From Robert Whitcomb’s “Digital Diary,’’ in GoLocal24.com

Every year at this time we wrestle with the momentous question  of which vegetables to  buy and plant. There are so many hybrids and so many claims of their glories that it’s very confusing. We’ve experimented over the years; some choices have turned out to be aesthetic and culinary duds, some very tasty surprises. Those “heirloom” plants!

Anyway, the surest and easiest bet has been cherry tomatoes, which are terrific snacks.

Then there’s the great gamble of how early to plant. Those sneaky May frosts can wreak havoc, though, as the climate has warmed, we seem be to getting fewer of them. (And stuff grows later into the fall.)

Planting is fun, weeding and watering less so, but wise or at least lucky choices and fine weather can let harvesting meet the standard of pleasure you pine for in February, when the seed catalogs arrive.  And the sense of self-sufficiency, however bogus, from growing a tiny bit of your own food is a bonus, and something to show off to dinner guests.