"14 gallons is more than enough for a tomato, many use 5 gallons. Even a 6" deep container, if there is enough potting mix volume, is fine." How do I know which would be 14 gallon and which would be 5? Just determinate vs. indeterminate? When I google for container tomatoes, I always get the same 5-10 listed that were specifically bred for small containers. I've got multiple varieties of tomatoes and am trying to figure out which would be better in a 5 gal SWC vs a 15 or 20 gallon nursery container. The Roma will most likely be in the 5 gal. The San Marzano will be in a larger one with a makeshift reservoir under it. I'm planning on having 3 varieties of peppers, 4 varieties of eggplants, 3 varieties of tomatoes, a cucumber, and whatever else I can think of, all on a 15'x5' balcony. With someone above blocking direct light, plus some trees. I sorta was a math major, so maybe I should calculate how much I could *realistically* fit. I think I'm going to trick other people into raising plants for me, then trading produce to see which varieties we like better. Can anyone tell I have a tendency to go overboard on things? :-) Alice

Bruce, thanks for asking. My house was fine--the yard (2 1/2 acres) was extremely damaged. Lost lychees, avocado, bananas, canistel, scores of ornamental trees and plants. Will also lose lots of coconut trees though they take a while to die in some cases. Huge areas of SOuth FLorida did not have electricity for weeks. I had already lost electricity and all the stuff in fridge and freezer 3 times just in 05 so I had a generator. Doesn't power up much but it still helped alot. My well pump did not have a plug to use with it so I never have any water when the electricity goes out but manage with rain water. Actually kind of 'fun ' for about 3 days--cooking outside, hauling water, no TV etc. and then it gets old. My area got the power on in 10 days but it took alot along to get cable and the computer back. I had the fridge going, one light, and powered up a 7" DVD player. Anyway, know what we all learned?? We really lucked out. Those poor, poor people in New Orleans and other hard-hit Katrina areas. DOn't know how they stood it and it it is not over for them . We lost our yards and lots of people their roofs but everything was habitable (except mobile homes and low income apartments). Imagine dealing with flooded houses with toxic mud and water. And losing your pets would be too much to bear. We were so very fortunate so I am not really complaining (well maybe just a bit about my tomatoes).

I don't like Cherry tomatoes. (Ducks as rotten tomatoes come flying at me LOL). I like grape tomatoes because they are sweet, but still have the tomatoey flavor I'm looking for. I've never met a cherry I liked. I think I also don't like the shape of cherrys for my salad. But I hear very good things about Black Cherry, so I'm going to try that this year. Still, I want a grape tomato as I like them for my salads. The 3 I mentioned are what I already have seed for. I don't think I want to go to the trouble and expense of paying $5(with shipping) just to get seeds for a grape tomato.I checked the exchanges section and unfortunately no one was offering any fabulous grape tomato seeds, so these are my options. By the way, has anyone ever tried sweet pea curant? It sounds so flavorful.... and cute too.

Ray, Yeah well they have already started to shoot out past the cage on one of the Earthtainers. Adding another section on top is not a bad idea. I got your plans off of tomatofest.com, which I have to say, are a great idea and not hard at all to do. We followed your advice to drill holes in multiple totes at a time. The only parts where we didn't follow directions are the following: 1. We lined the bottom and sides of the inside of the inserted tote with weed blocker. We thought that at the end of season that it would be easier to remove the old plants and easier to shake up the left over medium, take some out and add new medium later. Thus the weed blocker covers the bottom, comes up the sides and then we trimmed it after putting the lid on. It might seem like a waste to use that much but we are banking on the frustration factor being lessened which sometimes out weighs the cost of a little extra weed blocker. 2. We are not in a high wind area and we toyed back and forth with what staking system worked best for us and in the end we went with the cages but now knowing what I know about pruning for the indeterminate varieties I want to use the swizzle looking stick stakes and no cage at all. Or hopefully some sort of upside down trellis system that starts on the Earthtainer peaks 5-6' above and then aims back down to the ground again. Thus, our cages are not attached in the same fashion as you recommended but instead inserted on the interior of the lid since we put them in after we put the plants in. It wil do for this year. Thanks for the tip on the cages. I think I will go back to my local nursery and get more of the same that I bought they seemed cheap, $4 per four sided cage. They aren't Burpee but the same idea and use the same fasteners that you discussed in your directions for attaching the cages to the tote. Just and idea as well, do with it what you want. But for extra aeration we thought that it might be good to also drill holes in the side of the inserted tote. I think it would be helpful but maybe not. Thanks for designing this wonderful tool for gardening! I did give to feedthechildren.org like you requested and I did see that you do travel to build Earthtainers for those in need. Should you ever go again to help others in need I would love to come along and help out. I use to be a missionary in days past and want to find ways to give back that combine my talents and passions such as gardening. Also, thanks for the encouragement! Anne