recommendations for tomatoes in Missouri

[Dawn]

Howdy,

It's starting to thaw here and while we're nowhere near ready to plant, I'm starting to consider what I want to grow this year. I'm looking for advice on a tomato plant for my region, Missouri, zone 5 near KC, in the city actually, but we have a big yard in an old neighborhood.

I planted Better Boy last year but wasn't exactly happy with the results. We had a lovely spring, then an incredibly muggy and dry summer and by August the plants were falling over and by the time the heat broke and they went back into fruit production I had lost all but one plant. I'd really like something that can stand our hot and dry summers. I don't know how it manages to be so humid and everything I plant still dries up.

Anyway, we like to eat the tomatoes off the vine in the summer with a salad, and I like to freeze the extras for soup in the winter. They don't have to be the biggest tomatoes in the world, but we would like something with good flavor.

Also, if anyone locally has suggestions for other easy to grow vegetables, I'd appreciate the advice. I don't know anyone else in town who gardens. We did well with broccoli last year, I may go for that again. We've tried corn, but it hasn't matured well. I'd like to try a melon or a squash again. I had an unknown melon variety last year that had absolutely no flavor. Smelled great though.

Dawn

[FarmerDill]

In field trials by the University of Missouri, these cultivars did well,'BHN

543', 'Florida 91', 'HMX 0800' and 'Mountain Fresh' . This would seem to indicate that your area is conducive to the more heat tolerant varieties normally associated with Florida and the Southwest.

[The Watcher]

I'm just south of the Missouri state line, in Harrison, Arkansas. The best tasting variety of tomato I've raised so far is Black Krim. It does well in this area. Doesn't produce as many tomatoes as some other varieties, but the taste is the best. (snip)

[Dawn]

and

All right, sounds good to me. Where do I find these? Somehow they don't sound like varieties I have ever seen for sale around here.

Dawn

[The Watcher]

I got the seeds from

[The Watcher]

Had to check my supply of seed. If you send your address to me at [e-mail] I can send you some.

[Violet]

Check with your state's Extension Service:

county has it's own Cooperative Extension Office which provides free publications and information for the asking.

The following two images are excerpts from the "Vegetable Planting and Planning Calendar for Missouri" complete with spring and fall planting dates, how much to plant per person, etc. Just call up the office in your county. Look under the "Government" section (usually blue pages) of your phone book under "Extension". They will have valuable vegetable/gardening tables available specifically for your area from data they've collected from growing those crops in your state.

Violet