How to grow tomatoes in a marginal climate

Tips for cloudy skies tomato gardeners

In a foggy, temperate climate, most of us know the drill: Start seeds indoors in early spring and use grow lights if you have ’em. Plant in fertile soil with plenty of space in mid-June. Trellis, water, prune and pray and maybe, just maybe, get some ripened homegrown tomatoes before the rains come again in September, when what started out as a savory dream of salsa and gazpacho turns into six pounds of green tomatoes topped with powdery mildew and hopeful plans for next year.

But there’s hope! Tomatoes are native to the foggy forests of the Andes mountains, and with well-chosen heirloom varieties and a few useful tips, you can grow more tomatoes than you’ll know what to do with.

Varieties
In this case, size matters, and smaller is better. Cherry tomatoes are always a good bet. Salad and plum tomatoes are bigger than cherries, do well in this climate, and come in a wide variety of flavors, shapes and colors. Avoid giant slicing tomatoes like Brandywines and Oxhearts.

Here are my favorite tomatoes for a temperate garden, based on disease resistance, early and extended harvest, and yield:

Green Zebra.
A gorgeous, green-and-yellow-striped salad tomato with a bright, sweet flavor. Very…