Just wondering how long does your Tomato season go?

80sgirl · July 29, 2012

I just noticed that we are growing so many of the same things but temperture wise our growing areas are so different. I in New Brunswick, Canada (zone 5a-by the ocean) have brandywine, celeb, big beef, purple calabash, orange banana, myan and sion, baha,and better boy tomatoes in large planters. I also have cukes, egg plant, zuchinni, peas, pole beans, lettuce, growing now. Almost ready to have my first zuchinni and eggplant of the season, peas are ready now, and have been eating lettuce for a month out of my garden. Tomatoes are doing really well productive wise, but it will be another 3 weeks before I get a red one (just guessing) I grow my tomatoes from seed under a grow light inside,and start them first of April then about first of June I can put them outside (no green house)without risk of frost. I will have to worry about frost mid to late September. Just wondering what month do you start your plants and when do you put your plants outside? or do you start them outside? How long does you tomato season go? I get 4 months outside on a very good year with no green house, but I do have to cover them at night in September.

habitat_gardener · July 29, 2012

I'm in the SF bay area, where this week it looks like 81day/54night temperatures. It doesn't rain from about June to Sept. Last year and this year were not typical, because I was packing and moving last spring and moving my garden this spring. I did not start my own tomato seeds until May, but I did buy seedlings in April, so I had tomatoes in mid July. Because of the cool nights, a 60 DTM tomato can take 70-90 days to produce. I get great tomatoes until mid September, good tomatoes until mid October, and usually lots of cherry tomatoes and a few stragglers until first frost in the last week of November. I'm always hoping for favorable weather and trying to prolong the season.

In past years I've started seeds in a cold frame in March and put them out a couple months later. I've also purchased seedlings in Feb. (when I first start seeing them in stores!) or March and had my first tomatoes by the middle to end of June. I use walls-o-water (WOW) for the early-planted tomatoes until about mid-May, since we get low 40s-high 30s with wind at least until the end of April, and I lost an unprotected 4-ft. plant once at the end of April. I wrap the cages with plastic or bubblewrap after they get taller than the WOW. One year, I planted about a dozen plants in early/mid March, and I recall being out in the rainstorms shoring up the plastic tents protecting the plants. Since then, I've planted only 1 or 2 early ones.

I planted some dwarf plants in 2-gallon containers last week, and I'm wondering if I can keep 1 or 2 going through the winter with protection. I'm hoping to get a few to taste, at least.

I learned not to plant cucurbits until mid-May -- they can't take the cold nights, early plants attract squash bugs, and they don't like being inside plastic cages. Beans get planted in 6-packs ideally the beginning of May (and are ready to plant 2-3 weeks later), but this year I didn't have time until the 3rd week of May, so I got my first pound of beans yesterday. One scarlet runner bean root survived the winter, and I started getting scarlet runner beans 2-3 weeks ago.

RobinB · July 30, 2012

It looks like our seasons are similar in length, although I usually can't put things outside in the garden here until mid-June. This year was no exception. We had snow in early June and cold nights in the 30s through the first couple of weeks of June this year too. Our first frost can be as early as mid-September, but the last two years it has been around October 25! We never know what is in store, but are always hoping for more!

Our Summer highs are usually in the 90s, with lows in the high-50s. We have already had some very hot triple digit highs in July, but usually if we get any 100s, it's usually in August.

I have eighteen Walls O' Water, and put them out on April 22 (a full month earlier than last year.) They were filled with twelve "regular" indeterminate tomatoes, and six dwarves (from the Dwarf Tomato Project). It was a real struggle to keep them alive, they made it through many cold nights and at least two snowstorms. It became a real challenge when the tall indeterminates were all well above the WOWs. Next year, I've decided to start mostly dwarves in the WOWs, as this year my dwarves were all still inside the WOWs on June 15 when I finally removed them.

I started getting ripe tomatoes on June 18 (Dwarf Project cherries), beating my old record by 10 days. The tomatoes are just trickling in right now, the real deluge has not started yet and probably won't until mid-August. I have tasted sixteen different tomatoes so far, though!

