##FULL QUESTION##
Dear *Gardening Life*,
What would be the best tomato seed to sow, and get best results in the St John's area of Newfoundland?
Thanks.
*—Don Ash, St. John's, NL*
##FULL ANSWER##
My research indicates that the Avalon Peninsula averages a growing season of 125 days. As you probably know, tomatoes are hot-weather plants -- it's the heat that causes the sugars to form for top flavour. I think you will have best success with early-maturing tomatoes. A few suggestions are:
**'Gold Nugget'**. An early golden cherry tomato; produces sweet flavorful crack-resistant fruit. Determinate. 60 days. (Available from West Coast Seeds.)
**'Stupice'**. Early and dependable, popular in areas with hot summers. Firm, juicy, small to medium size fruit; three- to four-foot bush with unusual potato like foliage. Indeterminate. 60 days. (Available from West Coast Seeds and Terra Edibles.)
**'Scotia'**. Early and dependable. Dwarf habit. Produces medium-sized globe-shaped fruit. Determinate. 60 days. (From Veseys). This comes recommended by GL's East Coast correspondent, Carla Allen.
Veseys is also carrying one called **'Siberian'** - new this year. Early, can handle cool conditions, a heavy yield of 2-3 oz good-tasting fruit. Determinate. 60 days.
Also, check with your local garden centres and nurseries and ask what varieties they recommend for your area. Local knowledge is invaluable!
Some tips for tomato-growing:
* Get a head start by starting seeds indoors - most tomatoes are best started six weeks before your last frost date.
* Outdoors, use cold frames or tomato "water walls" (insulating plastic structures that you fill with water; they hold the heat of the sun around new transplants) to get an earlier start.
* Always plant tomatoes in fertile, moist but well-draining soil in a sunny spot; on the south side of the house protected from the wind is best.
* Keep tomatoes consistently moist while growing; use mulch, it helps enormously. Letting them dry out and then soaking them leads to blossom end rot.
* Plant both determinate and indeterminate types for longer production.
Good luck!
*—Karen York, Botanical Editor*
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