I find Siletz does very well....it was developed at OSU. I also like Matina which is an extremely tasty early tomato. Both of these are small...2" to 2.5" across. Green Zebra, an heirloom has done well for me and is a fun tasty tomato that looks like the name. Two italians do well for me: Principe Borghese is a drying tomato and also cans well like a plum type and the old standby Roma. I grow from seed from Territorial Seeds and they also ship plants. I bought their plants once when I had a seedling failure and I was very pleased. Just google them.
BTW I garden in Clark County and my freeway exit is directly across the Columbia from St. Helens. jwww

I get good results giving tomatoes a boost using tunnels to grow them under to keep them warmer and night and allow setting them out earlier so they have longer to mature before fall. I find I can set tomatoes out April 1-15 under tunnels and they are protected even from snow and frost. Gurney's sells them and I got them on the internet under TunLCover. I can grow even long season tomatoes with them. Some of my early favorites are IPB, Juliet, Principe Borghese, and
Verna's Orange Oxheart.

My DH grows Early Girl every year. I am not a tomato lover so don't know if others are better. He plants others but Early Girl is his constant every year.

There is an old variety that was developed on Saltspring Island called Saltspring Sunrise that has been a tremendous one for us. Not big tomatoes but delicious and they set fruit early -- end of July, beginning of August. I don't know if they are available in the US though.

Brandywines have done well for me. Wall o' Waters help for early production too.

My favorite tomato to date is Celebrity, has been for years, I'm also trying Manitoba this year. Hoping to find a variety I like so I can save my own seed.

A......

My dad has been growing an heirloom variety called Haladay Mortgage Lifter that's really tasty, and produces a lot of large maters. Also Sun gold (or Sun Sugar which has better crack resistance) are really sweet orange cherry tomatoes..and that dark red or purple/black cherry tomato I can't remember the name of. Early Girls are reliable but kinda boring tasting IMHO.

I wonder if your lack of success has been because of blight. (Assuming it's a problem over the border as it is here in the Lower Mainland.)

Here you have to keep tomatoes' leaves from getting wet -- which means growing them under cover (my husband built a hoop that held plastic over their heads, but allowed air circulation) and watering the soil, not the plant from above.

If the plants get wet, they get blight and the tomatoes don't nature and rot.

Just a thought.

I got Brandywine, Early Cascade, and Siberian at the Farmer's Market yesterday. What a beautiful day it was outside too, sun shining! I think I will get one of the Heirloom Stripey ones next week. They were sold out. I think I made my bed too hot with my compost last year. I watered correctly, and they were in the full sun. I will give it another try. I always had great tomatoes in CA. Just have to get used to the different clime and grow more area friendly varieties. I grew the big monster ones last year, the later maturing ones. I'm sure that had a lot to do with it too.

hemnancy - I just got my live tomato and pepper plants delivered from Territorial Seed Company. I would love to get a jump start and saw you listed a tunnel system TunLCover that really works. This is my first vegetable garden and it says that you shouldn't put the tomato plants out until the nights stay above 55 degrees. I'm thinking June is the earliest to be sure. Have you put your tomatoes out under this tunnel yet? Also, I see that the tunnel expands to 18' long, but I need 4' long strips, can they be cut?

I looked up a 30 year lows weather report on WA and I used to set them out under tunnels April 15 but the temp difference with April 1 was only 2-3 degrees, from around 32 to 29 F, so I have set them out as early as April 1. They have survived even with snow and frosts. I used to only put out cold-tolerant or early varieties but have experimented with long season varieties and it gives them enough of an early start to make it possible to grow them and get more ripe fruit. As for the 55* F, it hardly makes it above that all summer here. Without the tunnels you would have to wait until June, May is possible but is too cold to get much growth. Tunnels are also great for cucumbers and squash, they develope so much faster. The only problems I have had is that the tunnel dries out the soil underneath so I have to water even if it is raining, and I have forgotten to check often enough and keep them watered. This feature is great for our rainy springs as I use the tunnels to dry out the soil in beds so I can plant on a dry day even in rainy weather with storm after storm. So far this season I have 30-40 plants outside. I have to wait for them to reach the lights indoors so the fastest varieties to grow get set out first. And slugs like the plastic so I use snail bait around plants when I set them out.

I have cut some tunnels and they still work, but the part between ribs hangs down to close off the end of the tunnel so you lose a little length. My first set that is still in use I worried about plants getting too hot so I cut vertical slits in the sides but my newer ones I just push the sides up on the ribs or remove them if there is a heat wave. I put them away during summer so they get less UV damage and they have lasted really well, way past my expectations. It's also possible to make your own tunnels using arcs of wire or pvc pipe and using clips to hold plastic sheeting on them. I think I've seen supplies in the Johnny's and Territorial catalogs.

pacnwgrdngirl,
I have had good luck with.
Big Beef AAS, Early Cascade , early girl,health kick,and sweet 100's. I live south of olympia. zone 8-a ,sunset zone 4. I have found the trick is not to get the plants wet when watering . and the roots sholud stay miost but not soaked. I dig a nice size hole . ball up several pieces of newspaper and then plant the starts on top of them . to water the roots I cut one ft. long pieces of 1 inch PVC pipe and put them at a 45 degree angle into the newspaper . so when you water just fill the PVC pipe and let it drain into the roots and fill 2 or 3 times. every other day dose wonders. I've had to srcap the old style wire tomato cage (funnle type) for sections of 4 ft wire fence
I hope this helps

We have had good luck with "Better Boy"...We grow them in big pots and have had better luck with them than many listed here, Even just as early, as "Early Girl"..Large tomatoes too....I had enough to can off two pots last year and the year before.

Local favorites are Siletz, Oregon Spring, Early Cascade. I find that Early Girl has tough skin but I guess that's good for not cracking. Don't forget cherry tomatoes which ripens first in my yard -- Sun Gold, Sweet Million, etc. Am trying White Currant from Territorial this year. For heirlooms, I like the black russion types and Brandywines are wonderful but they take a LONG time to fruit....

Instead of tunnels you can wrap tomato cages in plastic. The result is the same. I heard a good tip on the Mike Darcy show last weekend....putting plastic soda bottles of water in the cages to absorb and hold solar heat.....colored water or colored bottles are even better. I'm going to try the dark green wine bottles I've been saving to make bed and path edges (buried upside down). They can spend the spring and maybe the summer in the garden providing heat and then be used for edging in the fall...sinking them in the ground is one of my off season projects. jwww

I was at Swanson's, a local nursery. And they were pushing "Dona" hard. I bought one and watched/listened as it was promoted to three other customers. I also got "Stupice" to keep "Dona" company. They will both go into containers.