Purchase plants when the danger of frost is passed. Choose plants that are well formed, undamaged and have dark green foliage. Five or six inches tall is the best size to plant. Larger plants are more likely to suffer from transplant shock. If you use tobacco, do not touch tomato plants until you wash your hands, since tobacco and tomato are related plants and tobacco mosaic disease can be transmitted to tomatoes.

 You can get a quick start by cultivating the bed before planting time. Cover the bare soil with clear plastic and the sun will warm the soil. Cut holes to plant or completely remove the plastic. Remove all plastic before the weather turns hot.

 To make mini-greenhouses for each plant, cut the bottoms off large clear plastic bottles and carefully place the bottle over the plant so that the leaves do not touch the bottle. Bury the edges so the bottle will not blow away. You will need to remove the bottle caps on sunny days so that the plants do not get too hot. If the temperature approaches freezing, put the caps on, pull dirt or mulch around the mini-greenhouse or even cover completely with an old blanket or a cardboard box. Tomatoes will be damaged by any freeze. This can allow you to start the growing season a couple of weeks early.

 If you want to spread out your production, plant part of your tomato patch each month until mid-July. If convenient, transplant the tomatoes in the evening, on cloudy days or just before a rain shower. This will reduce transplant shock. Plants that are in shock stop growing, the older leaves turn yellow or brown, and the plant may wilt especially in the afternoon. Keep the plant well watered and it will likely recover in a couple of weeks and begin growing. Bare-rooted plants will be more easily shocked than ones transplanted with the roots growing in soil. My father used to stick twigs next to the transplants to shade them for a couple of weeks when planting in warmer weather.

 To transplant tomatoes to the garden row, use a garden trowel to make a hole about five inches deep. Carefully, remove the plant from the pot, and add or dig out more dirt so that two sets of leaves are above ground. All lower leaves should be removed. The plant should be planted deeper than it grew in the pot. The buried section of the stem will soon sprout additional roots that will help nourish and anchor the plant.

  Once the plants is situated at the right depth. You can then add water or manure tea to fill the hole and help settle the plant roots and reduce transplant shock. Once the water is absorbed, pull the soil into the hole and firm it around the plant so that there are no air pockets. Leave a shallow bowl-shaped depression around the stem to facilitate watering. Keep them well watered for the first 10 days. By then the plant should have adjusted to its new environment and be ready to begin growing again.

 If you are patient, you can grow tomatoes from seeds. It is usually best to plant them in a seed bed according to the seed packet directions. Many more varieties of vegetables are available as seeds either in stores or ordered from mail order suppliers. Plant tomato seeds half an inch deep one inch apart, firm the soil over them, and do not allow the soil to dry out. Thin half the seedlings when they are two inches tall and transplant to the garden when they are five inches. Use a garden trowel to dig out a plug of soil around the plant roots; this is best done when the soil is moist.

  Starting tomatoes early indoors is possible by planting the seed in small pots in sterile starter soil mixtures or in jiffy pots . Jiffy pots are pots made of compressed peat moss and contain a light growing medium that is ideal for germinating and growing seeds. They are widely available in garden centers in various forms. The starting mixture is sterile to avoid molds and diseases that destroy seedlings.

  To start tomatoes indoors, plant three seeds in each container six to eight weeks before the last freeze date. Water the pots and keep in a warm sunny spot. Warmth from below encourages germination. When the plants reach two inches, thin to one plant per container. Jiffy pots can be planted whole in the garden as they soon rot and the roots, quickly grow through them. It is best to pinch away any of the pot that sticks above ground. Plant firmly in the garden and water.

  To prevent cutworms, cut three inch paper strips and wrap them several times around the stem. Then bury the bottom of the paper one inch in the soil. Cut worms are caterpillars that burrow into the stems of seedlings, killing the plant.

 Plant tomatoes at least four feet apart. Mulching between the plants will hold moisture in the soil and suppress weeds. Do not put mulch within two inches of the stems. Tomato stems are more likely to remain disease free if air flows freely around them. Straw, compost, grass clippings, and wood chips can be used as mulch.

 Most growers place tomato cages over the plants soon after planting, Keeping the plant upright encourages healthier plants and better fruit production. Fruit that touches the soil will soon rot. Alternatives to caging tomatoes include tying them to stout stakes at least four foot tall or planting them by a fence where they can tied for support. Use strips of cloth or old pantyhose to very loosely tie the vines every foot as they grow upwards.

 Weeding is hardly the most glamorous of chores, but it is important to keep the weeds out of the garden. Hoeing is unfortunately necessary. If they are growing right against the tomato plant, you should carefully pull or cut down the weed without disturbing the tomato roots.

 If you are not mulching between rows, you can till the soil with a cultivator. I can remember my father plowing the garden rows with his mule, Ol' Blue.

