Hi Let me say a couple things here please: I grow tomatoes in containers outside every year and each one produces way more fruit than my neighbors outdoor in ground tomatoes do. Here are dome tips: 1. must get min of 6 hrs full sun 2. You need to start with a premium peat based soil mix and add some extra perlite. Look on line for making soil mix for growing weed (MJ) indoors. If u don't care about organic growing, use miracle grow potting soil with already added fert...not garden soil, not top soil, not dirt from ur yard and no cheap potting mixes. /Soils with already added fert work great for tomatoes but apparently not for weed so u will notice those sites don't recommend it. For tomatoes it will work outstandingly 3. I use 7 gallon plastic trash cans. 1 plant per can. I have used 5 gallon buckets but they are NOT big enough. This probably relates to number 4... 4. I never grow determinate tomatoes or tiny grape sized tomatoes or bush tomatoes or tomatoes bred for container growing. - WHY? - because I want the biggest and most tomatoes. I grow large 1 lb and up varieties of indeterminate tomatoes. I get tons of large fruit. Any plant will produce slightly smaller fruit in containers so start out with BIG varieties! 5. ALSO - I don't get why people recommend determinate tomatoes for containers - they only produce for one shot and then they are done. 6. Obviously you need to pay attention to proper watering, feeding etc. If you use grow soils with fert already in you will not need to fert for the first 5-6 weeks. Then only if needed and only in 1/4 to 1/2 strength. 7. If you go organic, and know how to make a good mix, you will not need to fert at all. Again, If u don't know how to make an indoor soil mix look at a weed (MJ) growing site. DONT FORGET - weed growers are the top professionals at growing indoors. Don't be afraid to look at these sites for expert information on indoor growing.

Halime: Are you sure you want a veggie garden to tend? You have enough to stress you out already. If gardening soothes you, it will be time well spent. If it's another worry, then leave the garden for next year. The mix you have for the soil sounds fine; it reminds me of Mel's mix for square foot gardening. You're in a very different climate than I am, so I don't know what normal planting times are for you. If it's late for planting in your area, you might do better saving the seeds for next year, and buying transplants this year. Another possibility would be making the garden bed as you describe, but planting low-maintenance annual flowers to occupy the space temporarily and make you smile. Vegetables feed the body, flowers feed the soul. Stick with annuals that don't have deep roots or re-seed heavily, and you can take out the flowers whenever you're ready to devote time and energy to vegetables.

Re: tomatoes, Days to Maturity refers to the number of days from the time the plant is set out until the first fruit is ready to harvest. There're early-, mid-, and late-season tomatoes, ranging from about 52 days to 95+ days. It makes no difference if you plant the seeds at the same time or even if they all sprout on the same day. If you want tomatoes asap through fall, plant all three - early, mid, and late-season. Determinate tomatoes generally ripen all their fruit at once and then the plants die back. Although I've never measured how long this takes, 2-3 weeks sounds right. Then again, I've also had paste tomatoes that chugged along all summer. Indeterminates will continue growing and producing fruit until something kills them.

A good determinate paste tomato plant will set 20 - 50 lbs of ripe fruit within three days, all at once. This always seems to happen on Monday. Then...no more, might as well rip it out of the ground. A good indeterminate slicer or cherry tomato plant will set 20 - 50 lbs of ripe fruit within 2 - 5 months, a little here and a little there. Good for a couple nice tomatoes every week: a sandwich and a salad and a snack here and there. If you're overwhelmed, you're either planting too many determinates or too many maters. Giving the food you're overwhlemed with to the local food bank or your co-workers can help.