I have 79 tomato plants total, 35 different varieties. The remaining tomato plants were set out from June 15-20, and, although they all have green fruit, I have not picked any from those yet. I'm also growing green beans, summer squash, cucumbers, four types of melons, sweet and hot peppers, and garlic. The garlic has already been pulled and I'm waiting on all the rest. I will probably have squash and cucumbers in less than a week. The peppers and beans will be several more weeks, and the melons will be September probably.

rockhound · July 30, 2012

I expect here in TN z7 we will have our first killing frost in Oct. Maybe early, maybe more towards the middle of the month. This year and last have been crazy spring weather but oddly we still planted out around April 15 due to frost.

Marko · July 30, 2012

I usually get first ripe tomatoes in late May/early June. Late varieties start to ripen in second half of July. In September we are usually hit by Late Blight and I'm happy if my tomatoes survive till October.
So I'm eating vine ripened tomatoes four months + few weeks tomatoes ripened indoors.

TomNJ · July 30, 2012

Here in central NJ I start my tomatoes indoors first week in April and plant them outside around May 15th. Our first frost is due in late October, but my plants usually succumb to foliage diseases before then.

TomNJ

PA_Julia · July 30, 2012

Having lived in Helena Montana for 14 years I am very much aware of just how short a growing season one can have.

Here in eastern Pennsylvania near the NJ border the growing season is very very good and of decent length.

I start my tomatoes inside the last week in March and transplant in ground on or a little before Mother's Day.

Before that I do set out my plants to harden them off a couple of weeks before in ground planting.

On average we can have a growing season into mid October.

Julia

sfulwood · July 30, 2012

here in southwest TN, z 7, i start mine indoors jan or feb and plant out by mid march. i usually have to cover a couple of times but generally have ripe tomatoes by mid may. average first frost is 10/15

b54red · July 30, 2012

We usually have 8 good months from March through October but it can vary by a month or two either way. We usually have enough time for an early season and a short fall season.

zabby17 · July 30, 2012

80sgirl,

On the shores of Lake Ontario, I'm in a similar zone, though I get a few more weeks than you. We traditionally plant out May 23, and this year with a warm spring I started May 15. Frost usually holds off till early October but I watch the forecast from the last week of Sept and am ready to run out an cover or pick everything. Even if the frost holds of till (Canadian) Thanksgiving (second week in October), I find with the very cool nights most varieties take a real flavour nosedive.

One thing I have started doing is planting a handful of early-ripening varieties (such as Stupice, Kimberly, Matina) out early, some years when I'm organized and weather is warmish as much as two weeks ahead of my usual "safe" plant-out date. With just a few, I can watch the weather carefully, and cover if there is frost threatened (with containers, you might even be able to bring 'em inside if nec.). Worst that happens, I lose those few. Best that happens, I get at least a few tomatoes several weeks earlier than I otherwise would have. If I sow them early too and put out nice, big plants, I can get a little trickle of toms almost a month ahead of my main harvest (this year it's been crazy hot, and my first red tom was picked early than ever, a Stupice on July 9).

My lettuce is long gone, and my peas were a total bust---should've planted them much earlier. But I've had a couple of summer squash already. My peppers are like your tomatoes---fab, healthy plants but nothing will be ripe for a few more weeks.

My beans were the last thing planted, just from my own time---not till well into June. The vines have just hit the top of their 10-foot supports and I've got lots of lovely flowers, no actual beans yet.

Cuke and pumpkin starts from mid-May got eaten by bugs; I started again indoors with more seed and planted out Mid July---plants look good but who knows if I'll get anything ripe before frost?

Good luck from a fellow Canuck gardener,

Z

halleone · July 30, 2012

Quote:

Originally Posted by sfulwood

here in southwest TN, z 7, i start mine indoors jan or feb and plant out by mid march. i usually have to cover a couple of times but generally have ripe tomatoes by mid may. average first frost is 10/15

Wow! Between cold wind/rain/frosts I am lucky to be able to plant anything out in mid-May, let alone have ripe tomatoes. While we technicaly should have about 5 months growing time here, it doesn't always happen that way. I am not really complaining. The best time of the growing year is occurring right now for me as I am getting my first tomatoes; beans, beets, kohlrabi, carrots are still doing fine, the peas and lettuce are gone, but they were great in their season. I have started seeds for both of them inside and will transplant them in about a week for a Fall crop.

And I am already thinking ahead and looking at the catalogs again for next year!

meadowyck · July 30, 2012

Since this will be my first year of growing during a different time than I've ever grown, it will be interesting to see how it goes. If we have a winter like last year, I can see having a second growing season to start seeds again in Nov/Dec.

