There are many posters gardening in SF. I lived there at various times in my life, in different neighborhoods including Noe valley(Elizabeth St). NONE of SF is regarded as Tomato growing ideal site. With experience you can grow your own tomatoes, MOST years. Al

Heck, I live 25 miles away in the Oakland hills where I'm on the very edge of the fog belt. It's easily +5 degrees warmer where I live with much less windy conditions...and I gave up trying to grow tomatoes several years ago. Roses are so much easier, LOL.

What does surprise me is that so few people in SF grow Meyer lemons. They love our climate and can adapt to pot living quite well - the Citrus forum has lots of tips for soil mix and fertilizing.

When I was still working, I knew I could always take my excess lemons into the office and poof! They were gone so fast, if you waited until lunchtime you were out of luck.

But otherwise, stick to cool weather crops. Much easier for you.

If you have a warmer south or west facing light colored wall to help collect and store heat, that gets all day sun, you can get decent cherry tomatoes in the mission district. In general, however, growing fruit and vegetables in the city is much less frustrating if you stick to things that don't require heat. Other citrus that actually bare well with sweet fruit include mandarins, satsumas, and tangerines, but all still better with full sun and a heat sink wall. Artichokes and asparagus are easy...

THANK YOU ALL

There is a very interesting garden blog by a man who lives in San Francisco-
http://back40feet.blogspot.com/

i enjoy it although I live way south of there. Min

Thanks Min. Will check it out.

i live on the side of mt davidson a mile from west portal so that's my micro climate area usually foggy after 4th of july,i grow peapods kale collards garlic potatoes beets and bush beans if i can keep them warm, zuchinni, tomatoes only by trial and error, last year was a disaster, all the plants rotted with small green tomatoes on them , was it blight or just too foggy, don't know. this year i have the tomato plants covered with agri cloth, this is the first time trying the agricloth maybe it will keep it warmer. i also start my tomato plants from seeds. i just save the seeds from a good farmers market tomatoes and plant them the following year
for bees and hummingbirds, i have fushias and lavender plants, to help pollinate 2 apple trees, also have meyers lemon tree, a lime tree in a pot and bay laurel in a pot. city college has two plant sales a year and i got the bay laurel there great to have fresh bay leaves for cooking. i have herbs too fresh oregano, thyme, french tarragon, flat leaf parsley and trying to get cilantro seeds to germinate.
also scallions. i hope this gives you some ideas of what you can grow here in SF. good luck on the tomatoes this year. and now we finally have rain,

Cutting back on veggie planting this year as I can walk across the street and purchase seasonally at Noe Valley Farmers Market (which I helped found a few years ago) and support local growers. Planting more to attract the 3B's, birds, bees and butterflies. Still gonna put in some peas, beans, carrots etc.
Gonna erect an 8 foot tall pole structure over tomato bed, enclose roof and top 4 feet with clear plastic, also try putting down black plastic on dirt. This worked real well on Orcas Island decades ago. Never had much problem with slugs on tomatoes but will keep close watch. Just dug in batch of fresh compost. Gonna plant starts but also save seeds from most productive.
Hoping for tomatoes and lilac this year !! (See post 'LILACS - in San Francisco').
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nitgmAInI18
["Homegrown Tomatoes" by Guy Clark.]
Also trying to germinate "Shiso", did well a couple of years ago.

i have a shrub of white lilac , its a shrub now but i started it from a slip years ago, it blooms every year, very hardy , its just starting to green out. .