Yep, I would thin those out, have a nice baby lettuce salad, and then let them grow up a bit, and thin them again and have another nice salad. If you have other places to plant, you can transplant some of those as well. I start mine thick like that in a tray, then transplant some to grow to full size, and also cut baby greens from the tray. You can see the salad tray here (I just removed all the lettuces from the left side and reseeded with French and Asian greens): And some of the transplanted lettuces around the edges of my raised bed:

I have 18 roses in containers. My climber is in a 15 gallon plastic container and the rest are hybrid tea roses in 5 and 6 gallon containers (5 gallon plastic and what I am calling 6 gallon are terra cotta pots that are bigger than 5 gallons but not by much - they could be 7 gallons). My roses started bare root (with 2 exceptions - 1 pulled from the ground and 1 purchased already potted) 6 years ago. Obviously it's better to have a bigger pot, but I haven't had major problems with this size pot. I have changed the soil once so far just to keep it fresh. I fertilize every other week at 1/2 strength with liquid fertilizer similar to Miracle Gro and once per month I fertilize with fish emulsion and an organic slow-acting fertilizer like alfalfa meal, blood meal, or Grow More. I never apply all of this on the same day, so that usually means a schedule similar to: Wednesday Week 1 Organic granular fertilizer Saturday Week 1 Weak liquid fertilizer Saturday Week 2 Weak liquid fertilizer Wednesday Week 2 Spray fungicide Saturday Week 3 Weak liquid fertilizer Wednesday Week 3 Fish emulsion Saturday Week 4 Weak liquid fertilizer Wednesday Week 4 Spray fungicide (I try to do the nasty things like spray chemicals and smelly fish emulsion during the week so that my neighbors and I don't have to deal with it when we are BBQing and the like on the weekends.) I spray for insects when they become a problem, except that I do proactively spray all of my buds with spinosad because thrips are the bane of my existence. For instance, I don't think I sprayed an insecticide at all last year. Most years I end up spraying maybe twice. I don't want to kill the praying mantis and hover flies that I get. Fungicide is a different story and I spray every other week (the week I do not fertilize). I use Immunox alternated with Mancozeb/Banner Maxx. When I do use an insecticide I use one mixed with yet a different fungicide just to switch it up. That's about it. Here in CA I usually prune in January, although I pruned in February this year. We usually get 3 flushes per year, although I had 4 this year with the mild weather. The biggest challenge I face growing roses in containers is keeping them watered. A rose in the ground can withstand even the fiercest heat for a few days between waterings. My container roses need to be watered every day when the temperature is above 90 degrees and when it's 100+ sometimes I water them twice if they look sad when I get home from work. If I miss a day the roses don't die, but the new growth gets crispy and the flowers I work so hard for burn up. Luckily, this is usually just for a couple of weeks in July or August. Otherwise, I water 2-3x per week. Right now with the rain I am watering just 1x to supplement Mother Nature.

Miesenbacher, I can fertilize twice a week even if the label on a fertilizer bottle states once in 2 weeks? The nutrients ratio is 2-3-1. There are umpteen discussions (linked above) here about how to feed container plants. Weekly or even more often if you use diluted 1/2 strength solutions and have to water frequently. So the answer to you question is most definitely yes. And what it says on the box isn't relevant since most are written for in-gound plants. You cannot treat plants in containers and plants in ground the same way. Container gardening is a whole other world and has nothing in common with gardening in ground. One reason why the Container gardening forum was created here. Miesenbacher uses a drip irrigation system for plants, which as I mentioned above just for that benefit, makes growing in such small containers much easier. Your leaves look like Gray Leaf Spot and/or Early Blight. Both fungus and treatment is the same. They could still be transplanted but likely not worth the trouble. But in your zone there is plenty of time to take cuttings from them to grow new plants with. Lots of discussions here about that too. See the link to all the container discussions I posted above. Dave

