I would suggest what we did up in Yreka and Weed, where the wind whistles down the valley...put the containers up within 'railings' of tightly-strung thin rope and clip the pot or cage to both ropes. Presto, pots stay up. Without a cage, though, I don't guarantee the plants will! Hope that helps!

Ha ha ha. After I posted this, I did some hard thinking and now I remember I DID put tomatoes in the pile. A boatload of green ones when the frost finally came. (I don't like green tomatoes) And it would have been the exact same time I was putting in those pumpkins from my uncle's fall display....they were too hard to chop up so I left them out until they froze overnight, then thawed, and then they were mush. The pumpkins heated the pile, but obviously not enough. LOL. I've got pumpkin plants (or maybe gourds, I dunno) sprouting in lots of places too. ROFL. In the areas where I've got other curcurbits, I'll just have to let them grow until fruit sets because I can't tell them apart from the melons, cukes and squash. On the tomatoes, I'll pull most of them up, but I'm going to leave a couple just to see what I get. I didn't grow any cherries or grapes...some Better Boys, Early Girls, Caspian Pink and something else I've forgotten. Gonna be fun to see what I end up with. All the plants are ROBUST and healthy as heck. Of course they're growing in a layer of compost! When they first erupted, I thought they were marigolds because I've planted those everywhere. It's taken me a few weeks to accept that I've got tomatoes everywhere. LOL. I got my pile up to 175 in late winter, but obviously only the top half. The pumpkins and tomatoes were in the bottom. I've decided to buy one of those winged compost aerator things so I can mix it up better. I was just kind of fluffing. It's all education....each year I learn more and more. :)

Thanks everyone for your suggestions. Since plant #1 is about to flower & I don't care too much for the Anthemis, I will let it grow and see what happens. Hepatica and Pitimpinai, it is definitely not Dame's Rocket. I have that on the other side of my garden and the leaf texture and placement on the stem is different. I think I will let the other little plants grow on - they are in a pot and won't hurt anything. If it's a basswood as OrigamiMaster thinks, it's too big for me to keep. Since my garden is a bit 'wild' if it is Great Burnet as PV suggested, it will fit in quite well. As far is the Lilly of the Valley is concerned, it won't kill my primrose, because it is already gone. I transplanted a few from under my large maple, and every now and then they surface, but I pull them right away. Thanks for the link, Sue. I will definitely try them. Northerner.

It shouldn't be too hot for you to grow tomatoes - depending on where you are you may just have to adjust WHEN you grow them. My soil is crap too, tomatoes don't really seem to mind with even a little amending. I would thin them or you will likely end up with a diseased tomato jungle, and they will crowd out the smaller ornamental plants you have already. I do at a minimum 3' from center stem to center stem, more is better if you can, though. It just helps to keep down disease and insect problems around here. You could also try to carefully shovel out the rootball of the volunteers and replant if you have other places to put them and don't want to kill them. I've found volunteers are pretty resilient to being moved if you do it carefully, and replant them deeper than the original soil line.