'Sungold' grew well one year on Camano Island.

For 2007 my best cherries were Bambino and second place went to Sweet Million. We don't care for the flavor of yellow and gold varieties.

Territorial has a good selection for our area and that's the only source I use. I also recommend Steve Solomon's book "Growing Vegetables West of the Cascades". It's available at most libraries.

'Sungold' is very sweet. I definitely care for the flavor, and since local groceries have been stocking it (during part of the year) it apparently so do quite a few others. Ciscoe has also been raving about it.

For the best yellow/orange cherry or grape tomato, it's tough to beat 'Sungold'. Extremely prolific, an early ripener and a candy-like flavor. It is hands-down the most popular tomato variety we sell. I am not as familiar with most of the others you mention. A good many of the heirloom/exotic varieties have a longer growth-until-harvest requirement than our summers can accomodate. So unless you give them a very early start in a greenhouse setting and prepare to protect them from early fall frosts, the size, quality and timing of the harvest is pretty much a toss up.

For the Puget Sound area it is typically recommended to select varieties with a harvest period of 75 days or less, unless greenhouse/heated growing conditions are available.

Mmmm, you got me thinking about summer already. You'll want to start those tomatoes by the end of January, if your growing from seed.

I love, love, love sungold. Can't get enough. They never make it into salads, I eat them to quick.

The only other one on your list I recognize is Green Zebra. I thought it was OK, a little fleshy for me.

For purples I like Black Prince and really like Purple Russian (it's a plum).

One more yellow you might try is Taxi, it's pretty big and ripens early in our cool climate.

Thanks folks. I just don't want to waste space with ones that won't make it. I've grown these all before, but in zone 10.

gardengal48: thanks so much for the heads up about harvest time. That was going to be my next question.

nwnatural: January? Really? I didn't start that early in zone 10.

I was thinking more like end of March, given the frost danger here. Any thoughts? I'll start them from seed, indoors, with lights. Then about 6-8 weeks later put them out in raised beds. I bought some row covers if the weather turns sour. Does that sound OK?

It's not so much about the zone, we just don't get enough summer heat for really good tomato production in the NW.

I start mine, indoors, under grow lights, end of January. I wouldn't even think about setting them outside till after Mothers Day. One tiny frost will really set them back. I like to get mine growing in 1 gallon pots indoors. They do get a little leggy, but I just pinch off some lower branches and bury them deep.

On the bright side, if your space is limited, you wont be so tempted to start every seed in the packet (flash back to my first few years as an unsuccessful tomato farmer). 2 or 3 plants of each kind will be more then enough.

One more thought about the zones. On the other side of Washington, it's a zone 7, 6, or even 5 in some places. But, they get good heat for much longer then we do and tomatoes love it.

We, on this side of the mountains are mostly zone 7 or 8 but it's a long time before we get heat. Even then, we only average, maybe 10 days over 80 degrees (tomatoes no likey). Last year, I didn't even get cherry tomatoes (the first to ripen) until mid July.

I know, it's going to be a big adjustment for you. Good luck though, it's worth it.

Zone 7 is primarily the mountains, most people are living and gardening in Zone 8 here.

Here is a link that might be useful: WASHINGTON USDA Hardiness Zone Map

Thanks so much, nwnatural. It will be an adjustment, but I'm loving it here. Do you use a heating pad as well as the lights? And why do you start them so early if they're not going outdoors until May? Does that give them an extra head-start or do you just like having something growing in winter (that would be where I see myself going).
And I know what you mean about using every seed LOL! I never could resist and always ended up having to snip off all those excess plants in the flats! And even then I gave away loads of tomato starts to friends and neighbors.

I "love, love, love" Sungolds, too! They're a bit on the easy-to-crack side but the flavor is unbeatable and they're earlier than Sweet Million by a few days. Other favorites are Black Prince and other Russian heirlooms. Can't wait for the spring Territorial catalog...

I don't use heating mats, but I should. And, I grow em' big so I can get the most tomatoes possible. I'm afraid if you start them in March, you'll be waiting to pick fruit until the end of September.

By the time I plant them in May, they have flower buds already forming and blooming. Then another 70 days to maturity. You don't want to put them outside until the frost is gone, for me it's Mother's Day. For you in Bellingham, you might even want to wait an extra week or 2.

