First, you have lots of time before tomato planting time. Remove some of the mulch to determine the condition of the soil under it. Check with you local NC State or NC A&T Cooperative Extension Service (CES) about doing a soil test. They will also have info about growing tomatoes. Look in your phone book Blue pages under county government for the local CES office or use the link to get that info.

Here is a link that might be useful: NC CES

I agree with above poster. You can easily find a county agent or agricultural extension office for your city or county. Just search Charlotte NC county agent and see what you get. There may be an office near you. These folks help farmers and also homeowners with landscaping, lawn, trees, shrub, fruit, and veggie growing, etc. They will know exactly when to plant your little plants out (after the usual date of the last frost in your area in spring - probably around end of March in your area). You can also search for the closest university in your area and see if they have an agricultural extension program and master gardeners, again, these are folks that help us local gardeners get correct info and get better at gardening and growing.
The easiest way to grow tomatoes, in my opinion, is to buy small "transplants" at a garden center or nursery or even a store like Walmart. Make sure they look strong and green with no insects or yellow or sickly looking foliage. If you can get some compost or just some bagged compost or humus, you can build a small raised bed with the compost and then plant a few small tomato plants after the weather is consistently warmer and no danger of frost. Mulch this well with shredded leaves or pine straw or wood chips. The tomatoes need a location that gets lots of sun and that you can water if it doesn't rain. I don't feed or fertilize mine becoz I use good compost, but you can fertilize (there are many choices here) every couple weeks.
good luck. welcome to gardening I hopeyou enjouy as much as I have.