits sprouting and go into actual sprouting or simply disintegrate, or that they would just get too hot even though the Arizona house's air conditioner was set for about 80*--the South Dakota houses never had air and would often heat up too.  This would make the whole process speed up and then I would lose the seeds sometimes or loose part of them anyways if I wasn't very diligent.  Then there was also the fact that in Arizona my growing conditions didn't give me the best quality fruit and I didn't feel that they were save worthy many times.  Seed saving isn't that complicated.  I used to be more uptight and worry that I was doing it right with tomatoes over any other variety for some reason.  Maybe age is making me even more laid back...but I'm ready to not be worried about this whole tomato thing--to just do it and chill about hot jars and mess ups and just save seeds already.

A lot of the seeds I have now were saved with the help of a friend who had a much colder home a few years ago.  Tomato seeds have a long shelf life, but I am running on the fridges of that long life right now and decided it was time to get some fresh seeds for my favorite varieties, so I've socked all of my seeds into the soil.  When it comes time to save I'm going to do a few things.  It seems that fermenting doesn't have to be as drawn out as I originally learned...so I'm going to just do a short soak and then rinse and dry--doing things this way will allow for long term storage.  I'm also going to do a few paper towels for quick gifting and to do a germination comparison with the seeds saved the other more old fashioned way.  These on the paper towel won't have a huge shelf life, but will serve the purpose.

On top of getting a few awesome tomato seeds to try out, co-worker also threw in some peppers...pretty awesome.

It has been an interesting {I was very surprised to get Teacher of the Year after only being at the school almost two years--I thought there was some rule against that or something...}, busy {class plays and projects and whatnot}, and overall pleasant enough week {good weather, and also classroom fun} and gaining a few plants topped it off nicely.