All dirt is organic......in the sense that it comes from the earth and not manufactured from manmade ingredients :-) But topsoil is NOT a great filler for any kind of container. It is too heavy and dense to function well in a container, which is why they make purpose-intended container or potting soils that are lightweight and fast draining.

I grow cherry tomatoes - Sungold - every year in containers. Most cherry tomatoes are indeterminate and get to be massive plants. I use a 20 gallon container for this purpose.

I just finished potting a few tomatoes for my patio. I stick with Determinant tomatoes and still use cages so I can keep them contained.

I have Atlas (hybrid by Burpee) that I grew from seed since no one around here will grow them again. They are perfect for containers and are BIG tomatoes. I also bought 2 Homestead which are new to me this year.

For the cage I have used flimsier wire tomato cages I don't use anymore since I bought really beefy ones for the garden. I put it small end down in my pot, filled with dirt, planted my tomato, and then cut the legs off with my Dremel. I've bought the pre-planted patio tomatoes before and I hate the really flimsy wire/plastic cages. These should hold up much better.

Agreeing with the previous comments about topsoil being too dense for most container growing. You can buy potting mix for outdoor containers nowadays - I buy the Kellogg brand from Home Depot.

Or you could mix it with other organic amendments to lighten and loosen it.

I haven't been able to grow tomatoes successfully in containers - they became rootbound very quickly, even in a very large pot. I recall one I tried was Isis Candy - an indeterminate.

I know there are varieties developed specifically for container growing.

" Or you could mix it with other organic amendments to lighten and loosen it. "

That actually does not work......but it's a good thought :-)) By the time you added enough amendments to make the soil work properly, there would be almost no topsoil involved!

Has anyone used fabric pots? I need to make changes in my garden next year and was thinking about growing my determinate tomatoes in the fabric pots.

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=10+gallon+fabric+pots&hvadid=616862876328&hvdev=c&hvlocphy=9025387&hvnetw=g&hvqmt=e&hvrand=17730283042762261907&hvtargid=kwd-80012571399&hydadcr=24633_13611805&tag=googhydr-20&ref=pd_sl_2y66p7gtyj_e

My sis had part of a load of topsoil leftover and her husband filled several barrels with it, planted tomatoes, lettuces, several edibles and all pretty much failed. Too heavy, too dense. The entire endeavor was a complete waste of time and energy.

No top soil is not what one wants in pots. It will choke the roots.

Also agree with skip the topsoil for containers. You are going to want to be looking for terms like potting mix or container mix. Unless you are looking to blend your own, skip anything that is just a straight something- straight compost, straight peat moss, ect. Stuff can grow in straight compost, but does better in a mix. Up to you if you want to get a mix that has fertilizer in it or not. If it does not you are going to want to feed your plants.

You can mix topsoil with peat moss at 50/50. I have nusery containers for veggies inside a dog run this year. Last year I had animals eating tomatos and peas (the whole pea plants) by the house in the ground. Just need to buy peat moss after I have done with rose planting.

Any plant that is expected to thrive in a container should be planted in a good potting medium. Most of them are called ”soilless” mediums because they typically contain none of the ingredients that comprise a soil: sand, silt, clay. Soilless mixes are typically airy and difficult to compact. Commercial potting mixes are composed of small bark fines of assorted sizes, coarse ground peat, perlite, and other ingredients. The most important element in a potting mix are the empty pores, the tiny air pockets. That’s where the plants are able to obtain the essential oxygen, water, and water borne nutrients required for their existence.

The very best of top soils are wonderful in situ, in the garden. Within the confines of a container, those soils turn into a sludge….airless and heavy.

Buy a decent bag of potting medium for your tomatoes, the same stuff you would use for all of your houseplants.

peppers are more likely to make it in pots .... unless you have BIG pots. A five gallon pot is pushing it ... I do plant my sweet 100s in those with a modicum of success.

To what others have written about the soil, I would add that tomatoes like acidic soil so add in some blood meal and also egg shells for calcium. The calcium will also prevent blossom end rot. I plant un the ground only but adding these to pots should help.

Kathsgrdn, thanks for the heads up on the fabric pots. I think I'm going to try 6 of them next year for my determinate tomatoes.

My posts are pretty big. Each one took almost 3 CF of potting soil. I'm going to go for it. There is a farmers market 3 blocks away. If it is a failed experiment, I'll slap some flowers in there and next year will have raised beds put in. I just love KT. You guys have great responses to everything.

One thing to remember about growing in a bag is that you will need to pay more attention to watering. Heat, sunlight, and wind all work together to evaporate moisture from all surfaces of the grow bag, not just the top. To make matters worse, once dried out the soil within the grow bag can become difficult to rewet, may become hydrophobic.

When fabric bags were a thing with nursery growers, watering became a limiting factor. Many had to resort to installing a sprinkler system to run several times a day so that the roots didn’t totally dry out.

If you haven’t used a growbag before, just pay attention to the moisture content throughout the root/soil system.

rhizo_1, I hadn't thought about that. I already have to water potted plants once a day if we don't have rain.

If you are a Costco shopper, they have 50# bags potting soil for just about $10. I bought 4 when they were that months special and paid just a little over $8/bag. I bought a covered tomato planter this year that needed 190#s soil to fill it - in hopes of actually getting some without the deer beating me to it. If I do, they may be the world's most expensive tomatoes:) Except I plan on getting several years from the planter, it's made of fir with metal caps on the legs and of course I'll unclamp the cover and bring that in over winter. Right now until the tomatoes get larger, I've got salad spinach and cilantro in it too but expect those will both bolt before tomatoes ripen.