I don't use heating mats, but i put tray on top of refregirator, it's warm there. As soon as i see sprouts i put tray under the lamp.
Agree with nwnatural that in PNW it's better to transplant big plants or use GH or some kind of hoops and transplant earlier. I have GH (unheated) and tomatoes that i plant in soil there bring me the first tomatoes. Those that i plant outside come much later though i am planting them at the end of April, surround by jars with water and cover together with jars by row cover.

IME, the delay in setting out tomato starts is less a case of waiting until after last frost - in the Puget Sound area, May frosts are quite uncommon - but rather waiting for soils AND air temps to heat up sufficiently. Because our climate is so mild, soil temperatures are slow to heat up in spring and tomatoes planted into soils with temps less than 50F just languish. This generally just doesn't happen in this region until midMay or later. The warmer the soils, the better the toms will respond and put on growth. Same with air temperatures - if you can increase ambient air temperature through reflected heat (concrete surfaces, south or west facing walls, "wall of water" or other cloche systems) the tomatoes will respond immediately with increased growth. This is a good reason why a case can be made for planting tomatoes here in containers. Container soil, especially that in large black plastic nursery pots, will heat up much faster in spring than inground soils and you can position and stage the containers to benefit from reflected heat sources.

I grow all my tomaotes this way on my concrete patio. While many area tomato growers were complaining this year about late/poor harvests due to our non-summer, I started harvesting in early August and continued until cold stopped the process in October.

I grow my tomatoes in a planter that has a fiberglas roof 6' above the planter, this planter is cut into a slope facing SE. The back side of the planter is ground level, the front is 30" high and it's 3' wide. I start my tomatoes in January in the house then they go out to the greenhouse, minimally heated. I keep potting them on until they get planted out in April by this time the soil in the planter has warmed up to 60F. I do put hot caps on for a couple of weeks. I also grow lettuce along the front edge and my pole beans on netting on the back side of the planter. For two years I move the soil from back to front, front to back and the third year I swap the soil planting depth with soil from somewhere else in the garden. This works well for me and its very easy to weed this bed being it's waist high in the front.

Can someone recommend an open pollinated variety of tomato that is a medium size? I grew Manitoba this year and found the size to small for my liking. I want to be able to save my own seed and would like something the size of Celebrity.

A......

They like it hot and it ain't hot here. WSU used to tell people to wait until June to set them out. However, I've noticed outlets load up on them well before then and also that the selection falls way off before then as well. And I've noticed that most of the stock brought in and put on display before hot weather comes (= too early) has yellowish top leaves and growing tips which I take to indicate exposure to temperatures too low for their liking. This is supposed to be highly detrimental to results, with specimens so-chilled dawdling long enough afterward to prevent a good result for the whole season. Starting your own from seed would seem to be the answer, unless you happen to have access to a retailer who handles the transplants correctly.

Tomatoes varieties were trialed for productivity and tastiness in a 4-H garden. Sun Gold, Sweet Baby Girl, Yellow Jelly Bean, Sweet Million were all favorites for the cherries. Carmello was the best tasting large tomato and productivity was good because the green tomatoes ripened indoors. Some other earlier tomatoes had tough skins and produced few tomatoes after the couple of early ones. Momotaro did have a lot of tomatoes but did not ripen early enough and the skins were tough.
Growing good tomatoes in western WA is a challenge but fun. My daughter who moved to Spokane last summer grew one Carmello tomato plant in her yard and had bowls of tomatoes sitting on her counter at one time. I had one or two tomatoes at a time.

My favorite topic in the veggie garden (along with peppers)! In my comments I will note my seed source TS (Territorial Seeds...also have plants for shipping), NGN (Nichols Garden Nursery), JS(John Schleppers), PT(Pine Tree).

