Ha... No help here. One of my friends said that growing tomatoes in northern minnesota near the big lake is a true test of faith! We seldom have excess tomatoes...at least ripe ones that is. I usually just pick all the green ones right before the first frost and hope they ripen off the vine. I just planted my lettuce a week ago and it is already up. However, it also has been very warm and dry here and there is danger of forest fires. I am hoping for rain but with the way climate is changing, that just may not happening and we will all have to change our gardens a bit. I may order some cactus next year!