I don't think you should call this "mistake". It is more of a "neglect" than mistake. It can happen to most of us one time or the other. If you plant from seed or small seedling, be prepared to weed. Weeding should be a continual thing not scheduled. When my plants are very small, as soon as I can tell them from weeds, I get the weed out especially the ones that are too close to the plants and those that I know are agressive and grow fast and big. Some smaller weeds I don't mind to stay as compantion, as green mulch and ground cover between bigger plants. Actually I like to plant clovers between my tomatoes and cucumber, if I can find seeds.

Not to worry bluedragon, I have grown my toms in clay for 13 years now without a hitch. It does help to amend the soil before planting, this is true -- but you can easily top mulch around your plants now without digging them up. I'd add 3 inches of organic composted matter around your toms, the earthworms will steadily incorporate it into the soild for your as the season progresses and it breaks down further. Add a diluted liquid fertilizer (I like fish/kelp emulsions to stay organic, but there are a lot of options) every 3-4 weeks. You should have healthy toms with plenty of fruit. Next spring (or this fall if you really want a jump on it) after you have cleared all the old debris from your garden, is the time to amend the soil before the new plantings. I improved my clay soil immensely by using the "Lasagna Gardening" method about 10 years ago, and now it is excellent for just about anything I want to plant in it. Look up that book "Lasagna Gardening" on Amazon.com, it is quite the eye-opener, and makes gardening much easier for lazy people like me who hate to weed and till. It is also called sheet composting, which I am sure you could google to get more info. Good luck!

Hi, Monica, Sorry about the mess that was made of the thread you previously posted. To a very large degree, your choice of medium/soil determines what size pot is appropriate. The more water-retentive a soil is, the more critical pot size is. When using soils like the gritty mix or a well-made 5:1:1 mix, you can grow very small plants in very large pots. There would be no concern about the plant being over-potted in the gritty mix, and minimal concern in the 5:1:1 mix as long as you're somewhat mindful of any heavy-handedness on the watering can. This is a copy/paste of something that outlines the reasoning: Choosing an Appropriate Size Container How large a container ‘can’ or ‘should’ be, depends on the relationship between the mass of the plant material you are working with and your choice of soil. We often concern ourselves with "over-potting" (using a container that is too large), but "over-potting" is a term that arises from a lack of a basic understanding about the relationship we will look at, which logically determines appropriate container size. It's often parroted that you should only move up one container size when "potting-up". The reasoning is, that when potting up to a container more than one size larger, the soil will remain wet too long and cause root rot issues, but it is the size/mass of the plant material you are working with, and the physical properties of the soil you choose that determines both the upper & lower limits of appropriate container size - not a formulaic upward progression of container sizes. In many cases, after root pruning a plant, it may even be appropriate to step down a container size or two, but as you will see, that also depends on the physical properties of the soil you choose. It's not uncommon for me, after a repot/root-pruning to pot in containers as small as 1/5 the size as that which the plant had been growing in prior to the work. Plants grown in ‘slow’ (slow-draining/water-retentive) soils need to be grown in containers with smaller soil volumes so that the plant can use water quickly, allowing air to return to the soil before root issues beyond impaired root function/metabolism become a limiting factor. We know that the anaerobic (airless) conditions that accompany soggy soils quickly kill fine roots and impair root function/metabolism. We also know smaller soil volumes and the root constriction that accompany them cause plants to both extend branches and gain o/a mass much more slowly - a bane if rapid growth is the goal - a boon if growth restriction and a compact plant are what you have your sights set on. Conversely, rampant growth can be had by growing in very large containers and in very fast soils where frequent watering and fertilizing is required - so it's not that plants rebel at being potted into very large containers per se, but rather, they rebel at being potted into very large containers with a soil that is too slow and water-retentive. This is a key point. We know that there is an inverse relationship between soil particle size and the height of the perched water table (PWT) in containers. As particle size increases, the height of the PWT decreases, until at about a particle size of just under 1/8 inch, soils will no longer hold perched water. If there is no perched water, the soil is ALWAYS well aerated, even when the soil is at container capacity (fully saturated). So, if you aim for a soil (like the gritty mix) composed primarily of particles larger than 1/16", there is no upper limit to container size, other than what you can practically manage. The lower size limit will be determined by the soil volume's ability to allow room for roots to ’run’ and to furnish water enough to sustain the plant between irrigations. Bearing heavily on this ability is the ratio of fine roots to coarse roots. It takes a minimum amount of fine rootage to support the canopy under high water demand. If the container is full of large roots, there may not be room for a sufficient volume of the fine roots that do all the water/nutrient delivery work and the coarse roots, too. You can grow a very large plant in a very small container if the roots have been well managed and the lion's share of the rootage is fine. You can also grow very small plants, even seedlings, in very large containers if the soil is fast (free-draining and well-aerated) enough that the soil holds no, or very little perched water. I have just offered clear illustration why the oft repeated advice to ‘resist pottting up more than one pot size at a time’, only applies when using heavy, water-retentive soils. Those using well-aerated soils are not bound by the same restrictions. As the ht and volume of the perched water table are reduced, the potential for negative effects associated with over-potting are diminished in a direct relationship with the reduction - up to the point at which the soil holds no (or an insignificant amount) of perched water and over-potting pretty much becomes a non-issue. ******************************************************************* Rather than repot at this late date, it would probably be better (if you're worried about excess water retention) to employ some strategies that will help reduce water retention for now and then address the repotting issue at a more appropriate time. Al

This is what I do with pumpkin seeds. I put the seeds in nursery flower pots with holes no bigger than the seeds and place them in the bin(s). I let them sprout, feed the sprouts to the worms and it will be easy to shake off/pick the shells. Not sure how many years it will take for them to break down. Freezing still didn't break down the seed shell, I tried. Not easy to do with smaller bins. My bin is a 2x4ft. x 2ft. deep.