There are so many varieties of tomatoes available today. There are varieties that grow in Greenland and Siberia, not the first countries you would think of. If you are going to start early sowing then you need a variety which is suited to that. I have grown 'Stupice' and 'Sub Artic' both of which can produce fruit within 60 days. This time I have 4 plants of Sub Artic which should be flowering soon and give me fruit in early June. The more 'British' varieties I shall sow next month.
I grow tomatoes in Finland. That's quite north.
I never got an early crop from Sub-arctic. I tried them now for 2 seasons. They are usual among the later ones. Taste-wise they are ok, but nothing great.
Stupice is wonderful. It is a much better cropper than sub-arctic in my garden, and it grows well outside in Finland. And it tastes great!!!! It was the best tomato during my first season of growing outside tomatoes.
The best tomato I did last year for outside nordic conditions was Anna Russian. They taste great. It grows well outside here too.
This year I am testing 12 new varieties.
I planted the first batch in mid february. Not all came up actually so I did another batch 2 weeks later. And then decided I wouldn't have enough of my favourite varieties so I did batch no.3 this week.
I have at the moment 50+ seedlings. The new batch will push it to around 75-80.
I grow them on my covered terras. In my small greenhouse and on my allotment.
I am also growing some seedlings to give away to friends, mainly dwarf varieties. But still, I will have too many seedlings. I can grow around 50 full sized plants. I am just going to pick the best ones.
Growing tomatoes can be frustrating here. They love the summer with the non-existing and extreme short nights, but the growing season starts late and ends early. This weekend it snowed. Earlier this week I had my tomato seedlings in my greenhouse during the afternoon. I actually thought it was really spring now. But unfortunately this is not the case.
Every "spring" it is a logistical nightmare to move around the seedlings, find space for them in the little sun we get, and to get them hardened. They get big before they can go out permanently.