I have my tomatoes in the kitchen window right now and it is -35 below outside but I like to think they enjoy the view.
Anyway I have had issues starting mine too and I think it was more light issues more than anything else. This time around it worked beautifully but I had them under lights in the basement. My one complaint was all my vegies were "Thin" so I put a fan on them and they all thickened up. This was all apart of growing my own vegies in the house. My tomatoes are upstairs in the kitchen and then there are some downstairs under the lights they get switched out every week cause the little devils are growing like weeds but I have flower buds and I will have tomatoes by the end of January in Alberta.
So back to your question.
sorry bout that I got sidetracked.
First I planted my seeds in a covered container I used an old plastic salad container with tropical plant potting soil just the stuff you get at your local wally mart or hardware store with some perlite added for drainage. I filled the container about 2/3's full, scattered the seed, sprinkled some more potting soil to cover the seed and then watered it in, put the cover on to keep the humidity inside and stuck it up on the shelf under the lights and in about a week I had sprouts. I waited till the sprouts were up a couple of inches and then gently separated them 4-5 to a 8 inch pot, planted just a "tich" deeper than they were and put them back under the lights. Keep up on the water and mist fairly frequently because inside is so dry and wait for spring.
If I were going to put these guys outside I would put them in a low box with an open lid in a semi shady sheltered spot during the day and bring them back in in the evening until they hardened off then plant them in their spots.
and watch the weather like a hawk cause that is when we would get a frost.
I hope that answers what is going on with yours.
Bina