Are tomatoes easy to plant and grow?
I think so. I've never had any problem raising them. I've kept notes for years on what varieties work best for me. I put up a lot of tomatoes and tomato juice, sauce and pasta sauce, so I take my tomatoes very seriously - they have to be disease resistant & heavy producers of good tasting tomatoes! I have tried many, many varieties over the years & every year I try at least 2 new varieties to test against my "keepers". Here's my keepers that I plant every year:
Bella Rosa - very disease resistant & bred esp. for our climate - you can find plants at Petrus. Nice sized tomatoes and good flavor, very juicy.
Cherokee Purple - nice heirloom variety - a bit thin skinned so you have to use them up or process immediately but the flavor is fantastic! Petrus had these plants last year also.
Tomande - this is a hybrid that is no longer offered but it is such an outstanding producer for me that I ordered 10 packets of seeds from Reimer which I keep in my freezer, so I'll be able to plant this one for 8-10 more years. Since it's a hybrid I can't keep seeds because it won't breed true. It's a large, ribbed tomato - it was developed from Marmande so has that size & shape. It makes like crazy. I don't know why it wasn't more popular. It also outlasts every other variety I've ever tried. When the rest are gone it still is producing. I might try & carry over some seeds this year & see can I stabilize it.
Sweet Chelsea - a large cherry tomato & I keep making notes "only plant one"! because it makes tons of tomatoes!
And the two imported Italian ones I'm trying this year - Red Pear and Scatolone - they are both heirlooms so I can save the seeds to carry over if they do well.
It's always tough losing a pet. I think anyone who has ever lost a pet will always be touched and will always cry over our pets. The hurt and pain never goes away and we think about them all of the time.
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