[quote=Carron]Here in So. Cal. we plant the "Early Girl". They are good tasting and get rather large. Believe it or not we have tomatoes on the vine right now, but they are not as large as they can get. Did pick some for Christmas dinner. One plane it really growing but no blossoms yet.
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That sounds like a good way to grow them. Since tomatoes are perennials, in theory, they should grow for many years, and you could start cuttings right now in a warmer, sheltered area.
Tomatoes come in two types, determinate, which means they will grow to a naturally pre-determined size and then grow no more. The other one, indeterminate is vastly different and fascinating, at least to me, in that it will continue to grow and grow till it is killed by cold. In a warm area it will grow to surprising lengths. I still have a picture somewhere of what the "finder" called "the mortgage lifter" tomato, near Milton, WV. He was standing near a small outbuilding (no, not THAT kind of outbuilding) and the tomato plant had totally covered that small building.
End of lecture. My late DH was a nurseryman and our kids got lectures like this often, usually far more than an innocent questioner wanted to know!!