Photoman

There is a GardenWeb tomato forum where tomato mavens hang out and FAQs that provide enormous amounts of information about growing tomatoes. You might want to post this question there.

Generally speaking, you can pick tomatoes until the plants are killed by disease or cold weather. And no, don't pick them green unless you want fried green tomatoes. "Vine-ripened" has an appeal that is the reason we grow tomatoes in the first place.

Anyway, that forum is a gold-mine of information about growing tomatoes.

Here is a link that might be useful: Tomato Forum

photoman,

For the most part I agree with Anney --- leave 'em on the vine till they are ripe or almost ripe for best flavour!

BUT if I'm going away in the summer, say, to a cottage, before I go I'll pick anything that has even STARTED to ripen with the barest hint of colour; usually it'll ripen quite nicely after picking.

And at at the end of the season, when a frost is forecast overnight, I'll pick EVERYTHING that is unbruised & healthy-looking. I line 'em all up on a counter or in a shallow box (ONE layer deep, not touching each other). Many will ripen nicely. OThers will rot (which is why not touching each other --- if one is going it will infect anything touching it). OThers will redden but not taste so great.

Hope this helps. I also second Anney's recommendation to check out the tomato forum. I learned a TONNE of good stuff there when I first started growing tomatoes. Some nice folks even sent me seed.

Good luck! Hope you'll show us some photos of your harvest when you get it!

Z
P.S. One more note on on harvesting tomatoes. There are two main types: DETERMINATE tomato varieties grow shorter, bushier plants and tend to have a lot of toms ready in a short timespan, then poop out; INDETERMINATE tomato varieties grow taller, vinier plants, and tend to produce fewer toms at a time but keep going all season long till frost. When you buy seeds or seedlings it shd say which kind each variety is.