Sorry for all the bad info you were given and the wasted $$$ it has cost you and now the many problems you'll have to deal with. Is the Garden Soil a bad idea in containers? Definitely. It compacts badly, drains poorly and leads to plant root rot. Thus the warning on the bag. You'll find many discussions about the other problems it causes over on the Growing Tomatoes forum and the Container Gardening forum here. You'll also find many discussions there about all the issues of trying to grow upside down. It is a passing fad at best and a bad one. While the Celebrity 'might' do ok in a proper sized container of 10-12 gallons and right side up and the Big Beef will need a container of at least a 12-15 gallons for success, the Sun Gold is a HUGE plant - by far the biggest of the varieties you have as it often reaches 4-5' in width and 8-10' tall. It seldom does well in even a 1/2 whiskey barrel sized container without a great deal of extra work and care and feeding. Next year stick with varieties that are bred specifically for growing in containers. There are many of them available. Your plants are young enough and small enough that they can still be transplanted into a proper container mix and proper containers and do well IF you want to invest the money in making the needed changes. Good luck. Dave

If your soil is as compacted as you think and watering from the top just runs to the sides and straight out of the pot without being absorbed, you may need to repot. The other option would be to get a bowl or other container and soaking the whole plant in water with the level of the water about 2/3 up the side of the pot. I usually let mine soak about 10-15 minutes or so. I have even done some for up to an hour depending on the size of the pot. If your soil is peat based in any way, the soil will be extremely hydrophobic. Watering this way will wick the water into the soil. You will know when it is completely moist because the you will be able to see the soil moist on top, or at least an inch down. If you still think your soil is too compacted then repot. I would not water right after repotting though. I would moisten the soil slightly that you are using for repotting, then transplant. Leave about a 1/3 of the original soil and try not to disturb the roots too much. After you repot, put in shade for about a week, and then start your regular watering and put back in full sun. These are just suggestions I have gotten from others. They seem to work.

Thanks for the good comments. This tub (American Standard Monarch) is an acrylic fiberglass. It is made to rest on the skirt at the front. It then has a horizontal wooden panel fiber glassed to the front panel that extends under the bottom of the tub and fiber glassed to it as well. The back edge of this horizontal panel is fiber glassed to a vertical wooden strip which acts as a long single rear leg. If I level the top of the tub it appears I have about a 1/8-1/4" gap under the rear leg. Any suggestions on how to shim this gap, given that as soon as you lower the tub down there is no way to get in there or even see what is going on. I was thinking if it will fit is a thin strip of a panel with PL400 on the bottom of the strip, and nothing on the top so it will not stick to the tub support. I would put enough of the PL400 so it sits high but have the excess squeeze out under the weight of the tub. Your thoughts? Good plan or ??

I don't know if all games are winnable or not. I've wondered about that before too. I usually try to move all the cabooses that are at the front of the line, then move all the engines that are at the back of the line before I do anything else. I win in spurts. Some times the games do seem to be set up easier than at other times. A couple of times ago when it showed up it was hard to win even one game. The time before that it was so easy I got bored. Linda