You say tomato, I say get busy!

Here's an "earthy" tip: There's still time to plant your tomatoes!... that is, as long as someone else started 'em for you.

While it's too late this year to start from seeds, you can get seedlings and jump into the ever-more-trendy urban gardening movement that has been sweeping the green world, most notably here via the Philadelphia Orchard Project. And if you're at all unsure about how to do tomatoes right, there's a new edition out of an old favorite with Daily News cred: "You Bet Your Tomatoes!" (Plain White Press) by Mike McGrath, illustrated by Earth to Philly's Signe Wilkinson. Inside you'll find McGrath's inimitable tips, resources and loudly-voiced opinions (no, seriouslly - guy uses boldface and all-caps like some people use table salt!) enhanced by dozens of Signe's whimsical line drawings.

Originally released in 2002, the collaboration dates back further than that. Signe Wilkinson says she got her start "drawing mulch-based cartoons" in the late 1980's at Organic Gardening Magazine where her "irrepressible editor" was Mike McGrath.  They have collaborated over the years on compost, and now tomatoes. Mike's show, You Bet Your Garden, is heard on WHYY radio 90.9 on Saturday morning's at 11 AM. Signe now gardens two floors up on a roof garden in center city. She specializes in flowers while her husband grows tomatoes, beans and basil.

You can find You Bet Your Tomatoes! at amazon.com, and while there you might want to grab Mike McGrath's Book of Compost, also featuring Signe's inimitable penwork. And then you can get busy in the dirt!