Hello Michelle,
I am in Portland and I am able to grow many of the late varieties including Brandywine. This year was especially tough and for the first time I lost several plants. However, I will be picking today my first brandywine and I have been harvesting many others for at least 6 weeks. I do start early indoors though. In fact, the late varieties have been started this year on Dec 26th. First in small cell packs, then moved to into a typical 3 inch pot then again moved 8 weeks later into a gallon container. By the time they went outside they were large and supported. I will probably harvest at least 6 to 8 tomatoes per plant from these large slicers. In previous years, I harvested at least 15 per plant because our springs were not as harsh (we had hail in May!).
I love Jaune Flamme, but it is a smaller tomato. For the flavor comment, I think for me, I find that adding a bit of lime and epsom salt tends to help.
This is my first year growing dwarfs and they were not earlier than the regular varieties.
For early candidates for BLT, try something like Silvery Fir Tree if you haven't already. Also, Pink Berkeley Tie Dye tends to ripen early for me. Marmande this year was also early for me. You can also try protecting a couple of plants when planting outside. The trick is to offer them an environment where the temperatures don't drop below 50 at night in the spring to keep them going. Also, covering the soil with plastic (trying this for the first time this year) seemed to help a bit!
Good luck,
Rita
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