There have always been two good reasons to grow your own tomatoes: they taste much better than the mass-market kind and they're much cheaper than equally tasty local tomatoes from the farmstand or greenmarket. Now we can add reason three: they're safe.
Unless you have spent the last month in complete isolation, you know the dark underbelly of industrial agriculture has once again rolled to the surface. Every hamburger is a scary roll of the health dice, this time because of tainted tomatoes.
Why are we not surprised?
Fortunately, raising your own tomatoes is a lot easier than raising your own beef cattle. In fact, tomatoes are among the very easiest vegetables to grow.
Picnic-ready heirloom tomatoes; the green ones are ripe Aunt Ruby's German Green.
Tomatoes are not only easy, they're productive -- 6 or 8 plants (in the front yard, if need be) can supply all the fresh tomatoes a family of 4 could want, with enough extra to preserve for winter. And if your garden is the container kind, a single Sungold or Sweet Million in a half whiskey barrel will give you what does seem like a million delicious cherry tomatoes.
Although planting time is fast passing, it's not too late to get growing your own in most parts of the country. Garden centers still have seedlings and tomatoes are such tough plants that even skinny pot bound disasters will usually do fine, eventually.
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