egghead2004, I'm surprised it took you 4 days to spray your yard?? Before I made my boom sprayer, I used a 5 gal back pack for spraying my yard. My lot is on average, 230ft X 190ft. Similar to you, I dont have a square property. My technique for even coverage was a bit simple but it worked. I used 2 rolls of luminous yellow builders string, 300ft rolls that can be wound up like a fishing pole. I have 6ft markers evenly spaced along at the top and bottom fences of my yard. I attach the string to the bottom of one marker and walk the 230ft to the opposite side of the yard and attach it to the matching post, down low. I repeat this with the second posts alongside. The string lies on the ground and clearly marks the correct area to be sprayed. My yard is not nice n square so I would keep with the parallel lines and when I got to the tapering bits I'd have to pay a bit more attention! My backpack sprayers got a twin head nozzle. I found my optimum spray pattern with the wand was 6ft moving the wand left to right comfortably, so that determined the spacing of my string marker. I would walk in between the string, dead on centre and walk at a set pace along the 230ft. When I got to the end I would move the string on to the next pair of marker posts and repeat. It took a while, but I figured out the correct walking pace, the optimum wand movement and the consistent pumping action of the hand pump. I found actually humming/whistling a marching song was the way to 'enjoy' the spraying experience and keep in sync!! Typically I would have to fill the 5gal sprayer 5-6 times to do my entire yard. I never took more than maybe 2 hours to do the lot? I am wondering is your sprayer giving you trouble? Not misting the liquid perhaps maybe or are you applying too much? Having said all above..... I no longer use the back pack. I found the weight of the 5gal pack to get tedious and no longer enjoyed it. So I made my 30 gallon tank & boom sprayer so I can use the tractor to drive up and down using the tire marks on the grass as my marker... I prefer this option, 30 mins to spray the yard in the comfort of my tractor seat... nice. Nowadays, I use the 5gal for spot spraying. To the original poster... buy a tow along sprayer, its sooooo worth the extra money...

I have a compost tumbler. Ours is mostly kitchen scraps and weeds, so maybe more moist than yours. Lots of coffee grounds and tea leaves as well. I just go by feel. It's rare that I add water, but if it is really dry I do. As for urine, I have been urinating into a plastic milk jug. I don't let it sit around, I use it same-day on my rounds around the garden. Usually I have been diluting it in a watering can with about 3 to 5 times the amount of water. Occasionally I just pour a 1/2 liter into the compost. My compost comes out pretty good, crumbly with a nice smell. It also contains earthworms, which might help. I don't age the urine. From what I read, aging the urine might release the nitrogen as ammonia, which can be lost to evaporation. Others know better than I do if that is true.

Nitsua, LOL! Yes, each time I saw this thread title that's what I thought, like one of those carnival games of counting how many gumballs were in the jar to win a prize. I didn't think to calculate either until Deeby asked for a formula to convert her pot size to gallons which is sort of the same thing. Deeby For a 20" top diameter pot, if you don't want to measure the height, bottom diameter and top diameter and get the exact gallons in the convenient online calculator, an estimate is that you have a sort of #20 or #25 pot, the height coming way up your thigh is quite tall. Most 20 inch pots are around 20 gallons, but the formula gives around 27 gallons since I guessed your "half way thigh high" is about 25 inches tall, but that was hard to work with since you could be wearing shoes, measuring the outer lip, or it could be sitting on a saucer, etc. Because pots have different slants from top to bottom, it isn't enough just to measure the top diameter. Yours sounds closest to the #25 tall here which is shorter but a little wider so around 25 gallons sounds reasonable. You can compare it to commercial pot sizes at nursery pots also to get a really good idea of the gallons: Nursery Pot Commercial Sizes The other way to do it is to see if the company/product number is on the bottom of the pot and see if their website has it listed in gallons too. Most do. Volume is what is important to roots, however you wish to measure it, since containers come in all shapes, as long as they are reasonable. PC

