Depends on how much space you have...you could get one of those 55 gallon containers and cut it in half..and put a plant in each..tomatoes plans will get huge..Is this your first time growing tomatoes? If so, your best bet would be to start with a cherry tomato, they're the easiest to grow here..but it's so hot right now, I'd probably wait until late August.

I'm trying a new variety this year ( at least its new to me) called Summerset from Bonnie's...its the first time I've ever had any luck getting my tomatoes to set fruit in June/July when the low temps are above 72 degrees...I have about a dozen tomatoes in different sizes now on this small plant. Its in a 14" pot...I would have gone bigger but I wasn't even sure this would actually grow for me in the summer,lol...I'm very pleased with it!

Joy look at the post of a few days ago called "tomatoes". It will give you some helpful info. Good luck.

Bea- I did look at that post but it seemed to be mostly yard grown tomatoes. Thank you anyway.

Silvia-Wow! Did you grow all of those? That's awesome. I want to start from seed. I really love the tomatoes I get at WalMart that are still on the vine and they come in a plastic cover. Unfortunately I don't know the variety. They just label them vine ripe tomatoes. I imagine if they taste that good coming from the store that they would be magnificent coming from a plant on my porch! I am thinking about using crates lined with plastic for containers so something similar to a milk crate. I just think it would give it personality as I'm growing my garden as I am one who likes to stray from the ordinary and use things in non traditional ways. I also want to grow herbs so any help on which herbs are beneficial to grow with the tomatoes to help keep out pests would be appreciated. I probably have room for about 8-10 milk crates.

Jeremy- I'm not really that fond of Cherry tomatoes. I had already thought of that but really don't want to put the effort into something I don't really want to eat.

Puglvr- Please let me know how the fruit tastes from this variety. I might try that one if you think it's yummy and flavorful

Thank you Joy, I think it is a good idea to use what you have as containers just make sure there is drainage and you can stake them. Growing herbs is always a good idea, but I would put them in their own containers because tomato roots are big and need all the space they can get, they will also live longer than the tomatoes, they are expensive to get at the supermarket and they are not even that fresh compared to the ones we can grow. For cooking and to use with tomatoes you can start with basil, parsley, cilantro, thyme, oregano. I think the tomatoes that you are talking about are the Campari type.
I don't know what zone you are but in my zone 9b, it is time to start the tomatoes from seed to be planted in the fall.
Varieties that come to mind:
Mountain Magic (tall) larger than cherry, red, resistant to disease.
Jaune Flamme (tall) larger than cherry, orange.
Big Beef or Beefmaster, beefsteaks, red
Indian Stripe or Cherokee Purple, medium size.
Celebrity, hybrid, red, medium
Florida 91, determinate, produces well in the heat, red

I always plant a variety every season, some old some new, different colors and sizes. Sometimes a variety performs different depending on the season or the weather.

Another past harvest from my garden

Hi Joy,

I would recommend one of the dwarf varieties from the dwarf tomato project. I've been growing them for a while now and the results have been excellent. You can grow them in a 5 gallon pot or grow bag.

Here is a site that may help you: http://nctomatoman.weebly.com/dwarf-tomato-project.html

I agree with Silvia about the containers. All my tomatoes are in containers too. A couple are in a 50 gallon drum cut in half. The rest in those 20 gallon black plastic pots that plants come in at garden centers. My local nursery has a pile of them in the back and they were willing to sell them to me for $3 each. I scrubbed them really well, then I spray painted the outside white to deflect the heat. I plant one tomato plant in each of these and 3 cherry type in the drums.

id' do cherry tomatoes and one pot for each plant the size of the one puglvr posted, or you can get a pot 4x as bit and put 4 plants in them. make sure you youtube vid how to propagate tomato seeds and you'll never have to buy them again. its a little different than just pulling the seeds out. good luck

whgille - That is one pretty tomato table!