tomato, chives, basil, parsley varieties
 

Hi,
I'm not very experienced in gardening but I wanted to try to grow the plants
that I mentioned in the subject line. I live in Vancouver Canada which has
about the same climate as Seattle and I live in an apartment. I plan to try
to grow these on my east facing patio this year. What type of varieties
should I buy? I'm totally lost on this one. Also, when should I plant the
seeds. I don't want to buy seedlings because last year I tried this with
some other plants and introduced a major aphid/whitefly epidemic into my
house so I've sworn that off for this year. Maybe you could also suggest
plants that might help repel aphids should I have a problem this year. Any
help would be great.
Rose