I regularly container grow a few kinds of tomatoes every year. Usually something for the porch for snacking tomatoes, and a couple to a few 5 gallon container kinds just for general growing out and testing- I know a lot of people that want smaller sized tomato plants, I always throw some of this into my growing plans. Sometimes I grow inappropriate tomatoes in pots to stress test or overwinter tomatoes. So in my experience, yes, tomatoes can be grown in five gallon pots successfully. You must pay attention to what kind of tomato plant it is though. And treat that plant differently than you would an in ground or even a bigger potted tomato. Indeterminates are pretty much right out. Even the smaller of them are still a bit overwhelming for that size pot. An exemption to this is if you WANT to bonsai a tomato. People want to do this sometimes for various reasons with a large plant instead of a small one. But that's probably a whole different thing than what the OP is looking for. Don't think all determinate are OK - a lot of them get really rather large, from 4-6 feet- that's getting to be too big for a 5 gallon too. You want stuff that stays under 4 feet tall for better results out of a 5 gallon pot. A general "rule of thumb" for me is a gallon per foot- a 5 gallon pot should top out max at 5 feet, and this should include the pot. Fruit sizes on plants- like Dave said, a lot of cherries are monsters. While a lot of the more common of the container suitable varieties grow around cherry-ish sized fruit, don't let that fool you into thinking anything that's a cherry stays small as a plant. Container suitable plants can also grow all the other sizes and shapes of tomato fruits- except huge beefsteaks. Small beefsteaks yes, but I've yet to see a good successful grow of large beefsteaks. Now, what you are really looking for are some key terms- and these pertain to growth habit. Dwarf, stocky, miniature, container, patio, and tumbling or cascading are all good terms. Phrases like "compact growth habit" and "urban grower" are also good to look for. Urban grower is showing up more in cities and greenhouses are smart enough to carry more patio/balcony sized veggie plants than they used to. Short season tomatoes are often a wee bit on the smaller side for growth habit. So look for terms like Siberian, ice A few favorite varieties around here.. Dwarf Wild Fred- this is an outstanding black plum, it's part of a whole line of Dwarf Project plants. Tasty, grows well, takes well to caging or staking. Jaune Flamme- a nice three foot tall plant that produces loads of orange saladette to plum sized fruits that start early and chug right on through the growing season. It can be a bit sprawly, so caging is better than staking with this one IMO. Totem is a classic red. Compact, responds well to caging or staking, it does not require much because it's a pretty stocky plant. Grows large cherry to salad sized fruit that is basic, balanced, and tasty. I have successfully grown this in a 1 gallon hanging pot, but it wasn't as good as a 5 gallon pot. Tumbling Tom yellow and red are nice little hanging plant. Flavor is pretty good. Needs a lot of watering though. You really need at least a three gallon hanging pot, and better a 5 gallon to plant in with multiple plants like cascading hangers usually are. How you grow your 5 gallon tomato is just as important as picking the right kind too. I actually use kitty litter buckets, because we have a lot of cats and those buckets and jugs are damn handy for all sorts of gardening chores. But the point is, you want a sturdy container and you will have to put drainage holes in the things. And you only want to grow tomatoes about 2/3 taller than the pot. So if your pot is 12" tall, you don't want to go much over a 2 foot tall plant, making for a 3 foot total. An 18" deep pot can help you bump up to a three foot tall plant. If you over-reach your tomato pot depth:plant height ratio, you might have make considerations for top-heaviness. This is part of that gallon per foot thing I already mentioned. A 5 gallon pot that is ideally 18" deep with a 3-4' tall plant is in that 5 foot tall range of plant, including pot. They still need support, and those crap-o-la tomato cages that are normally pointless in the garden are actually perfect for this. They set nicely into that size container. Otherwise I would suggest sinking one or two 2x2 poles into your bucket for if you want to stake your tomato instead of cage it. As companion plants if you choose to have any in your 5 gallon pot... I would recommend cut and come again lettuce or spinach as a mulch plant. Basil or parsley as more ariel and insect byplay plants. Basil is a bit nicer because it can also be a trap plant for aphids and is easier to pull out and replant entirely if needed. If you like peppery greens, nasturtiums are tasty, all edible, look absolutely lovely trailing out of 5 gallon containers, and are aphid traps too. I don't really recommend any companion planting in a 5 gallon pot because you want the best of everything to go to your tomato. But I understand that often one likes or needs to share space in a garden. I often plant in the patio pots with companions, but usually flat mulch all other 5 gallon pots. If you don't companion plant, I strongly suggest using a mulch, 1-2" deep- and this filling in the bottom of the top rim of the pot. Leave yourself generous watering space too. I generally use scrap straw in the spring, and grass clippings through the summer with dressings of coffee grounds to add a smidge of brown matter to the grass clippings.