For your first experience with tomatoes buy a started plant or two. Buy from a grower at your farmer's market and ask them for
growing advice. Choose a full size and a mini variety.
Tips I've learned:
Plant the tomato in the ground so its first set of leaves are just above the soil.
Keep the soil moist and mulch to help hold moisture. Freshly mowed untreated grass applied 2 inches deep and replaced as needed is a cheap and dependable source for a veggie garden.
Tomato (and
peppers if they are a future choice)plants should not be planted in the same spot every year. Plan two sunny spots for this crop. In 2007 use one spot for planting while enriching and saving the second spot for 2008. In 2008 you will use the saved spot and enrich but not use the 2007 spot. Rotation is done to cut down on disease and put back nutrients since tomatoes are heavy feeders. Since you are just starting your yard you can save room for rotating veggies. Since this leaves a bare space one can either use containers of annuals here or plant annual herbs like basil and parsley to go with those tomatoes.