I'm planting seeds now and throughout this week for harvest hopefully starting around Oct/Nov time frame.

JayPaul1024 · July 31, 2012

Quote:

Originally Posted by zabby17

80sgirl,

On the shores of Lake Ontario, I'm in a similar zone, though I get a few more weeks than you. We traditionally plant out May 23, and this year with a warm spring I started May 15. Frost usually holds off till early October but I watch the forecast from the last week of Sept and am ready to run out an cover or pick everything. Even if the frost holds of till (Canadian) Thanksgiving (second week in October), I find with the very cool nights most varieties take a real flavour nosedive.

One thing I have started doing is planting a handful of early-ripening varieties (such as Stupice, Kimberly, Matina) out early, some years when I'm organized and weather is warmish as much as two weeks ahead of my usual "safe" plant-out date. With just a few, I can watch the weather carefully, and cover if there is frost threatened (with containers, you might even be able to bring 'em inside if nec.). Worst that happens, I lose those few. Best that happens, I get at least a few tomatoes several weeks earlier than I otherwise would have. If I sow them early too and put out nice, big plants, I can get a little trickle of toms almost a month ahead of my main harvest (this year it's been crazy hot, and my first red tom was picked early than ever, a Stupice on July 9).

My lettuce is long gone, and my peas were a total bust---should've planted them much earlier. But I've had a couple of summer squash already. My peppers are like your tomatoes---fab, healthy plants but nothing will be ripe for a few more weeks.

My beans were the last thing planted, just from my own time---not till well into June. The vines have just hit the top of their 10-foot supports and I've got lots of lovely flowers, no actual beans yet.

Cuke and pumpkin starts from mid-May got eaten by bugs; I started again indoors with more seed and planted out Mid July---plants look good but who knows if I'll get anything ripe before frost?

Good luck from a fellow Canuck gardener,

Z

JayPaul1024 · July 31, 2012

Here in Rochester, I've planted as early as May 1 (3 years ago) and began harvesting ripe toms in early August. This year I grew from seed. Seeds were planted in my home on March 15 and seedlings were planted in ground in the garden on May 15. No ripe toms yet. Lost some to deer and some to squirrels and some to rabbits. I still have most of my green fruit. Hopefully they'll begin to ripen mid-August. I chose heirloom varieties for taste and most had DMT 80 - 85 days. Growing season can end 3rd or 4th week in September. Flowers setting fruit now are "iffy" for coming to maturity and ripening in the garden by end of September. Love growing heirloom toms, but now, fighting deer, squirrels, rabbits, chipmunks and a possum, I'm not sure if its worth the trouble. I'll know better come October if I'll be growing anything next year.

zabby17 · July 31, 2012

Hi, JayPaul! Waving at you across the lake.

I suggest getting a few heirlooms that are shorter in season so you get something sooner---I planted out same day as you and had my first ripe tom (Stupice) on July 9, a slow trickle ever since, and my first real haul (filled the 8-cup tupperware I brought out with me and had to use my t-shirt for the rest) today.

I've got some of those 80-to-90-day-ers too, but won't wait that long before getting anything! There are lots of good heirlooms with shorter seasons, too....

Z

July 29, 2012	#1
80sgirl Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2012 Location: saint john, nb Canada Posts: 11	Just wondering how long does your Tomato season go? I just noticed that we are growing so many of the same things but temperture wise our growing areas are so different. I in New Brunswick, Canada (zone 5a-by the ocean) have brandywine, celeb, big beef, purple calabash, orange banana, myan and sion, baha,and better boy tomatoes in large planters. I also have cukes, egg plant, zuchinni, peas, pole beans, lettuce, growing now. Almost ready to have my first zuchinni and eggplant of the season, peas are ready now, and have been eating lettuce for a month out of my garden. Tomatoes are doing really well productive wise, but it will be another 3 weeks before I get a red one (just guessing) I grow my tomatoes from seed under a grow light inside,and start them first of April then about first of June I can put them outside (no green house)without risk of frost. I will have to worry about frost mid to late September. Just wondering what month do you start your plants and when do you put your plants outside? or do you start them outside? How long does you tomato season go? I get 4 months outside on a very good year with no green house, but I do have to cover them at night in September.

