Pick up any gardening magazine, and you are bound to find an article, if not more than one, having something to do with growing tomatoes. There is a reason for this. Most gardeners consider the tomato the Holy Grail of vegetable gardening.

Southcentral gardeners are no different than the rest, even though we have the added obstacle of nights that drop well below 55 degrees -- the requisite temperature to get most tomatoes to set fruit. We dream about a fantastic crop of tomatoes. Some plant the specially developed varieties bred to buck the 55 degree rule, while the truly lucky resort to the shelter of a greenhouse, where we can try any of the hundreds of different kinds of tomatoes available.

For those who want, now is the time to start tomato plants from seeds. They are among the easiest seeds to germinate and grow into decent plants. If you don't have seeds already in hand, there are plenty for sale on the racks.

Let me point out, before going on, that the resultant plants will take up a bit of space and require transplanting and attention to watering. They also need to be kept at 65 to 70 degrees once germinated. For these reasons, it may be best to simply go to buy started plants from your favorite nursery in six weeks.

I use good humus or compost for my plants, even when starting seeds. You can use a sterile germination mix if you wish, but you will need to feed your plants. In either case, seeds go in one-quarter inch deep. I think planting in flats and later transplanting into individual containers is easiest. Soil should be moist and the container kept at about 80 degrees. A heat mat works wonders. Don't forget to label.

In about 8 or 9 days germination will begin. Give your plants the very best light you have. The first leaves are "cotyledon" leaves. True leaves won't appear until a month or so after planting. Keep the starting mix slightly moist at all times and give them the best light you have.

When real leaves appear, it is time to transplant each plant into bigger containers. At this point a good draining compost or humus mix is in order. Make a receiving hole and then gently lift a clump of seedlings from the germination container (I use a tongue depressor, some folks a fork) and carefully divide the plants.

I like to add mycorrhizal fungi to the roots and suggest you give it a try as well. You can find them at local nurseries. If yours are more than two years old, you need new ones.

Handle them by their cotyledons, not the true leaves ,and place the roots and stem into the receiving hole right up to the cotyledons and fill in. Make sure the plant is watered lightly right after transplanting.

Your plants will grow, provided you have given them adequate light. Don't forget, and many outdoor greenhouse owners do, that the plants must have 70-degree temperatures before the official flowering begins.

Next, tomato roots must never touch the walls of the container until they get into their final resting place, which should be the garden or a container of at least 5 gallons (unless, of course, you are growing mini tomatoes).

And, tomato roots do not like to sit in water. Keep the soil slightly moist. Water well and then let the soil get almost dry rather than water every day.

If you use compost or humus in your starting mix, you shouldn't have to fertilize. A bit of kelp meal once the transplanted plants get used to their homes might be a good idea. Chemical fertilizers should be diluted. You shouldn't have to use them but once or twice until you transplant outdoors.