It's too late now to get early tomatoes from seed planted today. They might be early-ER but there's always next year. One variety I won't recommend is "Bloody Butcher". They are early, and have a good taste altho they only get to maybe 2 inches diameter at most. The problem is they are full of seeds, I mean full.

rockguy you are right about it being too late to grow from seeds. I guess I should have asked what kind of commonly available transplants sold at stores you would suggest for early season crop.

Early Wonder was O.K the one year I grew it but this late in your season, you need a plant rather than seed.

For me, Jet Star is just as early as Early Girl and superior in every way. Very common here, maybe you can find a couple near you.

This year I've decided to try Oregon Spring as my "early" variety. It's supposedly 60 or 62 DTM and allegedly nearly seedless, so suited for spaghetti sauce and the like. But they are said to be smallish fruits, if size matters. Years past, I did Early Girl, but I found the flavor somewhat disappointing.

I started the Oregon Spring from seed indoors on March 7, have 7 to 10 inch seedlings (second repotting) that I will set out between May 10 and 20, weather permitting in zone 6b.

Totally Tomatoes sent a bonus seed called Red Alert that's supposedly 55 DTM. It's a determinate, and from the description the tomatoes are small, but I'll take small if I get them in early July. Don't know about the taste since this is the first year I'm growing it. Siberian is also early.

Last year I planted Stupice, Oregon Spring, Siberian, and Gurney's Cold Set. None of them were worth their garden space compared the mid-season heirloom varieties I grew, so I wouldn't feel too badly about not starting your seeds.

This year I'm trying Early Girl, Early Wonder, and Lime Green Salad. Unless they taste much better than the other early toms I've tried, I won't waste the space and effort on early season varieties anymore. I'd rather wait another week or two and eat a tomato that's really worth growing.

I have never heard these concerns over taste with early tomatoes?? Everyone has different tastes :) For the first time.. I'm trying stupice, early girl and moskovich. One of those is going into a pot and not into the garden.

Oregon spring was unproductive for me. Kootenai was a keeper. Taxi and Burstyn were both early and yummy for me and also very productive. Taxi finally wore itself out, but burstyn kept going and going...

I've growm Taxi a couple times. Its inconsistent for me. Some sickly plants, some vigorous. Some great tasting, especially those with a pink tinge in the middle (undetectabe from the outside) some just O.K.

Due to space limitation, I just started a few tomatoes, peppers eggplant early Feb, inside.
I figured once I have just a few early fruits to munch on i could wait for the rest.
Now my Early Girls Have flowers but the other ones, started later in cold frame,
are still considered seedlings. They include Brandywine, Cherokee purple, Jet star, Black Krim, ...
I was also tempted to buy a few seedlings (one of each) like Rutgers,
Celebrity, juliet, Better Boy.The also are in bloom.

I am the King of early maters this year! Out of 17 varieties Stupice is winning the race to ripe fruit. Uralskiy Ranniy is second forgot who is third. I'm confused! I'm zone 5 and have 10 plants in the ground since last week. Double coverage seems to be working! O, Extreme Bush would be third!

Too bad your not near me cause I have plenty of extra plants.

Sub Arctic Plenty

I like early girl-bush (bigger tomatoes) and 4th of July (faster tomatoes) for early tomatoes. Both are easy to find around here from transplants. They don't compare to the later heirlooms in taste, however. Just something to get me by! :)

These I know for a few years now and do well in my area. Your mileage WILL vary: Early Wonder (Pink), Lime Green Salad (Salad colored "), Gold Dust (Yellow), or Victory Seeds' Azoychka (Yellow). Azoychka is a bigger plant but should be EARLY.

Trialing several new earlies this year and Victorian Dwarf is setting the early pace (Red). If it's tasty I'll be in heaven.

Cheers