Penny our expert of the day, writes:

Hi I’m Penny of PennysTomatoes.com and with the economy causing everything from gas to groceries to sky rocket in price; it only makes sense to have your own garden. CNN News mentioned on 5/1/08 what a great value seeds are in tough times.

 
AND growing your own tomatoes is not only easy but VERY inexpensive.  If you buy tomatoes at your local grocery store you will pay up to $3.50 per lb (which is approx 2 tomatoes) out of season, and maybe $.99 Cents in season..   With a pack of tomato seeds costing approx $3.00 (and of course a little TLC) you can get tons of tomatoes.
Let’s do the Math.
My Bodacious Beefsteak Tomatoes can weigh up to 2 pounds. A single seed costs $.20 Cents. That’s $.10 Cents per pound
http://www.pennystomatoes.com
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NOW IT GETS BETTER.
Take an average sized Tomato like “Penny’s Early Girl”.  You can easily produce 50 Tomatoes from one plant.  They average about 1/4 pound each. That’s 12 pounds of Juicy, Delicious, Tasty Tomatoes loaded with Nutrients.  ALL OF THAT FROM ONE LITTLE SEED.
And the best thing of all?  It cost you less than $.02 Cents per pound.  Now that’s one cool way to beat the rising costs of Groceries.
I usually plant about 10 plants each spring for my own Tomatoe Plants.  I not only get mouth watering vine ripened tomatoes all summer long…   I also have enough to make homemade spaghetti sauce, salsa, etc and put it in freezer bags to eat all winter long.
 
At PennysTomatoes.com you’ll not only find a great assortment of different kinds of tomato seeds but you’ll also find a wealth of information on how to grow them.
 
There is no satisfaction like growing your own mouth watering tomatoes so visit my website and let’s get stared!  
http://www.pennystomatoes.com
 
“You just GOTTA Taste Penny’s Tomatoes”. Tastiest Tomatoes on Planet Earth.
  Penny’s Tomatoes
http://www,Pennystomatoes.com
 

Heather Jacobson our expert of the day, writes:

Tomatoes are among some of the most popular vegetables to grow in your backyard. Rightly so too, because for some reason, homegrown tomatoes taste about 500% better than store-bought ones. In fact, for a period of time when the tomato prices were unusually high, my husband and I boycotted store-bought tomatoes because they were simply a “cardboard tasting” habit for sandwiches. However, once summer started, we decided to grow our own beefsteak tomatoes. It was just too weird to have a burger without a tomato on it! If you’re interesting in growing some good-tasting juicy tomatoes as well, here are some tips to help you on your journey.

1. Starting the seeds. Tomato seeds germinate in temperatures 65F/18C or higher. They grow pretty easy from seeds. You simply get some small pots, put some potting soil in them, and bury the seeds according to the seed package directions. Keep the soil moist and keep them in a warm sunny spot where it can get at least 6 hours of sunlight a day. In a few days, you’ll see your seeds starting to sprout!

Annette Welsford our expert of the day, writes:

Beautiful, gigantic, and perfect tomatoes do not grow by themselves! While tomatoes originated in the wild, centuries of cultivation have produced countless varieties, each needing their own special care. Some varieties of tomatoes grow in compact bushy forms, while others grow and grow, like vines, continually setting fruit. Depending on the type of tomato and desired yield, pruning and staking tomato plants will ensure a healthier, more robust harvest.

What is Pruning?

When most people think of pruning, they think of trees and shrubs. We prune trees to change the shape, increase air-flow through the canopy, reduce the size, and remove dead or diseased wood. Tomato pruning works in much the same way.

Pruning for Plant Health

Tomatoes benefit from good air circulation, as they are prone to diseases if their leaves stay wet or are encased in constant humidity. Pruning helps thin the tomato plant so that air moves freely. Tomatoes, when attacked by disease or pests, can recover; however, the injured part of the plant must be removed so that the injury does not spread to the rest of the plant.

Annettew our expert of the day, writes:

Preparation for a bountiful harvest of tomatoes begins while snow still covers the ground. Before you can plant a beautiful row of seedlings, you must take several planning steps. Consulting a comprehensive cultivation guide on growing tomatoes will aid your planning process and help ensure you end up with a bountiful disease free crop.

Choose Your Tomato Varieties

Hundreds of choice tomato varieties abound - enough to confuse gardeners. Tomatoes come in every shape, size and color. Huge tomatoes that take two hands to carry are related to tiny grape tomatoes no larger than the top of a thumb. Purple, yellow, orange and red tomatoes all spring from the same gene pool. Perfect round tomatoes, oblong tomatoes, little marble-sized tomatoes, and huge scrunchy looking tomatoes grow around the world. Tomatoes that grow as a never-ending vine share space with tomato plants that grow in a compact, shrub form. For your summer tomato garden, choose several tomato varieties, as each variety is best suited for its own culinary responsibility, and each takes specific care and tending.

Annettew our expert of the day, writes:

Growing Tomatoes: Heirlooms vs. Hybrids

Tomatoes from the grocery store shelves taste like—NOTHING! Why? Most of the tomatoes purchased from grocery stores have been harvested days before they reach the grocery, treated to turn red, and bred to stay firm and not bruise on the shelves. Plant breeding for the last fifty years has concentrated on producing a tomato that can survive anything—except for a taste test.

Gardeners and tomato aficionados alike have given up on the produce aisle for anything other than garnish. Instead, they turn to seed and plant catalogues to find tasty varieties to grow. When viewing a plant catalogue of tomato seed sources, you will be confronted with hundreds of varieties. Huge and tiny, purple, red, yellow and orange tomatoes. Perfectly round, almost flat, and lemon-shaped tomatoes. Seed catalogues highlight another variable to understand regarding tomato growing: heirloom versus hybrid tomatoes.

