Tomatoes? Already?

It was a beautiful winter morning when I let Moose out around seven to commune with nature after a good night's sleep.  Stars filled the dark blue western sky as the dawn was preparing to break, temperatures were around zero, and a light powdery snow blanketed the ground and drifted in wisps as a light breeze blew from the north.  As the Master of His Own World took his time sniffing everything in the yard, I was regretting not wearing socks as a cold wind blew across my ankles, my thoughts were focused not on the cold, but on warmer temperatures, spring and planting tomatoes.

In the past few years my tomatoes have been rather small when I transplanted them to the garden compared to the plants they are selling at the garden and home improvement stores.  My plants are always healthy, and present a decent harvest, but they come to maturity later than the store-bought ones.

So, this year I thought I would start my tomatoes a little earlier than last year's late-February date.  I think by starting in late-January/early February my plants should be close to store-bought plants.  I am also considering building a small hydroponic system to produce tomatoes year-round, but thoughts of that can wait for a later date.

I am also looking for suggestions on what and how many of each variety to plant. If you have a favorite, or an heirloom that you would like me to plant in my garden let me know. Also, I am looking for people to plant  some of my heirloom Italian tomatoes in their gardens.  Four years ago we had a strong wind storm that came through the weekend after transplanting, and we lost all our tomato plants.  And recently we have seen a few deer right outside the back door.  I would like to ensure that I have seeds from this season, even if something happens to my plants.  My thought is that if I can loan of our a few plants to others, with my only payment being the seeds from two or three tomatoes that the "foster gardener" may grow in their garden, I can rest a little easier about having seeds for next year in case something unfortunate were to happen to my garden.