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| I want to grow & preserve a good amount of organically grown tasty tomatoes for my family for personal health reasons.
Cool & wet weather dominates until 4th of July & sounds perfect for winter sowing... BUT... our summer is short & cool nights return by late August with rain following mid month so difficult to keep late tomatoes healthy to ripen. Our 1st light frost is mid-October and a killing frost in November. If I let WS toms germinate when ready ... will the plants mature & bear fruit to ripen on the vines? I'm planting short season determinate types, with a few indeterminates. Mostly paste types for roasting & canning + some fresh eating slicers & cherry toms. For better chance of ripe tomatoes:
1st year WS toms & sounds so much easier. Though I prefer WS because it's harder to mess up, is the slower germination rate going to ruin my hopes of ripe tomatoes? Any suggestions from those with experience ws tomatoes? Corrine |
Follow-Up Postings:
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| I imagine short DTM varieties would indeed be your best bet. Longer DTM ones might not ripen in time. I have WSown tomatoes for several years. They are still tiny in May when transplanted to beds. Same plants in August 2010 Last summer was the exception, with more rain, clouds, and cooler temps than normal, I didn't get nearly the tomatoes I usually get. Karen |
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| Defintely go with short-season types and you'll do great. T |
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| Corrine, it concerns me a little that you might put all your eggs/seeds in one basket :) here in the PNW where ripe tomatoes can be a roll of the dice depending on a particular years weather. Typically our Spring is cool with soils slow to warm, some years (like last year) there is very little ripening heat during summer before chilly nights and early rains are looming again. Here on the coast where we have more days of cloud cover than several miles inland, I can't WS sow tomatoes with any expectation of a ripe crop. If you're counting on tomatoes to can, I'd hope you'd have a Plan B just in case. Have you checked the Northwest Gardening forum for suggestions of those that typically ripen soonest in our climate? |
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| Obviously, it's more fun to grow your own plants from seed, but if you really want fruit to save, you might want to consider purchasing plants. I know Seed Savers Exchange sells tomato plants online and they have a great selection of organically grown heirlooms. I'm sure they could recommend some short season varieties. I've bought from them and their plants are vigorous and shipped carefully packaged. Just a suggestion to keep your options open. One very short season variety that I've grown from seed is "Stupice" which is a medium sized sauce tomato with great flavor. Good Luck! Martha |
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| With our cool Springs, many nurseries carry tomato starts to give gardeners a growing head start, Stupice often being one... Last year when I was in Bark & Garden, Oly, first week of May they had table after table of 'starts', which were easily 2x2+'. Yes, feet. And it was still cold to take those home without someplace bright but protected to keep them, I had to pass. |
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