Just root some cuttings off your existing early plants and plant them in July. If they will make it to production will all depend on your weather and how much protection you can provide. I'd guess you'd 60 good days anyway, maybe a few more. Worth a try. ;)

Dave

Would you need to provide additional 'light'?

Dan,

What happens to the plants that you set out early in the year? Does production drop off near fall? Is there a reason that one can't keep a plant going strong for an extended season?

I am a chronic late planter so mine are usually going strong when the cold weather comes.

We are in a similar zone, I was wondering how early you typically put your plants out and what protective measures you take.

I am seeding indoors for the first time ever; I have seedlings now so I think I will be faced with some May planting that I have no experience with.

I visited your blog, really nice pictures! Looks like you have a lot of things going on.

-Al

Dan

I was wondering the same thing as MilwaukeeBoy -- are your summers so hot or disease-ridden that your tomatoes give up the ghost by Fall? (We have pretty grueling summers here for tomato plants with heat and disease, though most usually rally by Fall and put out a few more fruits before frost kills them.)

If your situation is similar, you might find that rooting a (healthy) sucker/cutting of something you already have growing, as DD suggests, is the easiest way to go for a second crop. You wouldn't have to bother with lights or heat, just stick it into some good soil mix in the shade for about a week, keep moist so the roots can develop, and let it take off. Harden off in the sun and transplant when it's started developing new leaves.

If you use mulch under your tomatoes, you should be able to keep the same ones cranking till fall. If you cover them a few times, and pick all the green ones before a hard freeze, you could have tomatoes until december at least.

As a fellow Zone 5er, I would not bother with a second planting unless you are planting extra early tomatoes. As several have also said, mine are still going strong and usually have a ton of tomatoes on them in various stages of growth.

Bets

digdirt - I had not thought of rooting a cutting, that sounds like a good idea.

tom8olvr - I would not provide extra light, seems like to much work.

milwaukeeboy - Thanks for checking out my blog. I have been placing this early tomato out already in my cold frame but then in again when it gets cold. I am planning on planting it in the soil some time between April 18-May 2. Once it is planted out if we get a cold snap I will cover it with blankets in the evening. The rest of my tomatoes I will be plant out around May 24th.

anney - I do have many tomato plants still with fruit in the fall but the quality definitely goes down and a few plants always get diseased. That's why I thought it might be worth trying a fresh plant in late summer for fall harvest.

sandy0225 - That is another thing I would like to experiment with is storing the green ones so they slowly ripen. How do you store yours?

bets - If I do try it, I will definitely plant an extra early tomato.