Wow!! You have 6 containers, each hold 32 gallons .. that's great !! What zone are you in? In my cold zone I use small containers since I have to move them into the garage to survive my cold zone 5a winter.

What are your 6 roses? $25 a yard is really cheap. I picked up 2 bags of MiracleGro from Sam's club, they raised the price to $12 per huge bag. Two of those bags, or $24 is only enough to fill eight 2-gallon containers.

Thanks for the link tomatogeeks.com ... I love heirloom tomato. One year I planted pineapple tomato, it was yummy, but my favorite is Black Krim and Sun sugar yellow cherry. Roses do best in BREATHABLE container like what Khalid uses for his zone 9a .. he uses terracotta red pots. There's a research done that show rose-bush flower best in breathable container like Smart Pot, since roots need oxygen to grow. Tomatoes do better in plastic pots than roses, since tomatoes are less prone to fungal diseases.

I used cheap plastic pots for my roses, and with our heavy rain (2 days straight) I have to drill extra holes on the lowest side for faster-drainage & more air for root-growth. I bought a 10-gallon Smart Pot from Amazon, will test it to see if the research is right. Khalid already showed tons of blooms in his thread via breathable pots. Rooting roses is more successful in terracotta pots ... roses don't like wet-feet, esp. the ones grafted on Dr. Huey.

I was curious about those breathable pots. The part about too much rain is a very valid concern, which I forgot about. Inside could turn to mush fast. Warm mush and roots start to rot instead of root. Wonder if breathable pot holds it shape. Guessing good to put layer of rock on bottom. Any issues with clothe material wicking away moisture. Just looking at pros and cons. But I'm leaning towards breathable. Cheaper too.

The lady at nearby town-home planted her eggplant, bell-pepper, and Brussel sprout in 10-gallon breathable pots. Advantage: tons of fruits & fantastic root-growth. Disadvantage: have to water more often in hot & dry days, Smart-pot is shallow, NOT meant for deep-rooted roses that can survive cold winter.

My Smart-pot has a thicker-layer at bottom to hold its shape, but the sides are wobbly fabric. Lots of people complain that Smart-pot aren't deep enough, if they make it any taller, the sides would be too wobbly & soil will spill over.

If your roses are grafted on Dr. Huey, it would need a large Smart-pot, like 15-gallon to grow deeper root & to be transferred into the ground during the winter.

With plastic pots, no matter how many holes I drill, roses' roots can't go deep since it's soaking wet at the bottom, esp. during day-long rain. Smart-pot is excellent choice for heavy-rain climate, with a large bottom for water to escape, breathable sides, and more surface above for oxygen.

Forgot to mention that those Rubbermaid 32-gallon trash bin makes great rain barrel. We bought 3 rain-barrels but we could had used Rubbermaid containers instead ... I bought 2 Rubbermaid trash bins to hook up with my existing 3 rain-barrels .. I didn't use our tap water last year, rain-water is so much better for plants. See below link for rain barrels-set-up:

http://forums.gardenweb.com/discussions/2132625/rain-barrels-and-garden-tips-and-lessons-learned?n=19

Christian and Sam: I planted my 1st tomato (sweet 100) two weeks ago (mid-April), in my heavy clay mixed with hard-wood-chips & leaves & gypsum (did that before winter). Recently I put 2 cups of Tomato-Tone in a 2 feet x 2 feet hole. Got dark-green leaves and thick stems ... despite cold weather (below 40 degree).

Mixing in wood-chips and leaves fluffed up my heavy clay, allowing more oxygen to roots .. but after a few years that will glue-up again .. I prefer coarse sand to fix my clay but it's more expensive.

Very happy with the dark-green color in my tomato (usually pale in my heavy clay). Some info. on woodchips from Dr. Elaine Ingham (soil microbiologist):

" Fungi

When fungi counts are low, fungal foods need to be added to get fungal decomposition going. Fungal foods: humic acids, many fulvic acids, dry, brown leaf materials, wood chips, sawdust, paper, cardboard. A fungal inoculum could be used as well to get the fungi active. Sometimes by just adding humic acid that fungal biomass can be resuscitated."

https://www.naturallygreen.us/blog/dr-elaine-ingham/

Sweet 100 is the best. It description is in the title. You get 100 sweet cherry tomatoes.

That article was so good, I wish everyone would read that to not use chemicals.