hey there! and welcome to the garden helper!

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Can you point me to a site that can teach me all the steps?

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yeap...www.thegardenhelper.com...oh nevermind your already here! if ya ask me...this is the only site you need to know about...ask and ye shall recieve...and it's not to late to start tomatoes because the season is just beginning! I haven't even started any of my seeds lol! if you want to start tomatoes from seed (that's what I'm gonna try to do this year) then you can start them inside if ya want to. all you have to do is plant them in some containers and put a light over them maybe 2" above them. I don't know for how long but somebody else that's grown them inside before will have to come along and help you with that part. but if you want to grow them from the plant and not start from seed then you dig the hole for the plant and plop the plant in the hole and water and feed every once and a while and make sure it gets LOADS of sun...the more sun the better. that's the basics of it! gardening isn't as hard as it sounds. if you don't succeed the first few times don't let it discourage you! like they say...when you fall off the bike jump back on! good luck! please stick around because we are VERY happy to have you here...you'll be addicted to gardening in no time

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*~*Last night I played a blank tape at full blast. The mime next door went nuts.
*~* http://www.imagestation.com/album/?id=2125497034

Stacy, don't worry! You are far from being too late! I'm not familiar with Zone 9, though I wish!!! but tomatoes reach their maturity anywhere from 50 to 100 days depending on the type you are wanting to grow. Most of us here start our plants indoors during the Spring months and get them out in the garden mid May sometime. A lot of us haven't begun starting our seeds (being far too early) but I suppose being in Zone 9, you can start anytime.
You can just buy tomato plants but it really is both fun and rewarding to start them from seed yourself. Let us know what you decide to do and we'll help you all the way through. There are some absolute amazing gardeners here!

Christina

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I don't even start until April for mine,
so you are definately NOT behind..
Not by a long shot..
Your area could almost have two crop harvests
to my one...

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Weezie

Don't forget to be kind to strangers. For some who have
done this have entertained angels without realizing it.
- Bible - Hebrews 13:2





http://photobucket.com/albums/y250/weezie13/

Kabuti,

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seed directly in the beds as I understand they dont develope the long taproot if they are transplanted & we need the taproot here with the hot summers over 100deg. for extended periods.

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You can transplant a tomato, and plant it almost
right up to the branches at the top of the plant..

The tomato plant stem will root all along the way that's in or under the soil..
Which makes a GREAT root system, especially for those HOT SUMMER DAYS..

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Weezie

Don't forget to be kind to strangers. For some who have
done this have entertained angels without realizing it.
- Bible - Hebrews 13:2





http://photobucket.com/albums/y250/weezie13/

Christina, when you're talking about a
TOMATO, you're never off topic...lol!!!

What you posted, especially, only re~enforces
what I told her about tomato stems..

And tomatoes are on of THE BEST PLANTS to let kids plant, cause they have a tendancy to bury things too deep, and if they do, its' not a huge problem, like it would be to some plants..

Thanks!!!

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Weezie

Don't forget to be kind to strangers. For some who have
done this have entertained angels without realizing it.
- Bible - Hebrews 13:2





http://photobucket.com/albums/y250/weezie13/

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And that's my next question: will my raised beds (inherited from the previous owner) work for tomatoes? they have a drip system but I can water by hand.

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You have a "GARDENER'S HEAVEN" there for growing tomatoes.. Raised beds are wonderful for drainage.. and probably if they went to the work of putting in raised beds, did a good job with
the type of soil they put in..
****have you looked at the soil, felt it, looked at it's texture, color, smell???****

but for the drip irragation system that is heavenly to have for tomatoes.. tomatoes can get several soil borne disease's.. *nothing detramental to you.. just does stuff to the plant, and leaves.. you can still harvest the tomatoes..*
but what one of the thing that happens is, when a person waters, and the water splashes the dirt, and the dirt is then splashed up on the stem/leaves of the plant, that's sets into motion of how the plant becomes effected..
~~~~~~~~~>so, with that drip irragation, it cuts down dramatically the splashing..

Don't be over whelmed by what I said..

*and while you're learning all about tomatoes.
Go get a cuppa something to drink and do some reading here.. ther'es lot's.. especially here on the forum..
If you do a FORUM SEARCH and type in TOMATO you'll find a plethra of information..
Lot's of questions, you may not know to ask and things you'll learn..
on any of them, do not hesitate to ASK!!!

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It's very encouraging to see how supportive everyone is.

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Ther'es a ton of tomato growers here, alllll ready and more than willing to send and share their enthusiasm with you about tomatoes and gardening...

It really is a Cyber Gardening Family Community..
Not only will you find alot of support for your gardening, but just about everything else here too..

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Weezie

Don't forget to be kind to strangers. For some who have
done this have entertained angels without realizing it.
- Bible - Hebrews 13:2





http://photobucket.com/albums/y250/weezie13/

Yes, I am thinking of doing that. The previous owners also left a TON of (what I thought was) gardening junk that includes lots of seed trays! And there are lots of shop lights in the garage/hobby area. So I plan to make the seed-planting a fun project for the kiddos to experience. We'll do it together as an experiment and see which ones (if any!) do well.

Stacy

Weezie
i think the origional taproot is still different from the roots tomatoes develope from being planted all along the stem. I dont think those roots will go down as far, you know 6-8 ft or more depending on the soil conditions, like before I double digged, roots could only penetrate 6-8 inches.

Well one thing I learned last year is that if you take cuttings and root those the harvest from that plant will be greater than from a seedling.

Lets see what else did I learn last year. Oh yes, tomatoes love, love, love compost. I think I saw somewhere that amending the soil with 50% compost will make them very very happy.

Last of all I learned that you want to move your tomatoes from place to place over the years rather than always planting them in the same spot. And that's about all this beginner knows.

I wish you the best of luck with your new garden and a bountiful harvest.

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Ask Weezie about her "volunteers" in the compost pile.

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That one year, when I saved alot of them, I lost count over a 100 of them... well, not lost count, just got reallly tired of counting them and keeping track....

They didn't do all that bad.. go some fruit..
they were late, but that's okay..
And gave a bunch to the neighbor and her and the kids loved them...

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Weezie

Don't forget to be kind to strangers. For some who have
done this have entertained angels without realizing it.
- Bible - Hebrews 13:2





http://photobucket.com/albums/y250/weezie13/

Anyone know the cheapest route to take for baskets for my matter plants. Thought about stakes the old fashion way but not sure. I'm planning about 30 plants.

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I feel more like I do now than I did before I ever felt this way.

I said baskets, what I meant were cages. Sorry!

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I feel more like I do now than I did before I ever felt this way.

Stakes are probably the cheapest route, but for cages you can use garden fencing or what I'm doing is using concrete reinforcing wire(CRW) to make my cages. They'll last for years.

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John - Zone 6