Get the seedlings.

Its very, very late to start from seed but extra early varities may produce but not likely. You need 100 days plus for seed to fruit in most cases. Not enough time in zone 5 but you could prove me wrong!

Not to argue... But wouldn't 100 days put you around the last week of August? Isn't that enough time? I would certainly buy some plants that have already been started... But if there was something special someone wanted to grow from seed, couldn't it still be done?

Get some seedlings and plant them first.
Then start some seeds in flats/pots outside in a sunny warm location.Better than inside.
But you need to keep them moist. I put a double layer newspaper on them untill they germinate.
Last year I started most of my tomatoes in cold frame and by direct sowing.
And all of them fruited from early july on. Of course I am in zone 8 with long and much warmer growing season.
This year I started inside,just a few, as early as early FEB. Now I have egg sized tomatoes on those.
You live, experiment, and learn.

6-8 weeks from seed started now puts you into mid-July for transplanting to the garden. That's real late for zone 5 I fear.

But if there was something special someone wanted to grow from seed, couldn't it still be done?

It likely could IF you were prepared to well protect for season extension. The 100 days average and does vary by variety (ie. a early variety might make it in 80 days) is to first ripe fruit. If you want more ripe fruit ;)then in zone 5 you'll very likely have to artificially extend your growing season.

We plant new plants here in July for late harvest but our season is longer than yours BUT they are rooted cuttings, not from seed.

Dave

Hello chayhurst,

I have planted tomatoes in late June and still gotten fruit from them, not as much as from earlier plantings, but I did get some.

If you start seeds now, hardening the off before potting them up, then instead of potting them up, transplant them into the garden. Could be an interesting experiment.

Betsy

You could also try the 'Wintersowing' method of starting.

It'll give them a jump over direct sowing, and the plants won't require hardening off.

There's a WS forum on GW if you need help.

Here is a link that might be useful: http://www.wintersown.org/

I remember starting from seeds later than this a couple years ago. I planted directly in my garden, and I didn't get nearly as many tomatoes as my neighbor, but I still think it was worth doing. And if you plant now, you'll probably be earlier than I was. But buying some seedlings sounds like a better way to go. That way you could be right on schedule. And you can always clone them to get more than one plant from each seedling, if cost is an issue. I may start a few more myself if I don't have enough of a particular variety, since I have a couple weeks until my planting date. And it'll take me a couple more weeks to get them all in the ground. But I'd rather do some cuttings since I'd probably only lose a couple weeks that way.