July 29, 2012	#2
habitat_gardener Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: California Central Valley Posts: 2,540	I'm in the SF bay area, where this week it looks like 81day/54night temperatures. It doesn't rain from about June to Sept. Last year and this year were not typical, because I was packing and moving last spring and moving my garden this spring. I did not start my own tomato seeds until May, but I did buy seedlings in April, so I had tomatoes in mid July. Because of the cool nights, a 60 DTM tomato can take 70-90 days to produce. I get great tomatoes until mid September, good tomatoes until mid October, and usually lots of cherry tomatoes and a few stragglers until first frost in the last week of November. I'm always hoping for favorable weather and trying to prolong the season. In past years I've started seeds in a cold frame in March and put them out a couple months later. I've also purchased seedlings in Feb. (when I first start seeing them in stores!) or March and had my first tomatoes by the middle to end of June. I use walls-o-water (WOW) for the early-planted tomatoes until about mid-May, since we get low 40s-high 30s with wind at least until the end of April, and I lost an unprotected 4-ft. plant once at the end of April. I wrap the cages with plastic or bubblewrap after they get taller than the WOW. One year, I planted about a dozen plants in early/mid March, and I recall being out in the rainstorms shoring up the plastic tents protecting the plants. Since then, I've planted only 1 or 2 early ones. I planted some dwarf plants in 2-gallon containers last week, and I'm wondering if I can keep 1 or 2 going through the winter with protection. I'm hoping to get a few to taste, at least. I learned not to plant cucurbits until mid-May -- they can't take the cold nights, early plants attract squash bugs, and they don't like being inside plastic cages. Beans get planted in 6-packs ideally the beginning of May (and are ready to plant 2-3 weeks later), but this year I didn't have time until the 3rd week of May, so I got my first pound of beans yesterday. One scarlet runner bean root survived the winter, and I started getting scarlet runner beans 2-3 weeks ago. Last edited by habitat_gardener; July 29, 2012 at 11:33 PM.

July 30, 2012	#7
PA_Julia Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Mar 2012 Location: Princeton, Ky Zone 7A Posts: 2,208	Having lived in Helena Montana for 14 years I am very much aware of just how short a growing season one can have. Here in eastern Pennsylvania near the NJ border the growing season is very very good and of decent length. I start my tomatoes inside the last week in March and transplant in ground on or a little before Mother's Day. Before that I do set out my plants to harden them off a couple of weeks before in ground planting. On average we can have a growing season into mid October. Julia __________________ Personal Best- 4.46 LB Big Zac 2013

July 30, 2012	#12
meadowyck Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2012 Location: Brooksville, FL Posts: 1,001	Since this will be my first year of growing during a different time than I've ever grown, it will be interesting to see how it goes. If we have a winter like last year, I can see having a second growing season to start seeds again in Nov/Dec. I'm planting seeds now and throughout this week for harvest hopefully starting around Oct/Nov time frame. __________________ Jan “Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.” -Theodore Roosevelt

July 30, 2012	#3
RobinB Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2012 Location: Near Reno, NV Posts: 1,621	It looks like our seasons are similar in length, although I usually can't put things outside in the garden here until mid-June. This year was no exception. We had snow in early June and cold nights in the 30s through the first couple of weeks of June this year too. Our first frost can be as early as mid-September, but the last two years it has been around October 25! We never know what is in store, but are always hoping for more! Our Summer highs are usually in the 90s, with lows in the high-50s. We have already had some very hot triple digit highs in July, but usually if we get any 100s, it's usually in August. I have eighteen Walls O' Water, and put them out on April 22 (a full month earlier than last year.) They were filled with twelve "regular" indeterminate tomatoes, and six dwarves (from the Dwarf Tomato Project). It was a real struggle to keep them alive, they made it through many cold nights and at least two snowstorms. It became a real challenge when the tall indeterminates were all well above the WOWs. Next year, I've decided to start mostly dwarves in the WOWs, as this year my dwarves were all still inside the WOWs on June 15 when I finally removed them. I started getting ripe tomatoes on June 18 (Dwarf Project cherries), beating my old record by 10 days. The tomatoes are just trickling in right now, the real deluge has not started yet and probably won't until mid-August. I have tasted sixteen different tomatoes so far, though! I have 79 tomato plants total, 35 different varieties. The remaining tomato plants were set out from June 15-20, and, although they all have green fruit, I have not picked any from those yet. I'm also growing green beans, summer squash, cucumbers, four types of melons, sweet and hot peppers, and garlic. The garlic has already been pulled and I'm waiting on all the rest. I will probably have squash and cucumbers in less than a week. The peppers and beans will be several more weeks, and the melons will be September probably.

