Tomatoes!! Everything you could ever want to know about my personal tomato choices

Last year I planted one variety of tomato: chianti rose. I was absolutely blown away by the amount of flavor and glory those plants produced. I got big, beautiful, meaty tomatoes until the season was over and was thrilled. I cannot even explain to you how incredible it was to eat those giant toms with some mozzarella and a little balsamic...basil and olive oil..oh man. Holy cow. Naturally, I decided to plant only one of those again, and add 5 other varieties to the mix... Logical. I know, but this year I wanted a variety! I needed some slicers, and cherry toms, and sauce toms...I want them all!

This year I went for a sunset pear tomato blend, beef steak, chianti rose, cherokee purple, roma, and siletz

Tomato plants can be either determinate or indeterminate. This means that they will either produce all of their tomatoes all at once, or they will continually produce fruit until the plant dies. Indeterminate (the latter) is my personal favorite because I am a tomato glutton. I love them. I love everything about them and want to enjoy as many of them from the garden as possible. The thing is, Roma tomatoes, the producers of wonderful tomato sauces and soups, are a determinate variety. Siletz are the same way. I happen to enjoy both of these varieties an awful lot, so I allowed them space in my plot this year. Definitely be sure to do your tomato research before choosing your variety. The day my tomatoes stop producing is always the saddest day. 

After choosing my tomato children for the year, I planted them indoors, in peat pots, under a grow light, and let them do their thing. Since I live in the Pacific Northwest, starting these babes inside is pretty essential for getting the most out of my plants. Tomatoes like rich soil with lots of organic matter. Adding compost is always a good choice. The soil where I live has a tendency to be a bit calcium deficient (silly rain and its ability to leach good things from my soil :( ), so adding egg shells is a beautiful way to make sure your little toms get all that they need. You can find an excellent article about egg shell prep here. Eggshells provide several other advantages, but I'll let the lovely ladies at thedigin.com tell you about that!

After a while, your plant babes will outgrow their peat pots and will need to be either hardened off and planted outside (if your region/timing permits), or replanted in larger containers. When you replant or transfer your tomatoes into the ground, be sure you bury as much of the stem as possible. I usually remove the bottom most leaves, leaving just the top leaves above ground. The buried stem will start to grow roots and will make your plant much more stable. This also ensures that your developed roots are deep into the ground which will allow your plant access to the moisture and nutrients found there. Good, flavorful tomatoes require deep, occasional watering and nutrient rich soil. 

Here are what my little (some not so little anymore) ones are looking like now!

If the weather cooperates, I will start hardening these babes off in about 3 weeks, being extra careful to check the forecast for frost. Tomatoes will not tolerate a frost. I will spend about two weeks getting my tomato plants adjusted to outside conditions. See my post about hardening off for more details! After that, all that's left to do is plant these little ones in the ground and cage them!

As the season continues, I'll be sure to keep you updated on my tomato progress!! In the mean time, what tomato varieties are your favorite? What do you have growing currently? Do you have any tips and tricks for healthy tomato progress?