1) how much water do they need and how often

That depends on your conditions! Try to keep the soil moist within an inch of the surface (you'll never keep the surface moist -- don't bother trying). If you water too little, your tomatoes will let you know. They're big babies, so if they get too little water, they'll get limp and look all pathetic. But give them some water and within a day they'll be perked back up.

2) You can never mulch too soon. I prefer grass clippings, since they're free and they really burn the weeds around your tomato plants. They also add a lot of nitrogen to the soil as they decompose, which tomatoes love. Just don't put it right up against the stems of your plants; you need to leave a little bit of a clear ring. Be careful with hay; it can be contaminated with weed seeds.

Sounds like you've done your research, so I think you'll do fine. :)

P.S. -- By "ugly worms", do you mean tomato hornworms? If they're a problem in your area, consider BT sprays. It's not an instant control, but it is effective, organic, and very narrow spectrum.

Thanks! Yes, they were hornworms (green and white I believe and quite hideous looking). What's "BT"? Also, I am growing some Mortgage Lifters and their new top leaves tend to be curly....is this normal? Will they straighten out as they mature or is this a sign of a disease/insect? Thanks again! I will ask my yard man to leave the grass clippings in a pile for me to use for mulch.

Me, I would go with the hay (but only if not seedy and/or old hay) or the pine straw instead of a fabric mulch. My favorites are wheat straw or shredded leaves. Mulch thickly (at least 3"), avoiding the area an inch or so right around the stem. Grass clippings are fine too if you have not used any weed and feed products containing herbicides on your lawn for at least 3 months or more. If you have, don't chance it. I don't use clippings myself, because I prefer to mulch mow.

Bt = Bacillus thuringiensis

You say, "I am keeping them well watered (I think), watering several times a week." Don't water so frequently, as this encourages the plants to put out a shallow root structure, which you want to avoid. Water deeply and infrequently, and (ideally) do this from the very beginning to "train" your plants. The reason why is that roots can and will grow towards water, and if you are overwatering after plant out, the plants will become accustomed to being babied and will not drive their roots as deep as you could have otherwise ended up with. I think this is particularly important in areas with a warmer summer climate so you're not stuck watering a bunch later in the season.

When I plant out, I soak the planting area very thoroughly. I want it so that there is plenty of water both in the root zone, and also several inches below. I also plant deep. For example, I take a 12" transplant and strip off the bottom 6" of leaves, or 4" off of an 8" one. That part of the stem gets planted below the surface of the soil too.

Then I mulch very thickly right after planting and do not water again until the plants need it. Since I sunk the root ball so deep, and all that mulch is cutting way down on evaporation from the surface of the soil, sometimes that could be up to two weeks after I planted out (if cool), even in the absence of significant rainfall.

I use my hand as a general gauge - I stick my hand in down at least to the third knuckle (palm). If I can feel any moisture at all (and plants aren't starting to wilt), I don't water. In practice, once the plants get larger and loaded with fruit, this generally means I am needing to water about every 5-6 days or so. Closer to every 5 days if temps are in the 90's. 80's and below are more forgiving, because the foliage is not transpiring so much.

How deep is deep enough for the watering? One thing I have found helpful in determining that is to push a T-style metal probe into the ground (I use an old tree root feeder). If you can't easily push something like this in a foot or more after watering, then increase the time. On the raised beds, if they are 12", when you start to see water -just- coming out from the bottom, that is another way to tell.

You say other veggies are mixed in, and so you might have to take their water needs into account too if they are more shallow rooted things like beans, etc., of course. But that's how I water my tomatoes. :-) I'm a bit on the extreme side of watering infrequently I suppose; especially for the area I live in (many Texans water veg gardens 3x a week - which personally I think is too much, or at least 2x). But - I really do find this method produces superior plants and fruits and also saves time.

In any case, you should not have to water more than 2x a week. If you do, something needs to be changed - more mulch or deeper waterings, adding more organic matter to your soil next time if very poor, and so on.

Yeah, sorry about the abbreviation. Bacillus thuringiensis, aka BT, aka "Thuricide" (that's a brand name). It's a soil bacteria. There are different varieties of it, and they infect different things. For example, "mosquito dunks" are Bacillus thuringiensis var israelensis, a variety that only infects Diptera (flies and mosquitoes). "Thuricide" is Bacillus thuringiensis var kurstaki, a variety that infects only Lepidoptera (butterflies, moths, and most importantly, their caterpillars). It has to be eaten to kill them. It kills hornworm, cabbage looper, squash vine borer (and tons of other types of borers), gypsy moths, earworms, and so on -- but it won't kill your mantises, spiders, ladybugs, or anything like that. Very narrow spectrum. The downside to it is that it's not fast acting. But it definitely works.

Since it's a soil bacteria, a single spraying only lasts a few days on the surface of the plants, so you need to reapply it every week or two to make sure that your pests eat it before they get too big and start causing problems.

One neat thing about BT is that while farmers are using it (mainly in the form of genetically engineered crops that produce the toxins that BT uses to kill its victims), they're deliberately using it in a manner to discourage resistance from becoming established -- by keeping "refuge" areas of BT-free crops to encourage a healthy, non-resistant pest population, to dilute the pest population with dominant, non-resistant genes.