I used to live about a block away from these people (see the link). They had some very functional and very beautiful planters/raised beds/containers. Another neighbor had them help him build an entire retaining wall out of tires. In my Master Gardener course they came and showed us the tire containers and I think the only thing they warned about was steel belted tires. If I remember right, they were hard to cut and had the potential of cutting back. Here is a link that might be useful: Tire Crafting

I love all this tomato enthusiasm! I started with about 50 varities, but due to some unforeseen illness not all made it soon enough so I bought about 15 transplants which, for the same reason, mostly are awaiting planting. Oh well, it's still June! However, I don't know that I will have any actual plants to save the seeds from. Around here it seems like the heirlooms are the "new" ones on the block that gardeners don't grab up, as evidenced from my somewhat late dash around the nurserys. I hope they are doing well since I haven't been able to get out and check on them, although I did start a "one of each" tray when I realized I had pretty much lost my black crop of tomatoes. So I took 1 or 2 seeds of all the veggies I could round up and stuck them in small plastic cups (2 oz?) and it didn't take any time at all for them to germinate so hopefully they will represent my late garden. Well, it all sounds late to me right now, but hey you all carry on the good fight because it's sounds like a great season!

Stephanie, The number of days will vary a great deal. Some early varieties can produce fruit in as little as 49 days. Some large beefsteaks take 90-100 days to produce fruit. These days-to-maturity are just estimates and you often will find that fruit sets and ripens more quickly than the estimated DTMs in our climate, but not always. Many variables are in play, including daytime and nighttime temperatures, the number of hours of sunlight the plants receive daily, rainfall and irrigation amounts, or lack or such, etc. Weather conditions, particularly high temperatures, play a huge role. In general, you will find tomatoes ripen faster when the weather is warm to very hot, but at times the fruit will stall and will not color up properly in very extreme heat. So, how long does it take to go from green to red? It would vary so much with each variety and with the varying weather conditions that I'd hate to assign a number of days to it because invariably it wouldn't be right and would be only a guess. For most tomato varieties that grow well in our climate, I think you could expect a ripe fruit roughly 40 to 50 days from the time you first noticed a flower had set a fruit and that the tiny fruit was just beginning to grow an enlarge. In periods of extreme stress, it could take longer. In general, the DTMs listed for a given plant give you the number of days it takes for a transplanted plant, assuming it is transplanted in warm-enough conditions, to produce a ripe fruit from a flower. So, if you start with a 5 to 8 week old plant and put it in the ground after soil temperatures and overnight lows are staying above 50 degrees, you can expect the fruit in approximately the number of days listed as that variety's DTM.. Most of us here plant varieties with DTMs that range from 49 to 85 or 90 days. I don't really know how to translate that into how long it takes a green fruit to ripen to its mature color, because it can vary a great deal depending on the variety and the weather. Here's the estimated Days-To-Maturity for some commonly-available tomato varieties like you might purchase as transplants in spring: Fourth of July 49 days, SunGold 57, Early Girl 57 days,Champion 62 days, Fantastic 65 days, Celebrity 70 days, Amelia 75 days, Better Boy 75 days, Rutgers 75 days, Cherokee Purple 80 days, Homestead 80 days. I'm going to link the Timeline of A Tomato Truss webpage. It shows a truss of tomatoes from bloom to ripening. Looking at it might help you estimate when you could expect a ripe fruit from your plants if you can remember when you first saw the tiny green fertilized fruits beginning to grow and enlarge. Based on many years of gardening and answering questions from people who are relatively new to raising tomatoes, I can assure you that your tomatoes will ripen eventually, and in most cases they will ripen about 2 ro 4 weeks later than a brand new gardener expects them to. Once you have raised tomatoes for a few years, you will know about when to expect a ripe fruit from each given variety, based on prior years and on the weather in prior years. I have found most varieties are remarkably consistent year in and year out as long as the weather is behaving in a fairly typical manner. If it gets very warm very early or stays cold very late, that can cause results different from what you normally see in an average year. Don't ask me what an average year's weather is like any more, because it is getting harder and harder to have an average weather year. Hope this helps, Dawn Here is a link that might be useful: Timeline of a Tomato Truss

I garden in plastic tubs, pots and planters: Mel's spacing works for me (with adaptations to the extended growing season hereabouts).