Mark, my grandfather used to start tomato plants from seed in the little pots or trays similar to what the nurseries use. But he did it indoors, in his walk-in basement with windows on the east side, as well as artificial lights, because even in Oklahoma they needed to be started well before the weather turned warm enough to have young plants outside. Personally, I've had no experience with that method; I simply bought the tomato plants, usually 4" to 6" tall, at a local nursery in the area.
I guess the one thing I did differently from a lot of people was the number of times I tilled my garden. After every rain, as soon as it was dry enough, I tilled it again; year round. When it was planted, I tilled between the rows, and during the non-growing season, I tilled the whole garden.
I did get a really big surprise once. Every Fall, when I was through with the garden, even though some things might still be producing a bit, I mowed all the remaining plants with the brush hog, then tilled them in. And one winter, I looked out the window and saw a huge area of "grass" in the garden that hadn't been there a few days before. I told my wife I couldn't imagine how that much grass got there that fast. So I went out for a closer look and found that it was thousands of tiny tomato plants. I knew another freeze would kill them anyway, so I promptly tilled them under.
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