With the turning of the new year, it's time to start thinking about the vegetable garden. While there are many great vegetables to grow, the one most gardeners crave is tomatoes. Nothing is better than a fresh, vine-ripened tomato picked from your own garden and eaten within minutes of harvest. The flavor, juiciness, and freshness top any store-bought fruit.

Luckily, tomatoes are easy to grow throughout the country. All it takes is selecting the right variety for your area and getting started early. While you can buy transplants from garden centers in spring, why not grow your own tomato varieties indoors this winter? You'll be able to try unusual varieties and have the satisfaction of knowing these fruits were nurtured by you from seed to fruit.

Here are the basics of starting seeds indoors and growing tomato seedlings ready for transplant in the garden.

Tomato varieties are grouped a number of different ways. You can select varieties based on fruit size, color, or shape, or by growth characteristics such as plant size, hybrid versus heirloom, or disease resistance. Before you select your varieties based on an alluring photograph or catalog description, make sure they will grow well in your area. There are varieties adapted to the high heat of the south and the short growing season of the north. Some varieties have special disease or insect resistance properties that are particularly important in various regions of the country. It's always best to select a variety suitable for your region before deciding on other characteristics such as fruit color or size. What good is a gorgeous tomato variety if it doesn't grow well?

Here are some tried-and-true varieties and some regionally adapted ones to try in your garden this summer.

Big Beef Hybrid - This widely adapted, All-America Selections winner is an indeterminate, midseason variety that's an improvement over the popular 'Big Boy'. It has better production and disease resistance.

Celebrity Hybrid - This standard variety can be grown throughout the country. It features a disease-resistant, strongly determinate bush and early-maturing, 7-ounce, red fruits.

Golden Boy Hybrid - For a tomato of a different color, try this gold-fruited variety. This indeterminate plant produces large, globe-shaped fruits that mature late in the season.

Patio Hybrid - For the gardener with little room to grow tomatoes in the yard, try growing this dwarf variety in containers on a sunny deck or patio. The plant only grows 1 to 2 feet tall and produces large, cherry-sized, red fruits in midsummer.

Ponderosa Pink - If you are looking for a pink tomato, try this indeterminate heirloom that produces low-acid fruits late in the season.

Porter - This heirloom has been grown in the southwest for generations for good reason. The drought-tolerant, indeterminate plant produces plum-shaped fruits late in the season.

Solar Fire Hybrid - This midseason variety is especially adept at setting fruits during the high heat of summer in southern gardens. Compact determinate, disease-resistant vines produce 8- to 10-ounce, red fruits.

Yellow Pear - For an old-fashioned flavor, try growing this midseason heirloom variety. It features yellow, pear-shaped fruits on an indeterminate plant.