Tomatoes are not hard to grow, but they do need thought and attention. The key ingredients to tomato success in our area are:

Selecting the right varieties
Our area is not ideal for growing tomatoes, because tomatoes need warm nights that stay above 65°F, or even better above 70°F. That doesn't happen here. The last summer we lived in the Washington D.C. area, the low was 89°F one night. Which would you rather have, our pleasant cool nights, or the widest possible selection of tomato varieties? I choose cool nights, since there are still (really!) thousands of tomato varieties to choose from. The classic Brandywines, Cherokee Purples, Mortgage Lifters and the Hybrid Beefsteaks are only going to give us ripe tomatoes in September, if then. But we can have Prudens Purple, Victoria, Astiana, and Anna Russian, which are every bit as wonderful as the best known heirlooms. And some of them qualify as heirlooms themselves, being more than 100 years old.

We grow early and mid-season varieties, as do the other tomato plant vendors at the Hollywood Farmers Market. Feel free to ask when you can expect tomatoes from the variety you choose. But don't expect a very precise answer, since it all depends on "degree days," a measure of how many warm hours we will have between now and tomato time. Early tomatoes are usually ready before the end of July, and mid-season tomatoes in August. Gales Creek, where we have our farm, is colder than Portland. The cool air from the top of the Coast Range comes down the Gales Creek Canyon every night in summer and settles on our fields. So if a tomato works for us, it will work for a garden in Northeast Portland.

If you can only grow your tomatoes in pots, choose varieties that have been bred to grow well in pots. We have ten varieties that do splendidly in pots. Some of them are from a group of enthusiastic breeders participating in the Dwarf Tomato Project, and all of these are enrolled in the Open Source Seed Initiative, which should keep them out of the clutches of the greedy seed monopolists. Some of them have funny names like Brandy Fred and Sarandipity.

Choosing the right location
Tomatoes need good soil and as much sun as they can get. At least ten hours of sun a day is ideal, and six hours is the absolute minimum. If your garden area is too shady to provide that, pick a sunnier spot and grow container varieties. Some tomatoes that do fairly well with less than ten hours a day are Sungold, Uralskiy Ranniy, Stupice, Victoria, Latah and Katya. Cherry tomatoes are usually more tolerant of less than 10 hours than bigger ones.

If your tomato location has not been used as a garden spot before, put off getting your tomato plants and spend some time preparing it. Remove a layer of sod (or all the weeds if that is what is there). Dig in generous amounts of your own or purchased compost.

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