We have the opposite problem here - too many heat units for tomatoes at the height of summer. But if I were in a cool-summer area, I would pay attention to the recommendations of seed catalogs based in cool-summer areas, such as Territorial Seed Company, which goes into detail about heat units, blight resistance, etc. Also consider varieties which are noted to do well in a greenhouse. Totally Tomatoes carries a few varieties which are said to be suitable for greenhouse or outdoor culture, and which don't have the very high prices of some seed for greenhouse tomatoes. Thompson & Morgan in the UK is another source of information on varieties which do well in cool summers. One very early small-fruited cultivar which does well in our heat is Burpee's 'Fourth of July'. Nurseries usually don't carry it here, perhaps because getting tomatoes by the Fourth of July is nothing to brag about here. It is sold in nurseries in cold-winter climates, though. It might be worth a trial in coastal areas, too. Here is a link that might be useful: Territorial Seed Company

Wow even1, done already? I am just getting something back from my plants. Granted they are planted in less than ideal conditions. And I have some disease issues going on here. Unfortunately, I thought I was giving the best spot to the ones I was most interested in and they all died. I did get some stunted fruit but nothing I could judge by. That was Kellogg's Breakfast, Marianna's Peace, Aunt Ruby's Green (I did get one normal fruit from that one and it was pretty good but not spectacular)and golden queen - that was suppose to be early Lillian's heirloom yellow - got some small fruit from this and it wasn't anything special. Don't know if it was representative though. However, I got some Cherokee Chocolate very good Sutton White which I think was better than Aunt Ruby's Green Yellow speckled roma keeps getting rotten spots but I think I will get something yet Japanese trifle Black - just picked the first fruit, didn't eat it yet Dove cherry - nice delicate red grape type cherry Sun Sugar and Sungold - seems the same to me Black plum - nothing special, paste type chello - early yellow cherry, nice looking, not sweet but juicy, the people who tend toward the tart like this one better than Sungold. Unknown - grew among the pepper seedlings, nice big pink fruits, didn't eat it yet but it looks good - wish I knew. I'll save some seed anyway. Another unknown red medium boat shape - grew among the sutton's white. I double planted the pot and now I don't know what it is. The star so far is....Black Cherry. Wow, my favorite cherry. Doesn't have that thick skin most of the others have and great flavor. The local farmer sells a grape tomato that looks and tastes like black plum. My fruit is a cherry type and tastier. Unfortunately I planted it in the shade so I have a lot of green fruit and nothing ripe. Had a few early fruits from extras left in the pots and the one in the shade. Otherwise, a lot of green fruit...

Sheri, It seems like every year I plant at least some of my fall tomatoes earlier and earlier. This year I got the earliest ones in the ground in mid-June, and they had green tomatoes on them by August. Now, in a normal year, the July-August weather might have been too hot for blossoms to set fruit, but this wasn't a normal year. Other ways you can protect fall tomatoes from the first freeze or two: 1) Set up 3-gallon or larger buckets, pots, wastepaper baskets, etc. alongside the tomato plants you want to save. Fill them with water. The water will act as a 'heat sink', soaking up heat from the sun all day, and then releasing the heat at night as the water cools off. The heat released by the water helps keep the plants a little warmer. 2) Run a string or two of Christmas lights down the row of tomato cages or trellis. Leave them on at night. The heat from the lights warms up the air around the plants a little. This works best if you use the larger Christmas lights, and not the really small ones. It also works better if the plants are covered since the cover helps hold in the heat. 3) If you have a handful of plants you really, really want to protect, keep a few bags of dry autumn leaves or a couple of hay bales handy. When the first freeze is expected, grab handfuls of the hay or leaves and shake them gently over the tomatoes. The idea is that the leaves or hay fall gently onto the plants, creating warm pockets of air and covering the leaves/fruit as much as possible to keep frost/cold air away. You don't want to pack down the hay or leaves tightly because that will crush the plants. The hay and leaves insultate the plants a little. When I do this, I usually just put the hay and leaves inside the tomato cages. Anything that sticks out of the hay will probably freeze. 4) Cover the plants as we previously discussed. If you do this in combination with the lights, be sure the fabric doesn't make contact with the lights or the fabric may scorch or ignite. If you don't cover the plants, you can position a fan to blow air towards the plants. This light 'breeze' can help keep frost from settling on the plants. 5) If you want to try saving only a couple of choice plants, place a large plastic or rubber trash can over the plant. You may not be able to save all of the plant, but you can probably save some of the it. Last spring, I used a combination of buckets of water (the large jugs and buckets that cat litter comes in are great for this), hay, straw, and covering the plants with cloth OR plastic ('cause the plants were small and the plastic didn't touch them) to protect the tomato plants (the early ones I put into the ground in mid-March) from a late, two-week spell of freezing weather, cold rain, hard frost, etc. All the effort was worth it to me to save those spring tomatoes but I doubt I'd go to that much trouble for fall tomatoes. One of the hardest things in the world, though, is standing in your garden and looking at green, healthy tomato plants full of blooms and fruit, knowing the first frost is headed your way. I hate knowing that the veggie gardening season is 'over'! Dawn

I love to follow everybody's posts in the forum and thought I would add in my tomato list. It's not as exciting or fancy as the lists I'm seeing but I'm still pretty new to gardening; this will be my third year. I have 2 small raised beds for veggies and I also use containers for a few plants. My 2013 tomato list: Pruden's purple Rutgers Sun Gold Bonnie best yellow pear (the kids love it) Egg Yolk (this is a new one for me) Super sweet 100 Gold rush currant Last year was a terrible season for me and I lost most of my plants to various diseases. I tried Black Krim, Cherokee purple and brandywine with almost no fruit. I decided to be a little less ambitious with my large tomatoes this year since I have a great produce stand nearby and they have amazing tomatoes. I will definitely be giving plants away because I sowed way too many thinking I wouldn't get any germination. I used an indoor mini greenhouse to start plants this year and ended up with at least 95% germination. I never had any luck starting seeds before and I've been thrilled with my results this year using the greenhouse and a few CFL bulbs for light.