I did stop by your blogs, and they’re both great! I read a few posts – all good – and will return later (I’ve added them to my RSS reader). I also did a bit of tweeting :-)

Tomatoes are generally hard to grow in colder climates, they really need a lengthy period of sun and warmth to grow any decent crop. A good tomato crop is rare here in Norway unless one keeps them in a greenhouse.

A good tip for tomato plants that keep producing flowers but no fruit is to let it grow three or four bunches of flowers and then snip any new ones appearing off with a pair of scissors. That leaves more oomph for growing the flowers that are already there. Also, snip the top of the plant off once you have enough flowers. That forces the plant to focus on producing tomatoes rather than growing upwards.

If I would live down south where there are 30 types of heirloom tomatoes everyday at the farmers market, I would jump on them in a heart beat.

So far, up here, (climate zone 3-4), I’ve found 3 types of hybrid that cost 10$ a pound and last about 4 weeks in the middle of summer. You know what I mean… You come from a very northern place as well.

A will be honest, for as much as I’m all about being green, somethings (like you for a local diet) aren’t so easy.

We did try growing 2 varieties of heirlooms this year (Striped caverns and Brandywine) but the striped carverns were very low yielding (we got 2 tomatoes per plant for a grand total of 4) and the brandywines never grew… lots of flowers, no fruit. Both of them were zoned 8. It was dissapointing, but to be expected.

But in the meantime, when I buy tomatoes, I at least buy organic or greenhouse. It’s the best I can do.

Again, great post!