Random observation since this is a slow time of year in this group.

[lpbk2713]

I'm eating a grocery store tomato (apparently a Beefsteak variety) as I type this.
It is so bland it practically has no flavor at all. And it occurs to me that most people
have been eating this kind of crap for so long they wouldn't know what a real home
grown tomato would taste like. People have no idea what they are missing out on.

I have about eight plants growing in the back yard right now. It looks like the first
ones should be ready in about two or three more weeks. I'm in 9b, central Florida.
Big Beef and Better Boy.

[Scuba]

1. Winter tomatos in wisconsin bear the subtle bouquet of diesel fumes.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

2. There's no point in even trying to eat tomatoes in the winter.

Here in Zone 4, we have to wait until July to get the real ones.

[OffWithTheirHeads]

4. Canning is easy and fun. Yeah, you can't have em fresh but you can put them bye

For winter.

[Mr.Bill]

6. We do a lot of canning,

We canned tomato juice, tomato basil soup and we even canned green tomato salsa with the tomatoes that were still green but about to be destroyed by autumn frost.

We also freeze a lot of them. Just blanch them, remove the skins, put them in freezer bags and then freeze them. They will be used for winter cooking, like chili, spaghetti sauce, pizza sauce, etc.

Even though I only actually pick them for a few months in the summer, I rarely buy a tomato year-round.

[lpbk2713]

5. By July my spring tomatoes are mostly burned up.

Even the hot weather varieties.

I'll start planting at the end of January, there isn't usually
much danger of frost after that around here. Most of the
time I will plant about 25 - 30 all together.

[Curmudgeoness]

3. Ever since I read Tomatoland,

I refuse to buy winter tomatoes. Not that it was much to give up, they never did have flavor anyways, and once I started to grow my own, and eat them right from the sunny plant, the winter ones taste even worse.

[Lex]

7. I agree. Winter tomatoes ripened

on the way from Mexico aren't worth bothering with. I hit the Farmer's Market every week in the summer for local, vine-ripened ones--they bear little resemblance and taste to the mealy ripened-while-shipped ones.

[Curmudgeoness]

8. I do the same, as well as growing some myself.

And I freeze them. I may never have a fresh tomato all winter, but I still have vine-ripened ones to use in all my cooking until the next summer.

[BlueToTheBone]

9. Year round gardening is the best!

I'm so happy for you. I chose this 4 season climate; but you are very lucky to have such a growing season that you can have fresh tomatoes in February!

[lpbk2713]

10. Thanks

I had my first two Better Boys of the winter season two days ago. The
skin was a bit on the tough side but they were tasty none the less. There
are many more on the way. Take care.

[bettyellen]

11. have you tried heirlooms, even tastier than the "boys" you are growing

I'm not up on varieties that are good down south, but "mortgage lifter" is a very reliable one.