I don't know if it's worth the wait for the late tomatoes. Please let me know what you think of BW Cowlicks as I was dickering as to whether to grow that one this year, but there were so many other choices that I didn't.

I think that I can manage with some earlies, and some mid-season varieties that will give me great-tasting tomatoes for a lot longer.

We also have to contend with Septoria and Early Blight here, so it's a case of taking the tomatoes and running before disease sets in!

Linda

This post was edited by labradors on Sat, Aug 16, 14 at 12:55

I've always grown in a zone 5 here in upstate NY and there have been a few years where first killing frosts have been, actually I remember, two years in a row on Sept 7 and then 9th, but usually not until the beggining of Oct. Some years later when an Indian Summer apeared and the frosts were light befire that and didn't kill the plants

I usually put out my hardened off seedlings the last week of May, early June, weather permitting b/c there can be late frosts as well.

There were years when my late varieties, for me that;s over about an 80 to 85 DTM, roughly, when they never had time to mature good fruits.

So, to answer your question directly, no, I never sowed seeds for any varieties for a second crop in my zone 5.

Carolyn

Time is of essence to me. That is why i plant as soon as possible (using hoops and WOA) and plant a lot of eary ones and some mid mids. Though our first frost is normally around mid November but October is usually cold and rainy, not tomatoes kind of weather.
So far most of my plants have produced ripe fruits. I just picked my first Cherokee purple, JBT. But Siberian and Green Zebra are taking their sweet time. Bloody butcher, Sun Gold, Matina, SFT and Early treat have been top producers since mid July.
I am going to drop ML (RC) and pineapple next year. Instead I will try Estler's ML, KBX and Brandy Boy.

I'm in northern MN, and this is the coolest summer that I can remember. We haven't turned on our central air yet this year, and looking at the extended forecast, probably won't. Highs have been mostly in the high 70 /low 80s range and the lows in the high 50s to mid 60s.

Most of my long season varieties aren't going to be able to ripen most of the heavy fruit sets that they have. Beautiful plants, loads of green fruit, but we need some heat. Running out of time. These were planted as very robust 12" high plants at the end of May.

Black Krim has been especially tough to get ripe fruit from. Of the big varieties, Cherokee Purple, and Giant Belgium have been my best. 3 of my big hybrid varieties are also very slow.