Well I have always assumed that indeterminates are heavier feeders and have greater space requirements than determinates. I've always spaced them further apart in a square foot garden (than determinates). The thing with the height is, I don't want my dad getting out of his power chair or wheel chair and trying to reach stuff way over his head. I know they CAN be supported to grow up; but I don't WANT them to. I'm going to have to either install cement paving stones for a patio, or build a deck for him, since they closed in the actual patio to make a (largely unusable) addition to the house. There's only a 3' square cement pad out back and that won't do him. It won't do to leave it grass either because I can see him getting stuck out there in his Jazzy chair after a rain. He likes to spend hours sitting outside in the sun. I just hope he has those hours, as his last visit to the oncologist showed, well, lets just say there are problems there. My container mix is peat, vermiculite, and bark fines. Totally soilless mix. Has always worked well for me though this year I could only get medium grade vermiculite instead of the coarse grade I would rather be using. Mostly that just means I'm going to have to retire it sooner. At 89, with congestive heart failure, COPD, and a recurrence of lung cancer, he's not physically capable of filling up the containers and planting stuff, I'll be doing all that for him. He'll putter about with it while it grows but any real work, I'm going to have to do. And yeah, the front half of the square raised bed is where the lettuce is going, LOL! All my dad cares about is the tomatoes, lettuce, and melons. Melons just HAVE to go out in the garden, leaving tomatoes and lettuce for the raised beds (they're self watering containers, not open to the ground). I've got eggplants and peppers going out in the garden (and a slew of asian vegetables), lemongrass, basil, etc. Curry leaf plant in containers which I will try to overwinter indoors. But that's my garden, it's his I'm more concerned with just now.

From left to right: Fafard 3B Fafard 3B 1 bag 3B + 1 bag pine bark fines 1 bag 3B + 1 bag pine bark fines 1 bag 3B + 2 bags of pine bark fines 1 bag 3B + 2 bags of pine bark fines 70% coconut coir + 30% perlite (I normally don't start any scotch bonnet pepper plants in the summer (it is too hot, buggy, and rainy) but this year thought I would give it a shot plus do more in the fall. They last longer than 1 season. We don't get freezes.) Here is just a sampling of some of them. Fafard 3B --great right out of the bag Actually had flowers and now fruit way ahead of others by 7 or 8 days. They have the greatest height and most dense foliage. One of the 4 plants I did with 2 to 1 ratio (PB to 3B) is just as tall and full but one is much shorter for some reason. I expect all of the extra pine bark component ones to do well. The 2 PB to 1 Fafard 3B ratio should be good over the long haul. (They also make a mix called Fafard 52 which I only was able to find once. It was 60% bark.) Fafard 3B is 45% peat and 30% pine bark (one site said 25 % pine bark). I am hoping this also will hold up well --I have used peat based mixes with no pine bark with good results so the pine bark should make it even better as the mix degrades. Coir is plugging along--not quite up to speed with the others but still doing OK. It is the final one of the group. The transplants seedlings I did in coir did awful. There are very good potting mixes on the market and pre mixed makes it super easy . Or buy your own ingredients and mix yourself--that can work equally as well too. Your choice. For many annuals like vegetables --longevity of the mix if you are dumping in raised bed after one season or not reusing is not all that crucial as long as the mix is well draining but nutrient retentive as well. L.O. Can you post pics of your vegetables in the gritty mix? How many times do you expect to reuse?

You can grow indeterminates in a container - just make it a big container and be prepared for a LOT of staking. Truth to tell, determinates in containers need a lot of staking too. Last year, I grew 'Sub-Arctic Plenty' - a determinate, 55-65 DTM; advertised as "great for kids", it's a heavy cropper and the taste is just OK. I did get them out late (mid-June), but they grew well and fast and I picked my first one by late July. The plant was still producing fruit when I ripped them out in early November. It sure acted more like an indeterminate. For sheer delicious-ness, the yellow grape tomato 'Ildi' can't be beat. Indeterminate, 53 DTM; sets tons of fruit in clusters. But this is a BIG plant; for me, in a 5-gallon bucket, the plant got to be almost 8' tall. Had it staked every which way but Sunday. Sure tasted good, though. My main tomato crop is grown in an EarthBox, so fertilizing and watering is not an issue. But those in single containers (5-gallon size) do need more attention paid to fertlizing and especially watering. PV

Sun Gold Early Girl (I hate recommending a Burpee product!) Indian Stripe Since you are growing on a balcony, you may not want a tub so large as a 10-gallon, which I prefer, but you mention the ability to water frequently, and I've grown each of those 3 varieties successfully in 5-gallon buckets when watering every day and fertilizing once a week with half-strength fast dissolving plant food like, but not necessarily made by Scotts or MiracleGro (same company, Monsanto, that some members here find onerous). For container grown tomatoes, I prefer a largely synthetic source plant food that is formulated for tomatoes or roses as stated on the package or in the name of the product. Use a high quality, moderately fast draining, soilless growing mix (not potting soil or garden dirt) and put a tray under each pot to catch the run-off so it doesn't drip down on balconies or patios below you or stain your own deck slab. I don't like the "moisture retaining" potting mixes but some people do. I'd prefer, if you're gonna water once a day, or more frequently during very hot weather, something made from coconut fiber (coir) or a cactus mix or something made with rice hulls or bark fines and perlite (ingredients should be stated somewhere on the bag). JMO. But the more you have to water, the more you have to fertilize 'cuz the watering washes out the fertilizer. And I prefer a complete fertilizer that contains essential micronutrients 'cuz that will include calcium, magnesium, iron, manganese, etc. You don't always get that in "organics" or "compost tea," etc. Again, just my opinion, and opinions certainly vary.