My own tomatoes, that is. Not only do I like to grow my own tomatoes for their fresh deliciousness, I like to start heirloom varieties of my choosing from seed to increase the tastiness. I am very fond of Stupice, for its early production and fantastic flavor, Brandywine for its beauty and reliability, and Orange Queen for its impressive colour and large fruits. I also grow a red cherry and yellow teardrop tomato that are reliable producers.

Orange Queen

Last year was a terrible summer for tomatoes in Seattle. Spring never arrived. I really mean this. It was cold and wet right up to summer. Case in point: I suffer spring allergies and in 2010, I didn’t. Most of my starts died and I had to plant whatever varieties I could get a hold of at the last minute. They grew fitfully, suffered diseases. They did ultimately produce tomatoes, but they weren’t ‘all-that’.

This year has also been a cold, wet spring. Add to that, I started my seeds late, outdoors in cold frames. The seeds did germinate and they have grown in to lovely little starts. This week I planted them out.

Tomato plants are big drinkers. This year I am using some of my limited olla supply to water my tomato plants. I placed four plants around each olla. I have no control plots this year. I know; not very scientific of me, but it’s a desperate year, what with full-time work and no spring. My measure of success will be relative. I will keep you posted!