Love your corntainers! This year, I am attempting to grow corn in a non SW container. Looking at my stalks, I do not have high hopes. They are only about three feet tall and do not have any sign of ears developing. I planted Silver Queen and judging from the the corn fields in the area, I am far behind in growth. Not that I was expecting ears in early July, but I thought they'd be taller by now.... I have serious corntainer envy..... :)

beeman, I did get some fairly large tomatoes this Season, but as nj said, we've had a pretty poor year due to the cool weather. Hopefully, this Fall crop will develop by the end of October, as I typically am picking fresh tomatoes for the Christmas dinner table each year. Raybo

I am about ready to construct my 3 ETs thanks to Ray helping me out with the wicking baskets. I am going to try the removable cages. Home Depot sells the 24" 1/4" threaded rods for $1.47. Unlike bdobs, my local store sells the 36" ones for $5.87 each! , so needless to say I went with the shorter ones. I don't think I am even going to cut them.. I just hope they are not too heavy to adversely affect the cage support system and the aeration bench. The extra length above the soil might help a little for the taller tomato plants too. Then again..with enough twisting patience, I could twist the nut high enough on the bottom of the rod where the reservoir is to give some stilt-like support to the bench. That will give 8 points of 4" extra support in addition to the 4" cut drain pipe pieces for the bench. This might not be a bad idea since I am using the cheaper, thinner Sterlite totes ($7.50 each at Walmart). I don't want that cage system to jab a hole through the bottom of the reservoir, so I'm trying to come-up with a cheap way to add protective 'shoes' to the bottom of the rods. Possibly soda caps from 2-litter bottles of Coke can be 'shoes' glued to them. I bought the Glamos cages a few years ago at Walmart and accidentally took almost double. When I got home and was pulling the cages apart I noticed my mistake. I returned the extras to Walmart, but I bet that happens very commonly, especially when Walmart just asks you to run out and pull the UPC off one of them and run back to the check-out and asks you for quantity. Ooops! My cages are bent at the 'feet' from trying too hard to jam them through subsurface slabs of limestone deep in my garden, so when I get pictures up to share, don't be surprised by the artsy-look of the randomly re-formed shape of my cages.

johnny, Thanks. fortunately, as the headline in my post says (hey, wasn't that line stolen from me by Charles Dickens?) while some of the varieties are dying, others like Big Beef are doing great (so far). I now have 20 seedlings growing and they are about 6 inches tall today. May scour some of the local Nurseries as last year at this time, they were selling Stupice and others for those wanting to do a Fall crop. I thought I could spend the rest of the Summer swimming with my Yellow Ducks in the Hot Tub - - but no joy!! Raybo