You can either buy your plants from nursery or you can start them from seeds, which I recommend to reduce risk of bringing home diseased plants. Starting seeds: You want to know what is your "last frost date", this is the date when you are no longer risking frost in your area. Start seeds indoor around 6 weeks before this date. This will get you a healthy seedling large enough to transplant into the big pot once it's warm enough outside. You can start seeds in a sterile potting mix, don't water too much. As the seedling grows, you can begin to water with a weak diluted fertilizer. When you first bring it outdoor, try to not give it too much direct sunlight in the first week while they're adopting. Choosing the type of containers: There are many different container growing methods. My favorite type right now is "fabric grow bags". Grow bags have very good aeration and drainage ability which allows the plant roots to grow very well and reduces the risk of over watering, which is a common mistake for new gardeners. And they are affordable. If you want something nicer looking, wine barrels and terracotta pots allows better drainage and aeration compared to typical plastic containers. There is also self wicking containers which have a water reservoir that holds several gallons so it water the container by itself over time and is low maintenance, such as City Pickers and Earthbox. Growing medium: For containers, you want to use "potting mix". The potting mix should be not too heavy and drains well. Do not buy "potting soil". Some brands of potting mix are very water retentive and acidic since they are mostly peat moss, so you need to add dolomite lime to balance the pH. I try to find a potting mix that have pine barks in them which improve drainage. There are many ways to go about making your container mix. Some people are completely against using compost in containers and uses 100% potting mix. I personally use a mix of 75% potting mix and 25% compost in plastic pots. Though lately with fabric grow bags, I go up to 50/50. Poor quality compost can have disease or herbicide contamination. Fertilizers: To keep it basic, you mainly don't want to feed tomato too much with fertilizers high in nitrogen. Too much nitrogen will produce lots of leaves and little flowers. Two main type of fertilizers are water based which are fast acting or organic slow release. Personally go for slow release, there are many brands to choose from such as Ecoscraps, Espoma, Jobe's, or whatever is popular locally. Sometimes if a plant is deficient I might give it water fertilizer for a quick boost. You don't want to abuse the plant with too much fertilizers which would be detrimental to it's growth. Many synthetic fertilizers have salt and using them too often can be bad for plants. Just follow the instruction on the box. Other than that you want to buy a tomato cage or trellis to help it grow. --- The only kind I have heard of is Beef Steak There are many varieties with different sizes, colors and flavors. If you look up tomato seeds catalog you will be overwhelmed. For starter, you want to grow something standard and popular that is known to be productive to give a higher success rate. Beefsteak is a good start. This is the most discussed aspect of growing tomatoes, so you will get all kind of different recommendations. I recommend Jaune Flamme. It is an orange salad sized tomato that is very early and prolific, but you will have to start from seeds. How long does it take to grow until you can eat it. It depends on the variety, how healthy the plant is, how much sun it gets and many other factors. Each tomato variety have a different time it takes to bear fruit. Look at the "days to harvest", this is the estimate days from when you transplant the seedling until you get the first ripe fruit. Some variety are early as 45days, these are usually cherry tomatoes, larger sized tomatoes tend to take longer up to 100 days or more. So it's important to choose the variety that will give you harvest before it's too cold. What kind of insects are likely to attack? Each region can have slight variation, but the main ones are moth caterpillars. I recommend "bt" sprays which will kill them and is an organic approved method, a popular brand is Thuricide. Here in the south we have lots of whiteflies which sometimes carry "yellow leaf curl virus", once a plant catches this virus it's incurable. What insects or diseases should I watch for? There are lots of different tomato diseases. Having a good draining grow mix is key to minimize it imo. It is generally agreed that tomatoes much more likely to get disease if their leaves are constantly wet, so water the base of the plant, not the leaves. Pruning can be very important, you want to prune the bad yellowing or diseased leaves in the bottom of the plants as it grows, this let more air pass through the bottom. One issue you may get is "bottom end rot". This is cause by the plant lacking calcium, but actually due to pH issue and uneven watering, where the mix is too wet or too dry for period of time. Do the flowers mean that is going to turn into a tomato? Tomato flowers are self pollinating, just a bit of wind or shaking the plant will allow the pollinating to happen. Not all flowers will become fruits, there is an optimal temperature range. Too cold or too hot, diseases, lacking nutrients are some of the things that will prevent fruit forming.