When I was a kid, we always had plenty of tomatoes in our garden and growing good tomatoes was a family activity. You can imagine what a welcome addition to our dinner table garden fresh, luscious tomatoes were at the end of each summer and into the early fall. Though I didn't like the taste at the time, my mom would can the produce. I really like to eat good tomatoes, but if they're stewed, I really don't care for them. Whether you like them fresh, stewed or both, growing tomatoes is so easy almost anyone can do it.

You have two options to begin growing good tomatoes, either using the starter plants which most people enjoy or starting to grow them from seed early inside your home. Growing from seed will work, but it is a more difficult way to go about something that would be made much easier by simply buying the starter plants from your local garden center. Wait until they are the right size before planting them outside or else they will not grow properly. They're easy to transplant and just require plenty of space. You'll want to give each plant plenty of room, so it can expand and get lots of sunlight on its leaves.

People often like to growing large tomatoes in a big garden, but they also thrive in small spaces like window boxes if you don't have a yard. You won't be able to plant as many plants, but even 1 plant can produce a lot of tomatoes. Growing good tomatoes requires your watchful care. When the tomato plant begins to droop because of its weight, it must be staked up. If you want to buy a round wire frame from a garden store you can, but it works just as well to put a stake or fence next to the plant. Using this method will keep your tomatoes from drooping to the ground.

Healthy plants and growing large tomatoes are two benefits of using a good fertilizer on your garden. Like most kinds of plants, tomatoes have to be in an area away from weeds and must be watered if they are particularly dry. You don't have to wait to pick your tomatoes until they are bright red in color, although some certainly like to do it that way. A tomato that is still yellow or orange will continue to ripen after being picked. Tomatoes taste best when stored in a dry, cool place but not the refrigerator. If you enjoy fresh tomatoes, try plucking some still green ones from the vine and storing them in your basement in paper bags. They will keep well for a few months like this, allowing you to remove them and place them on the windowsill to ripen long into the autumn season.