July 30, 2012	#4
rockhound Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Dec 2011 Location: Tennessee Posts: 285	I expect here in TN z7 we will have our first killing frost in Oct. Maybe early, maybe more towards the middle of the month. This year and last have been crazy spring weather but oddly we still planted out around April 15 due to frost.

July 30, 2012	#5
Marko Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Slovenia, Europe zone 7b Posts: 300	I usually get first ripe tomatoes in late May/early June. Late varieties start to ripen in second half of July. In September we are usually hit by Late Blight and I'm happy if my tomatoes survive till October. So I'm eating vine ripened tomatoes four months + few weeks tomatoes ripened indoors.

July 30, 2012	#6
TomNJ Tomatovillian™ Join Date: May 2009 Location: Floyd VA Posts: 767	Here in central NJ I start my tomatoes indoors first week in April and plant them outside around May 15th. Our first frost is due in late October, but my plants usually succumb to foliage diseases before then. TomNJ

July 30, 2012	#8
sfulwood Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: eastview, tn Posts: 28	here in southwest TN, z 7, i start mine indoors jan or feb and plant out by mid march. i usually have to cover a couple of times but generally have ripe tomatoes by mid may. average first frost is 10/15

July 30, 2012	#9
b54red Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Alabama Posts: 7,068	We usually have 8 good months from March through October but it can vary by a month or two either way. We usually have enough time for an early season and a short fall season.

July 30, 2012	#10
zabby17 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: Ontario Posts: 211	80sgirl, On the shores of Lake Ontario, I'm in a similar zone, though I get a few more weeks than you. We traditionally plant out May 23, and this year with a warm spring I started May 15. Frost usually holds off till early October but I watch the forecast from the last week of Sept and am ready to run out an cover or pick everything. Even if the frost holds of till (Canadian) Thanksgiving (second week in October), I find with the very cool nights most varieties take a real flavour nosedive. One thing I have started doing is planting a handful of early-ripening varieties (such as Stupice, Kimberly, Matina) out early, some years when I'm organized and weather is warmish as much as two weeks ahead of my usual "safe" plant-out date. With just a few, I can watch the weather carefully, and cover if there is frost threatened (with containers, you might even be able to bring 'em inside if nec.). Worst that happens, I lose those few. Best that happens, I get at least a few tomatoes several weeks earlier than I otherwise would have. If I sow them early too and put out nice, big plants, I can get a little trickle of toms almost a month ahead of my main harvest (this year it's been crazy hot, and my first red tom was picked early than ever, a Stupice on July 9). My lettuce is long gone, and my peas were a total bust---should've planted them much earlier. But I've had a couple of summer squash already. My peppers are like your tomatoes---fab, healthy plants but nothing will be ripe for a few more weeks. My beans were the last thing planted, just from my own time---not till well into June. The vines have just hit the top of their 10-foot supports and I've got lots of lovely flowers, no actual beans yet. Cuke and pumpkin starts from mid-May got eaten by bugs; I started again indoors with more seed and planted out Mid July---plants look good but who knows if I'll get anything ripe before frost? Good luck from a fellow Canuck gardener, Z

July 31, 2012	#14
JayPaul1024 Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jul 2012 Location: Rochester, NY Posts: 36	Here in Rochester, I've planted as early as May 1 (3 years ago) and began harvesting ripe toms in early August. This year I grew from seed. Seeds were planted in my home on March 15 and seedlings were planted in ground in the garden on May 15. No ripe toms yet. Lost some to deer and some to squirrels and some to rabbits. I still have most of my green fruit. Hopefully they'll begin to ripen mid-August. I chose heirloom varieties for taste and most had DMT 80 - 85 days. Growing season can end 3rd or 4th week in September. Flowers setting fruit now are "iffy" for coming to maturity and ripening in the garden by end of September. Love growing heirloom toms, but now, fighting deer, squirrels, rabbits, chipmunks and a possum, I'm not sure if its worth the trouble. I'll know better come October if I'll be growing anything next year.