There is no problem putting 2 indeterminate tomato plants in one earthbox. I did it last year and they grew well. Be prepared however as they will get well over 6' tall (at least mine did). I can't help with the other part of your question.

Hi Bonnie,

A container about the size of half-wine barrel will do fine for a large IND tomato. You can use a fertiizer enhanced potting soil, or a combination of garden compost and soil, or a plain soil and you feed with a formula that is appropriate for tomatoes--the container will instruct you as to the right amount of feed to apply.

Your main concern with container-grown tomatoes is that the soil can dry too rapidly, if you set up a watering schedule and adhere to it you'll be fine. A drip irrigation system on a timer is a great plus. Also, covering any bare soil in the container with mulch will help deter surface evaporation.

T

Bonnie, all four toms you listed are commercial varieties, they're fine for cooking and canning--that's what they were developed for.

T

My concern with putting an indeterminate tomato in the Earthbox is that I am afraid it will be too top heavy. We get a lot of wind here, and I'm afraid something 6' tall will topple over.

How tall can I expect the determinate varieties listed above to get?

Bonnie

Trudi, the problem isn't if any of those DET's would work. I guess the problem is that I only have room for ONE, and can't decide which one to chose! Since I have never tried any of them, I was hoping some of you guys with more experience could help me decide : )

Bonnie

Chico III, La Rossa or Roma are likely going to be the heavier croppers.

I don't really think it will make much difference which of your listed ones you use as they are all pretty much the same in plant size, production, and taste. As mentioned above, all are commercial varieties, bred for uniform production, but not common to the home garden.

Clearly something about them appealed to you for you to have bought these particular seeds so stick with picking the one that had the most personal appeal for you. ;)

Heinz 1439 and Campbells 1327 are determinate regular tomatoes.
La Rossa and Chico are paste so it all depends on whether you want more eating types or paste types. All of them can well.

Any of them alone in an Earthbox will do fine. With 2 in the box you will be very top heavy and crowded which does reduce production somewhat. But with extra attention it can work.

Dave

She didnt' buy them Dave ;-)

That's right! All of those are courtesy of Trudi's "Choose your own 6 pack" free tomato seed offer. Thank you again for the seeds! The Roma and San Marzano that I've sown already are from that pack as well.

The cherry and beafsteak tomatoes that I am growing are going to take up most of the available space in the garden, so I think I will choose one of the paste types. My goal this summer is to learn how to can.

Thank you for helping this newbie out.

Bonnie

Bonnie,

I learned how to can a few years ago, and at the same time I also started adding tomatoes to my flower beds. Nowadays I have larger veggie/tomato gardens, but they're certainly not entirely veggies, and actually are more like a 50/50 percentage of veggies and maters to ornamentals. The results have given me healthy eye-candy beds. If you have the space in your flower beds to put in some tomatoes you should, it's very satisfying.

T

PS...do visit the Harvest Forum at GW, the kind people their held my hand (so to speak) while I learned to can from the instructions in the Ball Blue Book. The Harvest posters are as warm and kind as are WSers--you'll feel very comfortable there, they made me feel so and I know they'll do so for you too.

She didnt' buy them Dave ;-)

Oops! Sorry, I missed that. Then trust the source - plant the one Trudi says is best. If it were me, I'd pick the Chico III 'cause any tomato with a roman numeral in its name has to be classy. :^)

Dave

Well, you should have suggested that before I filled up my beds with all of those wintersown perennials last year, LOL!!! Actually, I did just dig up another corner of the lawn, and I am making it a mix of perennial herbs, perennial flowers, and a couple of shrubs. I could also see planting peppers in with the perennials, but I don't know about a six foot tomato plant in there. I'm already pushing my luck with the DH, because my vegetable garden is in the front yard!

Thanks for the tip about the Harvest forum. I did lurk over there a little bit last fall when I was trying to figure out what to do with all of my pumpkins, and there were plenty of knowledgeable folks over there. I don't have a pressure canner yet, and want to try things that can be canned using the boiling water bath method, such as tomatoes, pickles, and jellies. I did receive the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving for Christmas, so I'm looking forward to trying some of the recipes in there.

Thanks again,
Bonnie

Bonnie,

Use classic planting procedures and put the six foot tomato at the back of the bed with the other tall annuals. I've grown them along stockade fences and simply tacked up their canes with cloth strips stapled into the wood. Easy!

I don't have a pressure canner, I just use my giant spaghetti pot and do water-bath process for tomato sauce.

It's too bad you didn't start any yellow tomatoes because some of the very best sauce I've made has been from yellow fruited plants; I did a batch of sauce made with Garden Peach and it was extraordinary--Hubs still raves about the pizza I made with that yellow sauce ;-)

The only yellowish tomatoes I WS are Azoychka and Kellogg's Breakfast, but those are beefsteak types, and I don't know if they are good for sauces. Oh, I also WS Sungold, but that one is a cherry tomato isn't it? Is Garden Peach a paste tomato?

I guess I may as well start making a list of all the tomatoes to try next year! So many choices, so little space.

Bonnie