When Thinking Tomatoes, Think Different.

Tomato Varieties Found at North Portland Grocers:
(an informal survey)

Fred Meyer: Red Vine, Cherry, Grape, Undetermined Beefsteak Variety, Roma, Organic Red Vine

Safeway: Hot House, Roma, Yellow Orange & Red Vine, Org. Red Vine, Org. Hot House, Org. Cherry, Romanita, Cherry on Vine, Grape

New Seasons Market: Org. Red Vine, Org. Roma, Org. Undetermined Beefsteak Variety

This is a pretty sad reflection on the state of the American food system, considering the incredible wealth of heirloom tomato varieties. The following website claims to offer 600 different tomato varieties, and although I counted only 121 on the order form, this is still 113 more than the best local grocer is likely to offer.

Heirloom Tomatoes - Online Store

The focus, however, is not the lack of choices found at the grocery store.  The idea here is to create a good impetus for growing your own.  I surely hope that names like Yellow Pear, Black Brandywine, Jersey Devil, or White Beauty will be enough to get your taste-buds flowing and your gardening itch.....itching.
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So, now that we're all online ordering four or five or fifty seed varieties, the question becomes, how (and where) the eff do I plant these things.  And this, my friends, is where creativity comes into play.  The following article got me super-excited about growing The Wolf Pear, because I'd never seen tomatoes grown this way before.  Growing up, mom and dad tended toward the fairly common round wire types....BOOOORIIINNNGGG!

Greenhouse Vine Tomatoes 

(Full Article is HERE)

So, this is the type of trellis I've chosen to adopt for the summer growing season.  The idea of training tomatoes up 6-9 feet of twine is intriguing to me, and allows them to put more energy into reproduction and fruiting.

Another growing idea that has become somewhat popular is growing tomatoes upside down.  Of course, there are the brand-name Topsy Turvy upside down planters.  But I much prefer the build-your-own ideas found HERE.  This type of planter may be helpful for those without much space in the yard.  Just hang those planters from the eves of your house on the south side, and see what happens.

So there you have it.  Buy seeds, build some cool growing system, plant, and enjoy.  Please let me know if any of this stuff actually works out for you.