Maggie's Farm

In New England, with our relatively brief growing season, it is difficult to have a crop of tropical and subtropical fruits like tomatoes for more than several weeks - mainly August-mid-September. Unless you are on the coast, it is hardly worth bothering to grow tomatoes  (other than cherry tomatoes which ripen quickly) from mid- Massachusetts, north.

Some people, with more drive than I have, construct polyurethane tents, like greenhouses, to give their tomatoes a head start on the season.  It is of minimal effectiveness. Why?

Because tomato plants do not like to grow until nighttime temperatures are consistently above 60 degrees F. They might make an effort, but without vigor. Raise the night temperature and they grow like weeds.

That's why putting them in early doesn't make sense unless it's your only chance to get them in at all. Experienced gardeners around here aim for putting them in around Memorial Day and their crops are generally more productive than those who try to jump the season.

The domestic tomato was bred, probably by Aztecs in Central America, into a useful food (as they did with the tomatillo). A brief History of Tomatoes. The wild version of tomato seems to be the Currant Tomato, a perennial vine with berry-like green fruit. By now, that plant has so widely cross-bred with man-made tomato that the wild type may be extinct. All of the modern colors, including bright red, are relatively recent genetic inventions. Every tomato today (including "heritage") is a testament to GMO - the slow kind achieved by the Aztecs up through the 20th century.