The tomato, 2,000 miles north and 15 degrees south of its native home, often balks at growing well around Puget Sound.

Instead of the constant sun and 70-degree temperature of its native Mexico, a Vashon tomato may endure drought, gray skies, chilly nights and August rains that can cause blight just when the fruit’s turning red.

How can Islanders improve the odds when growing tomatoes? I sought advice from winners of the Tomato Taste-off, held each August at the Farmers Market. These growers said to site the plants well, choose an early variety,  feed and water strategically, and, as Abigail Friel of Pacific Crest Farm says, “Keep the plants as warm as you can, as long as you can.”

Prepare a good site

Rob Peterson of Plum Forest Farm, who won “Best Slicer” with “Stupice” last year, offered up this bit of advice: “Give tomatoes your warmest site, and for greatest success, grow under cover.” Full sun is best, six to eight hours at minimum. 

Weeks before planting, loosen the soil deeply and add amendments. Too much nitrogen will encourage leaves more than fruit, so dig in high-phosphorus amendments like bonemeal or fish meal. Add lime, bonemeal or wood-ash to help prevent blossom-end rot (more on that later).

Peterson finds compost the best amendment, but Mark Timken of Timken Farm likes worm castings, and Joe Meier, last year’s winner for his “Sungold” cherry tomatoes, swears by Algoflash, sold online only. Karen Biondo of K-Jo Farm adds kelp meal and compost from farm animal manures, tilled into the soil by mid-April.

Transplant an early variety

Don’t try sticking a seed in the soil; our growing season isn’t warm or long enough. Either start seeds indoors yourself in March or buy young plants to stick in the soil in May or early June. Many local growers, such as Pacific Potager or Langley Fine Gardens, have trialed dozens of varieties and found ones that will do well here. And when you plant them, plant them deep — up to their top-most set of leaves. The plants will form roots along the buried stem.

Short-season plants have the best chance of ripening here. We’ve planted the 70-day “Siletz” in mid-May for years, but in cool summers, fruit didn’t ripen until late August. 

For Langley Fine Gardens, the earliest tomato is “Siberia,” while “Stupice” (pronounced STEW-peetsa) is earliest for Plum Forest Farm and K-Jo Farm. For Mark Timken, it’s “Early Girl.” Pacific Potager, a VIGA specialist in tomato transplants, recommends the 60-day “Milano” for a flavorful early paste tomato.

Cherry tomatoes like popular “Sungold” ripen early for most growers. Joe Curiel of Monument Farm, whose south-facing slope lets him plant out in late April, likes “Sweet Chelsea Cherry,” a heavy producer of golfball-sized fruits.

Keep water off, a cover on

Tomato growth slows to a crawl below 55 degrees, so to boost heat, many growers use green- or hoop-houses, walls o’water, reemay tents, even dry-cleaning bags. And many cover their soils with black plastic to further warm the soil and discourage weeds. Let fresh air in when temps rise: Tomatoes won’t set fruit above 90 degrees.

Covering tomatoes makes the grower provide water — but if you use a drip-irrigation system, this pays real dividends. First off, you do far less work. Second, rain splashing on soil can throw fungus spores onto leaves and cause blight — a real danger during August rains.

A drip-system prevents that as well as the scabby blemishing known as blossom-end rot, which comes in part from irregular watering.

Finally, tomato plants evolved from vines and so need support. Bush tomatoes sprawl as they approach 3 feet high: I corral them within four-tiered circular cages. Many VIGA growers train their indeterminate viners like “Stupice” or “Sungold” to a single leader run up a string, rebar or T-pole. When flowers come, a little shake helps the plant self-pollinate and set fruit.

With all these techniques to get tomato plants off to a good start, Vashon tomatoes are well positioned to ripen up, come July or August. 

We’ll get to ripening techniques in Part Two, coming in late July.

— Karen Dale gardens on a sandy hilltop on Vashon’s south end.

