Nearly every single plant, or seed requires a growing zone it will grow in. You read about different types of plants, and almost every good information site will provide the hardiness zones that it will grow in, but you don’t know which zone you are in. This map will provide this information to you, either by clicking on a zone in the map, or in the list of state abbreviations below the map.

Link to the site (opens in a new window).

How to Use the New Map:
Zones 2-10 in the map have been subdivided into light- and dark-colored sections (a and b) that represent 5 F (2.8 C) differences within the 10 F (5.6 C) zone. The light color of each zone represents the colder section; the dark color, the warmer section. Zone 11 represents any area where the average annual minimum temperature is above 40 F (4.4 C). The map shows 20 latitude and longitude lines. Areas above an arbitrary elevation are traditionally considered unsuitable for plant cropping and do not bear appropriate zone designations. There are also island zones that, because of elevation differences, are warmer or cooler than the surrounding areas and are given a different zone designation. Note that many large urban areas carry a warmer zone designation than the surrounding countryside. The map-contains as much detail as possible, considering the vast amount of data on which it is based and its size.

The previous article was about growing tomatoes in containers. But suppose you have the space to grow tomatoes in soil, and want to figure out what all you need to do to get a healthy output. There is plenty of information that would help you in this process; after all, you need to know about which types of tomatoes, what are the pests and blights that could affect your plants, what is the best type of soil, what is the amount of watering and sunlight that should be given to the plants, and so on. Further, if you get tips and points that you should avoid doing, those will help you a lot. Here is the link to an article that should help you in this regard:

# Good first-time growers’ varieties include Better Boy, Creole, Big Boy, Early Girl, Brandywine, Celebrity, Lemon Boy, or just about any cherry or grape tomato variety.
# Plant several varieties rather than all of one type– this ensures a steady harvest. As a rule of thumb, it’s good to have two plants for each member of the family who will eat tomatoes. If you plan on canning or making salsa, use up to four plants per person.
# Prepare the garden bed by adding lots of compost (5 to 8 pounds per square foot/25 to 40 kilograms per square meter) to the soil. Turn compost into the top 3 inches (6 to 8 cm). Tomatoes demand a growing medium rich in organic matter. If you don’t make your own compost, use store-bought compost or composted manure available in the 40-pound bags. Compost or Manure is usually less than US$5 per 40-pound bag.

The referred article provides help from the process of selecting the tomato plant / seed, and then goes onto providing an estimate of how many plants you should have. You learn about the tomato spacing, watering, providing fertilizer, support for the growing plant, when to pick the tomato, warnings and things to avoid, etc.

So you went ahead and decided to grow tomatoes, having been allured by the thought of growing some beautiful tomatoes that you can admire while they are growing, and then enjoy in your kitchen – there is a different sort of feeling that you get when growing your own food, especially something as attractive as a tomato.
And then disaster; the tomato is struck by pests, or by some sort of blight, or does not grow at all. And then you need to go looking for help, for somebody to tell you what can be the problem. So, here is a link to a resource that should be able to help you grow your tomatoes better.
It is a short guide, but one that tells you about the basics of growing tomatoes, as well as why tomatoes can get sick. You also get to know about organic treatments for some of these problems. In the end, you get a listing of disease resistant tomato varieties, and also a listing of the favorite varieties of the tomato. Here’s the link to the article:

If you’re new to tomato gardening, you should note that the key to avoiding problems with your tomatoes is to grow them under the healthiest conditions possible. This involves proper watering, sunlight, air circulation, and good quality soil with plenty of organic material mixed in. There are also a variety of organic fertilizers out there to give your tomatoes an extra advantage.
Tomatoes can suffer attacks by bugs, fungi, viruses, or bacteria. Tomatoes also suffer stress due to environmental conditions such as excessive cold, heat, sunlight or moisture. Some problems are associated with deficiencies in certain nutrients. Tomatoes can pick up diseases through contaminated soil, the air, through rain or irrigation water that carry fungal spores, or through insects that carry a disease.

You are an avid gardener, and love to have beautiful flowers in your garden. However, as you do research on these flowers, or want to buy some, you come across some names that seem all Latin or Green to you (and they may be, since these are the scientific names given to these flowers). So, for example,

Aconitum carmichaelii is actually Azure Monkshood
Ageratum houstonianum is Ageratum / Flossflower

There is this site that lists the common names and scientific names for plants. You can find a plant from either the common name or the scientific name at this valuable site in the University of Cornell site (link)