Ripening and Harvesting Tomatoes TAKEN FROM http://garden.org/learn/articles/view/374/
One of the great joys of gardening is reaching for the first red-ripe tomato on the vine and biting into it. There's a flavor, juiciness and pleasure you'll never find in a supermarket tomato. Because tomatoes ripen from the inside out, when the outer skin is firm and red, you know you've got a beautiful ripe one.
Getting Them to Turn Red
The red color of tomatoes won't form when temperatures are above 86oF. So, if you live where the summers get quite hot, leaving tomatoes on the vine may give them a yellowish orange look. It's probably better to pick them in the pink stage and let them ripen indoors in cooler temperatures.
Tomatoes need warmth, not light, to ripen, so there's no need to put them on a sunny windowsill. Place them out of direct sunlight -- even in a dark cupboard -- where the temperature is 65 to 70F. Short but till next time, this is Becky Litterer from Becky's Greenhouse, Dougherty, Iowa