I just planted my late tomatoes the other day, just before the five inches of rain. I raised my own plants. Was shocked yesterday to see some very nice tomato plants at Wallmart. Go for it, what can you lose? You should have plenty of good green tomatoes before the first frost that you could put up, and have tomatoes, maybe to Christmas.
Norm

I never even thought to check walmart! I'll have to run by there today. This is probably a dumb question, but if I have green tomatoes, do I need to pull them off before it frosts? What do I do with them then? I should know this stuff, I grew up on a farm, but never much paid attention to anything about the tomatoes except for the fact that we canned so many we had the whole family stocked for a year!

Get 'em going. They'll be fine.

Hey Norm, do you stake your plants or let them sprawl? I've seen them done both ways but can't remember which is better.

Staked is good for me right now as I haven't worked up a proper garden and have mine in the mulch beds. But once I do make a real garden, I was thinking about letting them run across the ground like my uncle used to do. Seems like a lot less work that way. But I may be missing something.

I like the idea of just letting them sprawl... Is it ok if the tomatoes touch the ground though? I would think they might rot?

I stake mine and do what I think, they call Florida weave. If you let them sprawl you will lose some to rot. Kim take the full grown tomatoes ( before the first frost) I like to wrap mine in pieces of newspaper, and store in a cool place. Check every so often. Some may rot but most will ripen. Will not taste as good as fresh vine ripened, but better than what you can buy in the stores.
Norm

Norm, thanks for the tip! I had no idea that you could do that. We'll enjoy having fresh salsa into the winter. I can't get over how expensive store bought tomatoes get during the off season.

When you pull your green tomatoes, rinse them in a solution of 1 tbs of bleach to 1 gallon of water to kill the bacteria that may be on the tomato. Then wrap them in newspaper and store them. I put them in a box and slide under the bed in a spare bedroom. Pull them out as you need them. Putting them in a brown paper sack with an apple will speed up the process of ripening. Good luck!