 Most garden plants can benefit from a light feeding of manure tea or diluted liquid fertilizer sprayed on the plant or poured around its roots. Plants can absorb some nutrients and water through their leaves though, of course, roots absorb most. Feeding a couple of times a month can keep the plant growing and producing fruit.

  You can also put a tablespoon of granular fertilizer in the ground around the plant between six and twelve inches from the plant. Work it in soil just an inch deep. If you are spraying the plants, it is best to do so in the morning. Fertilizer spikes for tomatoes are also available.

 As you watch your vines grow, daily adding leaves, sprouts, blooms, and then fruit, you can take increasing pride in your hard work. --But tiny eyes are watching too!

 caterpillars and grasshoppers, aphids and stink bugs; they all are out for a meal. My father's solution would have been a good application of Sevin dust-- a product(or its descendant) that is still available. Some people prefer malathion in liquid form sprayed on plants. But other, more environmentally friendly options exist.

 Organic pest controls are numerous and varied. You can start with planting varieties that are disease and bug resistant. Having healthy plants reduces disease and can even reduce a plant's vulnerability to bugs. Keeping the garden free of weeds and trash give pests fewer places to hide and multiply. Some mulches such as cedar and eucalyptus bark repel insects.

 The simplest way to protect a plant is simply to pick off feeding insects and dispose of them. You may want to use gloves. Many bugs hide underneath the leaves and some come out to feed at night. To be effective eggs will have to be removed as well. Caterpillar and other slow moving insects are usually grazing on the plant.

 Quickly moving insects are usually predators and are eating the destructive bugs, consider them allies. Other bug predators include spiders, birds, toads, preying mantis, lady bugs. Butterflies, moths and bees pollinate the flowers, without them there may not be any tomatoes.

  BT, Bacillus thuringiensis, is a powder containing a bacteria that is sprinkled on leaves; any bug that eats it will die.

 Another way to remove troublesome bugs is to spray the plant with a strong stream of water blasting them off. Many won't return and you can repeat as needed.

 Dealing with a diseased tomato plant can be a challenge. The easiest way to deal with the problem is to cut out the diseased portion of the plant or remove the vine entirely. Wash your hands afterwards so that you don't spread infection to other plants.

  A number of tomato varieties have been bred to be resistant. If the problem is persistent and serious, plant your tomatoes elsewhere. Some conditions such as cracking are really the result of irregular watering or changes in the weather. Expecting every plant and every tomato fruit to be perfect is simply unrealistic.

 Heat is another problem for tomatoes. When the daily maximum temperature exceeds 95 degrees F for a couple of weeks, tomato plants drop their blooms rather than developing fruit. However, when temperatures moderate the blooms and fruit production will resume. Tomato blossom set sprays are suppose to keep the vine from dropping its flowers, but not everyone thinks they are effective.

  You can try hand pollination by removing a few mature flowers and lightly rubbing the yellow powdery pollen on the center of the remaining flowers. You can also use a small artist's brush to transfer pollen.

  The fertilized flowers will develop a green swelling at the base as the flower withers. The immature tomato will grow and develop slowly, taking up to three or four weeks to reach full size. If you want fruit of maximum size, don't let too many fruit develop on the vine at the same time. Also pluck off any that are malformed or looked diseased.

  The color of the fruit gradually changes as the fruit ripens, from dark green, light green, yellow, light red, and then turning dark red. Once part of the fruit turns red, it will continue to ripen even if picked. Some people leave it on the vine to ripen completely. However, hanging on the vine it continues to be vulnerable to insects and other hungry creatures. If it is picked half-ripe, store it where it can get air and light so that it will continue to ripen. Storing it in the refrigerator will slow down ripening but cause a loss in taste. Eat when it is fully red before it becomes too soft. The area around the stem attachment is often the first to develop bad spots.

  As the fall tomato crop comes into production, it is time to think of concluding the season. Tomato plants are very sensitive to frost. However, you can save the fruit from an anticipated freeze. Just before the expected frost, pick all the remaining fruit of reasonable size. Let the partially ripe fruit continue to turn red. Wrap the green fruit loosely in newspaper and store in a cool, dry place and check often. Store them with small sections of the vine still attached. If you have a sunny space indoors, cut off larger sections of the tomato plant and set them in a bucket of water with the fruit and leaves sticking out. The fruit will continue to develop, and you can still be eating your tomatoes for another month. Change the water once a week until the vines turn brown.

  Be sure to pull out the dead vines after frost. Compost or discard them to prevent them harboring insects or diseases over the winter months.

  At the height of summer, my father would have half our large back porch covered in ripening tomatoes. It was always a great pleasure for him to offer big bags of tomatoes to relatives, friends, or even casual visitors. It never occurred to him to sell any, "Everyone grows their own," he would say.