I spoke to my mother about growing tomatoes last night. Her advice: Purchase the yummy-looking varieties, but also some early ones. The growing season in Maine is all too short, and a September frost can kill the late-bearing varieties. If this happens, you need to pick all the green tomatoes and take them inside, where they'll turn red--but never properly ripen. So if you want to be guaranteed that ripe tomato taste, you should plant at least one variety which ripens early.

My mother, like every other New Englander I've asked, agrees that tomatoes are the one plant worth growing at home.

In related news, Fedco Seeds is running low on Orange Banana tomato seeds. I'll have to order this week!