On Mon, 23 Feb 2004 20:12:37 -0800, Thomas Jacobs wrote:

I'm planning my garden for the year, and I would welcome opinions from
people in this forum.

I live in southern Wisconsin, and I'm trying to balance my tomato crop
this year. Every year, the cool weather closes in before my plants
have run their full course. This year, I want to include some
varieties that produce earlier. I want to make sure I'm picking
tomatoes that are easy to grow and have decent flavor.

I will also still use some of the classics like Beefsteak. I would
welcome opinions about any of the following tomato varieties.

Burpee (early varieties)

- Early Pick Hybrid
- Early Girl Hybrid
- Ensalada

Burpee (late season varieties)

- Winrer Red
- Red October

Parks

- Beeft Boy hybrid

Gurney

- Burgermaster


Living in a similar zone, I usually plant

Early Girl
Better Boy
Wisconsin 55
Viva Italia
Cherry Sweet 100


I've had best results with these when I stake and sucker them. One season
I tried red plastic for mulch and was surprised how good the tomatoes
turned out. I usually have tomatoes up to frost but the late season ones
lose some of their good taste. Guessing this might have to do with
shorter days and a lower sun angle which might affect sugar production in
the fruit.

In recent years I have purchased seeds for all my tomatoes and peppers
from Totally Tomatoes and have had absolutely no germination problems.