Favorite Tomatoes of Island Growers — and why

Compiled by Karen Dale for Vashon Island Gardeners

Indeterminates are climbers: train up a 6- to 8-foot stake or stout string trellis, and prune to one to two leaders.

Determinates are bush types, reaching three to four feet. Train in a tall cage, prune for air circulation.

Days-to-maturity is approximate; depends on your site and the season.

AVAILABILITY: If the grower is mentioned, check their farmstand or VIGA’s Farmer’s Market. Langley Fine Gardens has a farmstand, but also sells to Thriftway and University District Farmer’s Market.

Several VIGA growers will start selling ripe tomatoes from many of these varieties sometime in July.

CHERRY AND GRAPE TOMATOES

Sungold: An Island favorite — reliable, prolific, tasty indeterminate that makes one-inch orange fruit. 55 days.

Cherry Grape: won third in the 2008 Tomato Taste-off. Elongated red cherry. 55 days.

Sweet Chelsea Cherry: a disease-resistant viner with golfball-sized fruit, heavy producer for Joe Curiel. 68 days.

EARLY SLICERS

Siberia: Earliest for Langley Fine Gardens — a compact plant with golfball-sized fruit. 48 days.

Stupice: Most mentioned both for great taste and early ripening that lasts through the season. A shorter indeterminate,  two-inch fruit with yellow shoulders. Czech variety. 60 to 65 days.

Siletz: My old reliable, a two- to three-inch slicer on a determinate bush. 60 days. One of several early, cool-weather varieties bred by Dr. Jim Baggett of Oregon State University.

Oregon Spring:  Another from OSU, this compact plant ripens for me after Siletz, with Early Girl. 60 days.

Early Girl: Mark Timken of Timken Farm likes this early slicer, widely available in our area. 62 days.

Legend: A recommendation from Pacific Potager; a bush like Siletz, it produces longer and is resistant to late blight. Like Siletz and Oregon Spring, bred at Oregon State University. 68 days.

HEIRLOOM TOMATOES

Black: Timken Farm grows this russian heirloom. 85 days.

Jaune Flame: Leda Langley won “Best Heirloom” in the 2008 Tomato Taste-off for this flavorful, burnt orange roma.

Aunt Ruby’s German Green: “An ugly green with pink shoulders that makes amazing BLTs,” says grower Abigail Friel of Pacific Crest Farm. 

Caspian Pink: Favored by Pacific Potager for its “taste like a Brandywine, but you get a lot more fruit and it’s earlier.” 75 days.

BEYOND RED

Taxi: earliest ever for me — bright yellow plum-type on small bush. 65 days.

Golden Girl: Pacific Potager likes this for color, flavor. 69 days.

Persimmon: Timken likes this nice orange tomato from the 1800s. 80 days.

Green Grape: Leda Langley likes this semi-determinate with small, amber-green fruits “that taste like kiwi fruit and pineapple.”  75 days.

Gold Medal: Karen Biondo of K-Jo Farm says “it’s sweet like a fresh peach at its peak.” 75 days.

Goldie Yellow: makes four- to six-inch bright yellow, lobed fruit with a rosy blush on its bottom when ripe. Indeterminate. 

TOMATOES TO PUT UP

Milano: After a long search, Pacific Potager can recommend this paste tomato that combines earliness with good taste. Determinate. 60 days.

Speckled Roman: Pacific Potager took a Tomato Taste-Off prize for this 80-day paste tomato. 

Principe Borghese: Paste tomato, good for drying, very flavorful and prolific, ping-pong ball sized. 75 days.

Genovese Roma: It ripens first at K-Jo Farm. 

Early Cascade: Monument Farm likes this heavy producer of golfball-sized, not-so-sweet fruit, good for canning, that produces “right through Halloween.” 70 days.

And if you think you have grown a winner:  The Tomato Taste-Off is held at the Vashon Farmers Market the weekend around Aug. 23. Watch The Beachcomber for scheduling.