On a trip to the Farmers’ Market, columnist Michelle Beck bought three varieties of tomato plants: Tomcat, Mr. Stripey and Juliet. Photo by Jennifer Baldwin

Beck will wait one more week before planting the young tomatoes, as the delicate plants are susceptible to damage if the temperature dips below 50 degrees. Photo by Jennifer Baldwin

By Michelle Beck

With all of the beautiful weather we’ve been having, it’s a wonder this column is even finished. I have been outside quite a bit working in my flower beds and getting the vegetable garden ready for planting.

I have been noticing lots of pony packs of winter vegetables in the stores lately. I don’t know why the stores put out broccoli plants right now, as it will likely be too hot before the plants are ready to harvest. When I grow broccoli, I plant it in the fall. Has anyone had luck planting winter vegetables so late? I have also seen packs of lettuce, which will probably be fine, if planted in the very near future. Lettuce and spinach grow well, but they are spring plants because they won’t survive our hot weather.

It’s also a good time to start an herb garden. My parsley, thyme and chives grow nearly year round, and my tarragon is starting to resurface from its winter dormancy. I planted my cilantro and dill a while back, and they are starting to take off. Neither will survive our hot weather, so I let them bloom and go to seed to let the ladybug and butterfly larva enjoy them before it’s time to pull the plants. I will plant basil when it gets a little warmer.

You, too, can be a tomato snob

If you have never tried homegrown tomatoes, you are missing out. Grocery store tomatoes do not compare, not even a little. My husband thought I was crazy when he first witnessed my, shall we say, zeal for homegrown tomatoes. But he was soon converted, and is now as big of a tomato snob as I am.

I am very excited to get my tomato plants into the ground, but it has still been a little cold. Tomatoes are tender plants, and the temperature really needs to be consistently above 50 degrees night and day for them to do well. If Louise is at the Farmers’ Market with her beautiful plants this weekend, I will probably not be able to resist buying a few, however. Floyd’s sells wax caps, which can be used to cover the plants on cold nights. Just be sure to remove them in the morning, or the plants will not be happy.

Tomatoes are easy to grow and do well in our climate. When I first started growing tomatoes, I didn’t have a dedicated vegetable garden. (That obsession came later.) I simply put my tomato plant wherever I could find room in my garden. Tomatoes are annuals, and with proper care, will produce through the summer. I usually pull mine around Labor Day, as they are leggy and ugly, but I have heard stories of people who prune their tomatoes way back in September and still get tomatoes until November.

Where to plant

Tomatoes like sun, but not too much. I have had the best luck planting tomatoes where they get sun most of the day, with protection from the sun after 3 p.m. or so. I would discourage anyone from planting tomatoes right next to a house or wall, especially a west-facing one, as the plants tend to fry in the heat absorbed by the plaster or cement.

Choosing your plants

Countless varieties of tomatoes exist, but they generally fall into one of the following groups:

• Beefsteak/slicers: large, meaty tomatoes which are great for sandwiches and slices
• Roma/paste: less juicy, meaty tomatoes, which are great for drying and cooking
• Cherry/grape: juicy one-bite tomatoes
• Heirloom: old-fashioned varieties which have come back into favor in recent years

This website has pictures and descriptions of thousands of tomato varieties. For the truly obsessed, Tomatoville is a forum with tons of information.

My all-time favorite place to buy plants is from Louise at the Farmers’ Market. She always has an incredible variety, with pictures and catalog descriptions to help with choosing. She has recommended a few varieties over the years that have turned into a “must-grow” for me. As the weather warms, she’ll also have a huge assortment of peppers, eggplant, squash and melons.

I know some people plant the same varieties every year. Some even buy more than one plant of the same variety. I am the opposite. I always make sure I have a beefsteak/slicer-type for my tomato/fresh mozzarella salad, a Roma-type for drying, a smaller, but prolific type for making salsa and a cherry of some sort. For the others, I try to choose something different every year.

I have room for six plants in my raised bed. My choices this year (I think) are Mortgage Lifter, Juliet, Tomcat, Sungold, Black from Tula and one more to be determined when I see what cool varieties Louise has this year. My cousin grew Arkansas Traveler last year, and it looks great, so I may try it.

Supporting your plants

Tomato plants elicit strong opinions from those who grow them. For example, some people refuse to plant their tomatoes before April, and others have very strict views about watering. Tomato support is probably the area where people have the strongest opinions.

Tomatoes are vines, and need support so the fruit doesn’t sit on the ground and rot. I hate tomato baskets. Even the big ones are too small to support the weight of the plant and I refuse to constantly re-stake them. I have seen big “tomato towers” like these at home improvement stores. These look similar to a set-up many people have described to me. I don’t love any of the towers because I don’t like having to reach into the cage to pick tomatoes. I love the smell of tomato plants (they smell like summer to me) but the branches make me itch.

My choice is a flat, vertical trellis because it is easy to pick tomatoes from them. My brother introduced me to the concept. He prunes the forward-growing branches and trellises them with military precision. Not me. I can’t bring myself to prune a branch that might produce more tomatoes, so I just keep tying them up.

I know several people who have tried the upside-down method, using the “Topsy Turvy,” but none of them had success. Tomatoes need a lot of water when it is hot, so my guess would be that the upside-down planters don’t capture and retain as much water.

Fertilizing your plants

This is another area where opinions vary greatly. I use the organic method of mixing compost and manure into the soil. I also add some fish emulsion food. But I know others  who swear by chemical fertilizers. It’s up to you how you want to feed your plants.

Learning more about tomatoes

If you are interested in tomatoes and tomato varieties, I encourage you to check out the book “Heirloom” by Tim Stark. I have seen it at Russo’s Books, and was able to request it at the library. It’s a very interesting story about one of the people who helped popularize heirloom tomatoes. I will warn you, however, that you may end up expanding your tomato garden to try some of the varieties he mentions.

Seminar on vegetable gardening

On Feb. 28th, Robby’s Nursery at 13129 Hageman Road is hosting a seminar about vegetable gardening. You can call them for more information at 588-0859.

Tomato Soup Cake

To celebrate the start of tomato season, how about making a tomato soup spice cake?  This is an old recipe for a spice cake with a can of Campbell’s tomato soup as the secret ingredient.  It is topped with cream cheese frosting, and would make a nice treat after a few hours of gardening.