In my opinion, you shouldn't plant the Basil right in the same container with the tomatoes, because the tomatoes get taller and bushier and therefore shade the Basil from getting enough light.

I do worry about you putting Garden soil rather then potting soil, because potting soil is specifically made to hold up in a container, rather then compact excessively. I'm not sure if you can amend garden soil to make it container-approved, either.

then garden soil (I don't have potting--is it vital?

In any container using a soil-less potting mix rather than garden soil/dirt is VERY vital. It is the single most important aspect of container gardening and will determine success or failure.

Ideally each plant would get its own container - they have different nutrient and water needs - for best results. But you could put both those tomato varieties in the same container and the basil in a separate one IF you use a proper container mix and if you understand that the container will require weekly feeding and very careful monitoring of the soil moisture levels. You will likely be watering daily or 2x daily in mid-summer. Skip the rocks, they serve no purpose.

You really need to do some reading over on the Container Gardening forum here for best results because growing in containers is a unique form of gardening with its own set of rules and restrictions.

Dave.

I was taking the screening and rocks idea from this article: http://www.finegardening.com/how-to/articles/growing-tomatoes-in-containers.aspx. You don't think they'd do anything? I would have thought that having the container raised slightly off the lid below would help with drainage.

I'll go get a potting mix! :-) And since I've got the pots, I'll go ahead and separate them. Think one tomato with a basil plant would be okay or still not?

I'm just reading about the EarthTrainer system at TomatoFest.com--sounds right up my alley!

As I said combining different plants in the same container usually isn't the best idea because of the different needs of the plants.

Space-wise, sure you could put the basil with the Patio plant but herbs don't tolerate all the fertilizer you will be giving the tomato plant all that well and herbs don't like nearly the amount of water the tomato plant will need either. Actually the basil will probably get bigger than the Patio tomato plant since Sweet Basil can easily get 3-4' tall. The Early Girl Bush will be the biggest plant.

Again, the Container Gardening forum better discusses the issue of the rocks and the screening but briefly, most container growers would never do either. They prefer that the container be able to wick the water in the tray back up into the soil. If the rocks and screening are there it won't be able to do that. Your choice.

Dave

I grew basil in the container with my tomato last summer. It did great. You'll be cutting the basil throughout the summer so it should be fine.

I agree with Dave's suggestion. : plant basils in a different container about half the size of the one you show in the picture,

Any kind of rocks, etc, in the bottom of containers doesn't increase drainage. It actually raises the perched water level of the container and decreases the growing area of the container.

Here is a link that might be useful: container drainage

Thanks for that article EW, they are telling me the same thing at Container Gardening: no reason for the rocks.

Okay, so here's what I did: I decided to give my Gardeners Supply self-watering kits one more try, so put those in two large pots I have and gave each tomato it's own pot. (But I'm still wondering what to do about the Early Girl Bush that already has 3 small tomatoes on it that are now sitting on the POTTING MIX (not soil!).

I also put a basil in its own pot that I will keep between the two tomatoes.

I'm worn out just from that effort so will try to figure out a support system/insect netting later. (With an autoimmune disease, I can't take much heat and sun, but I try to do a little gardening to keep active.)

Thanks for all your suggestions!

Oh by the way, has anyone done the method that someone over at container gardening (bitzppa) does of wrapping each tomato fruit in a bag to keep off insects? He said "frost mat" but I don't know what that is.

let the fruit on Early girl stay and grow. My only Early Girl came with few small fruits. Now they are about to turn color. Beside those, it has other fruits and many flowers to. Most people pay a premium on price to get a plant with fruits.