It's Spring! Time to Plant!

This is one of my favorite times of the year. Spring is a time of bounty and endless possibilities. It's the time of year when we enjoy some of the most wonderful of holidays and of course it's the time of year when I start my vegetable garden.

I used to have a garden as a kid, but for many years as a young adult my living situation would not permit having one. I have had a spring vegetable garden now for many years and I always look forward to it with great anticipation. Among other things it puts an exclamation point on Spring.

If you don't have a huge yard or intense sun light, don't worry. There are many ways you can have a satisfying garden with limited sunlight and space. You don't need to be a "flat-lander" either. As seen in this picture, you can have a successful garden on a steep hillside, on a terraced slope and even on a patio.

There are so many varieties of fruits and vegetables you can grow. As a rule I try to grow things that taste notably better than their counterparts in the markets For example: tomatoes, corn, beans, squash and melons (space permitting) and did I say tomatoes???

Homegrown tomatoes are the best! They're fun and easy to grow, usually disease resistant and taste so much better than the tomatoes you typically find at the market. And these days you can find hundreds of varieties for sale at your local nurseries and/or in online or mail order seed catalogs.

Their are in fact so many varieties that it can be a little daunting as to which plants to select. I like the heirloom tomatoes because they're unique, they have such exceptional flavor and at prices of up to $6.00 a pound in the local markets they're very cost-effective to grow.

A little background on heirloom tomatoes:
Heirloom tomatoes are grown from seeds that have been handed down within in a family from generation to generation over these many, many years, like a family heirloom. They are prized for their unique shapes, colors and above all- TASTE!

Here are my five favorite tomato pics:

1. Sun Gold- in my opinion this is the sweetest tomato of all. Literally sweet as sugar. They are large cherry-type tomatoes about the size of, (but a little smaller than) a ping pong ball. They are a light orange color and they grow in clusters like a grape vine.

2. Striped German- a very large, slightly flattened tomato with blotches of red, orange and yellow inside and out. Great tomato taste with a kick, great for sandwiches.

3. Yellow Brandywine- similar to the classic Brandywine tomato, similarly large in size but with a slightly mellow-er flavor. Also great for sandwiches.

4. Moskvich- a Russian tomato that has a very robust flavor. It is a medium size tomato with a uniform, deep orange-red color. Great for salads, sandwiches and capreses!

5. Cherokee Purple- a plum-shaped tomato with a deep brick red color with purple-brown shoulders. They have a mild tomato flavor, not quite as juicy as some of the other tomatoes listed here, but that makes them a good paste tomato.

Honorable mention- Pineapple, Great White, Green Marble, Moramoto and Rose.

Let me know, what's your favorite variety of tomatoe?

If you want to check out a great event where you can buy tomato plants and more visit Tomato Mania at Tapia Brothers farms in Encino from March 27th through March 29th and in Beverly Hills April 18th. Click here for more information about TomatoMania and other event locations and dates. For on line seed sales I've always had success with Johnny Seeds and their are many other resources on line as well. Just search Google and above all: get out there, plant your garden and have fun!