Matina (TS) is a BIG winner. I have been growing it for about 5 yeas. It ripens early, large salad size, and has the taste of the big guys! Green Zebra (JS) has also become a standard for me. Very different tast. A bit of a challenge to decide when to picked...I've decided that it is best when the top has a slight yellow/gold tint. I also find that within the same seed packet most will be medium size but there will be one plant out of three which produces later ripening beefstake size. I tried Opalka twice and found that it was pretty much a dud for me. Taxi does ripen but I have been disappointed by the flavor...I now use Gold Medal (TS) instead. Inside it is a swirl of red and yellow (beautiful on a plate with Green Zebra, and Black Prince)....it is HUGE but begins ripening fairly early. BlackPrince (NGN) is an early ripener for me, very tough, long season. For flavor and appearance you cannot beat Pink Accordian(TS)......it is deeply folded, large, luscious, a lovely color and also wonderful on that plate of heirlooms...but beware it is clear why it would never be a commerical tomato it has very thin skin and bruises so easily that I use a knife or clipper to pick them...even holding and twisting the tomato leaves bruises...some are midsized and some grow into multilobed monsters ....this one is my husband's favorite and always wins the taste test.

Others to consider: Siletz (NGN) for a small early one with good cold tolerance and reasonable flavor; Principe Bourghese(TS) for drying; Roma NGN) for paste; a french favorite Carmello (JS) is an extremely tasty midsize. I like Gardners Delight(PT) for a small red early ripener with taste and Golden Nugget(NGN) for a small tasty l-o-n-g season yellow.

Last year on the radio I heard this idea for early planting and found it excellent: wrap your tomato cages (mine are field fence/cheap) with plastic sheeting, place 3 dark wine bottles filled with water inside or plastic soda bottles darkened with food coloring inside each cage.....they absorb and hold heat....and so much cheaper than wall-o-water.....remove sheeting when warm weather comes and the plants want to spill out of their cages....just remember to bring the wine bottles in before they freeze or tip the wine bottles over because if they freeze full of water they break....messy, messy, messy.
This makes me want to check my seed supplies and figure out what I need to order! jwww

I gotta try that Pink Accordian, it sound delicious.

I have had good luck with Early Girl at Birch Bay just north of Bellingham. I grow them in pots in the sun room till early May and then plant them on the south side of the house. They are leggy then so I plant them way deep in good rich compost soil
Bill

Thompson and Morgan sent me a free packet of Sungella last year, so I planted a few. All the virtues of Sungold, but 2-3" diameter fruits! One standby for me is Stupice. If we get a chilly summer as we did in 2007, that one still produces reliably. I also had great luck with Ferline and Legend, two blight-resistant varieties, and Early Giant.

Because we can have nighttime temps below 50 degrees even in July and August, I don't set my plants outside until mid-June, and even then I set gallon jugs of water between the plants to provide additional warmth and I cover them at night.

When we moved, I gave all my black, 15 gal. containers to neighbors because I figured I'd have more than enough planting space. Didn't think about still using them for tomatoes to keep them warm! Oh well.
Our little micro-climate (we're usually a little colder in the winter and more than a bit warmer in the summer than the Bellingham temps from the airport) might make planting out in late April doable (I always see this as one big botany experiment). To warm up the air and soil I'm thinking of placing a few hoops over the raised beds, covered in some sort of see-through plastic. Any thoughts? I also might try nailing black plastic to the outside of the raised beds.

If you are considering inground planting, you might want to experiment with a colored plastic mulch. Red plastic mulch is reputed to have a very beneficial effect on tomatoes, increasing yields and hastening ripening. Can't say so myself since mine are all grown in containers but a Google search will turn up numerous hits. The mulch is available by mail order from various sources and is also carried by a few area nuseries. I'd still consider using polytunnels and covering the plants if you set out early.

I live in Yacolt, WA. Should I try these so called "ultra early" tomatoes? What does it mean? For cold areas?

http://www.territorialseed.com/prod_detail_list/223

Here is a link that might be useful: Territorial seed -

Hi City Chicken....I live not far from you in the View area....that high area northwest of Fargher Lake. Look at my 12/22 input on this thread. We actually are warmer and sunnier in the summer than the Seattle area. Although we may have frost later than Portland, unless you are in a very low lying area, you don't get the summer clouds that those closer to the Columbia get and certainly not as much as Seattle. I always grow some early ripening tomatoes (Siletz, Matina, Black Prince all work well for me) and I do stay away from the extremely long season beefsteak types. I do use plastic and water bottles to be able to set mine out by early June (see my earlier note.) Overall harvest of the later ripening varieties is largely dependent upon our September weather...if it stays warm and dry we have a bumper crop; if we get early rains we get to be creative with green tomatoes!
Happy gardening......jwww