It only went down to 37 degrees last night here in NW Austin (183 & 620).

The tomato they grow commercially down in the Fredericksburg area that will
continue to set and produce fruit in the heat of an Austin summer is Sun
Master -- my favorite for heartiness, production and flavor, produce
abundantly, about 4" fruits, smooth, round red -- it is a refinement of Heat
Wave. I use to buy them at the Wolfe's Nursery on north 183 a few miles
south of Cedar Park but that store closed. I have found them sporadically
at Hill Country Landscape And Garden Center (13561 Pond Springs Road,
258-0093), and Red Barn Garden Center (12881 Pond Springs Road, 335-8093),
both are here in far Northwest Austin just off of 183, both carry the
popular hybrids and some heirlooms. I think Hill Country Landscape is much
cheaper that Red Barn but haven't done price comparisons for awhile.

Home Depot and Lowe's (which is owned by Wal-Mart) are sporadic about what
varieties they get in but mostly traditional hybrids (hybrids' advantages
are that they are usually more disease resistant and hardy and usually
produce more heavily, the advantages of some heirlooms are that they may
come back next year as "volunteer" plants (hybrids do not produce viable
seeds) and heirlooms win on flavor). Determinate tomatoes produce well for
a short period then essentially quit (will still get an occasional tomato or
two if you don't pull the plant), Indeterminate plants (usually) will grow
much taller sprawling and will continue to produce until frost.

Typical varieties found at the three places you named:

Celebrity (Determinate)
Porter (Indeterminate)
Mercer (?)
Sweet 100 ("Cherry", Indeterminate)
Patio (Indeterminate)
Early Girl (Indeterminate)
Better Boy (Indeterminate)
Beefsteak (Indeterminate)
Roma ("paste" - good for eating and making sauces, Determinate)

The two nurseries on Pond Springs Road (Pond Springs runs off of 183 just
south of Lakecreek Blvd intersection dumping back into 183 just before
McNeil intersection) will have those plus several other varieties including
some of the more popular heirlooms like Brandywine (Indeterminate).

I have tried both Porter and Mercer and did not have good luck with either,
but taste is a personal preference and differences in soil do make very
marked differences in the flavors of tomatoes.

This year I've got a couple of heirlooms I started indoors from seed - then
from Wal-Mart one each of: "Celebrity" & "Patio", and from Hill Country
Landscape And Garden Center ($.79 for a 2" pot): "Ultra Sweet Beefsteak"
(Determinate), "Carnival" (Determinate), "Navidad Grape" (this is a very
sweet cherry style, Indeterminate), I haven't found any Sun Master yet, and
also want an Early Girl because they are always reliable.

On Bell peppers -- about everything does well -- last year I got one from
Hill Country that produced like mad even after the first freeze (I did cover
it). They had six or seven different varieties of Bell peppers to choose
from and I don't remember which that one happened to be.


--
Marta
(if you email me directly you need to remove the X )