Heirloom Tomatoes

Tasty and unique, heirloom varieties are endless. This category of plant is where you will find purple, orange and yellow tomatoes sharing catalogue space with red ones. Heirloom varieties are “open pollinated” plants, which means that if you harvest seeds from a plant, prepare them, save them, and plant them next year, you will grow the same plant. Heirloom varieties were developed over time, in isolated gardens and communities, thus developing unique characteristics.

Penny Mohney our expert of the day, writes:

It’s easy,very inexpensive and they taste better too so lets get started!

STEP 1: Which tomatoes should I grow? If you have a long growing season then you would want to go with an indeterminate variety which grows all summer long. If your growing season is short then you would go with a determinate variety which produces its fruit quickly (in as little as 85 days or less) and ripens all at once. Go to www.PennysTomatoes.com for more info on varieties.

Step 2: Now that I have bought my seeds what do I do with them? Six to eight weeks for the end of winter I line up little paper cups filled with peat moss and put one seed in each cup. I then place them in a sunny window sill and water almost daily as peat tends to dry out quickly. Make sure not to over water or let the seed/roots sit in excessive water as this will kill them.

Nick Chenhall our expert of the day, writes:

Flower Set and Blossom Drop.One of the most exciting moments in tomato growing is when flowers begin to fade and the first little pea-like fruits appear. Each day they grow a little bigger until they reach their mature size when they start to change colour and become ripe tomatoes. They look almost too good to eat! However, temperatures and humidity have to be right for flowers to set fruit. If flowers fail to set, blossom drop is the result and those pretty little blooms wither and break off at the knuckle. To avoid blossom drop, mist and tap plants daily to help release pollen. If the weather is particularly hot and dry, also water around the base of plants to increase humidity.
Watering and Blossom End Rot.Watering can be a tricky business when it comes to tomatoes especially if they are grown in containers. However, correct watering can help avoid blossom end rot, which is caused by a lack of calcium when the fruits are swelling and leaves a dark leathery patch on the underside of the tomatoes. The first aim should be to keep the entire root area moist by giving them a thorough watering once a week (especially when the fruits are swelling) and water moderately in between. The reason is that roots are only able to feed and absorb nutrients (including calcium) from areas of soil that are moist.

Allan Wilson our expert of the day, writes:

The first thing that you need to do is decide how much space you need to plant your garden. Depending on this space, figure out how many plants to plant.

Vegetable gardens need plenty of sunlight. Generally speaking, the more sun the better. Don’t plant your garden too close to trees or anything else that will shade it too much.

Vegetables need good drainage when they grow, so it’s a good idea to plant them in raised beds. You can make these out of cement blocks or wood. If you don’t have these resources, you can plant on raised mounds of dirt.

Growing Tomatoes

There are so many varieties of tomatoes to choose from. It’s a good idea to plant tomatoes when the soil is warm, after danger of frost is over.

If you’re planting dwarf plants, place them 12 inches apart in the row. If you’re planting staked plants, place them 15 to 24 inches apart.

Tomatoes need plenty of water, especially during dry summers. Water them thoroughly every couple of days. Tomatoes in containers may need daily or even more frequent watering.

Jay Ruppel our expert of the day, writes:

Looking for ways to improve your tomato yields? Or maybe you don’t have a traditional garden, and are looking for a way to grow tomatoes on your porch, or maybe an apartment balcony. Growing tomatoes is almost a national pastime, and we are always on the hunt for better ways to grow tomatoes. So let’s take a look at some of the advantages of growing tomatoes in hanging planters.First, as we mentioned, a hanging planter can be used in many places where a traditional garden is out of the question. For a condo or apartment dweller, some type of balcony planter is the only option, and a hanging planter is probably the most efficient use of space. This can work for a patio as well.You have very few problems with weeds and a hanging planter, as you control the soil mix yourself, and can even use a soil less mix if you want which will also control many diseases as well. And you can change it out every year to further reduce soil borne diseases. The limited surface area of a planter controls weeds, too.Since the plants are hanging, and the vines grow down, the whole issue of needing tomato cages and stakes is virtually eliminated. If you use a determinant variety, even the need for pruning is reduced.You can extend your growing season as well, since you can move the plant inside for those nights at the beginning and end of the growing season that are just cold enough to kill the plant, but if you can get through one or two of them you can get an extra week or two of growing season.The thing to keep in mind with any container gardening is to water well, as this will make or break the success of your tomatoes in a planter. And of course some planters work better than others for this.

Alison Stevens our expert of the day, writes:

Heirloom tomatoes - also known as heritage tomatoes - are some of the many older varieties from which seeds have been saved over the years and passed from one generation to the next. Most tomatoes purchased today in supermarkets or grocery stores are hybrids which have been bred to produce higher yields, uniformity of shape and color, shipping durability and longer shelf life, rather than flavor.

Heirloom tomatoes are prized firstly for their amazing flavor. In addition to their outstanding flavor they frequently have a distinctive shape and come in a range of colors from purples to orange to green and more. Many heritage tomatoes are every bit as hardy as the hybrid varieties.

Heirloom tomatoes have become increasingly popular and more readily available in recent years. These tomatoes, in particular, bring as much to the garden as they do to the plate and they can’t be beaten for their outstanding flavor and the beauty they add to recipes and dishes with their many shapes, sizes, and colors.