I pulled all the ones too diseased to stay, and that obviously weren't interested in fruiting again. I left the ones still trying and planted a few new seedlings.

Okiedawn,

Would you please explain what you mean by cutting a tomato plant back? Do you cut all the branches off or cut the whole stalk off?? I am interested in learning how to do this.

You can cut them back any way you wish. I usually just choose a place randomly at a certain height around waist high and cut them back at least 50%. Most of my plants are 6-8' tall before I cut. How I cut will depend on how the plant is growing, but for the most part I just pick a spot and cut straight across, cutting every limb at the same level. If the lower part of the plant is diseased, I might cut slightly higher than I do with the healthier plants just to ensure I leave enough good healthy foliage on the plant. Cut back, fertilize, water if needed, and watch them grow. What normally happens is that they put out tons of new growth, bloom and set fruit, and you get a great fall harvest. I don't do it every year and whether it is worth it or not depends on how healthy the plant is and what the weather is like. Plants that you cut back in mid summer to late summer usually produce better than new plants you put in the ground for fall because they already have a large, well-established root system.

Dawn, will I be able to reuse the soil-less mix in the tomato fabric pots next year? I hate to think I'd have to replace all that.

I am amazed at how pretty these plants are. Apparently I wasn't amending my garden as much as I thought I was, because these are outdoing any tomatoes that have grown in my garden the last couple of years. Although they aren't that "deep blue green color", they are a nice green. I am so hoping that all these blooms will make a good fall harvest. With the weather we have been having, it probably increases my chances.

On eggplant: Do I treat them the same as tomatoes? As far as fertilizing? I'm thinking I can just use the same fertilizers that I am using on the tomatoes. This is the first time I've ever grown them, because they aren't one of my favorite vegetables. They work for a coumadin diet, though. I have them in containers as well.

Saw both the cardiologist and primary doc yesterday. I'm now on coumadin/warfarin for life. So, my primary doc agrees that we need to configure my coumadin around a vegetable rich diet, because that is how I eat. She is willing to put me on a low-dose Vitamin K supplement, which may keep me in range. 50% of long-term coumadin patients showed better ability to stay within therapeutic levels when administered low-dose vitamin K. The thought is that it is easier to handle small changes in diet, when you have a baseline that isn't zero. So, at least I have that to be grateful for.

I went ahead and tossed all the transplants of broccoli, etc. There truly is no point in messing with all that, when I need to eat just small regular amounts of it. It would cost 100 times more to keep it fed, watered, etc., and I'd still have to give most of it away.

One last question: Do I need to trim off the lower leaves/branches on these container tomatoes like I do in the garden?

Thanks!

Mary

Okiedawn, Thank you for this information, I didn't know this could be done.

authereray, You're welcome.

Mary, Yes, of course you can reuse the soil-less mix. I usually just add more soil-less mix to the existing mix in containers, because some of it does decompose and get used up over the course of the year, and when I add it, I stir it in well with a trowel, which also helps fluff up the mix since it compacts with watering and rainfall. Or, sometimes I just add compost, composted manure, earthworm castings or pine bark fines---whatever I think it needs. You also can add a pelleted fertilizer like Osmocote or Peters or whatever...in fact, with containers, that always is a good idea because of the way watering/rainfall leach out nutrients. Every few years I'll pour out the soil-less mix in containers. Usually I add them to whichever raised bed needs its soil level raised and then I'll start over with new mix, but not all that often. I like to add half-rotted chunks of wood to the bottom of containers when filling them because that helps bring in the microbial life that the soil needs and it lasts longer than smaller pine bark fines.

You can treat eggplants just like tomatoes in terms of watering and fertilizing, but they like heat quite a bit more so in the springtime you plant them a little later---more about the time you'd plant peppers.

I'm glad you and your doctor had such a great discussion about your diet, the role of vitamin K and the role of a veggie-heavy diet when on coumadin. You are lucky to have such an involved physician who pays attention to your dietary preferences and works with you on that. I am glad you'll be able to enjoy your greens with less worry since you'll already have a baseline dose of K and coumadin adjusted to the baseline amount plus whatever amount you will be eating regularly.

Container tomatoes may or may not have the same foliar diseases as those in the garden, so I'd just watch them and see if the lower foliage needs to be pruned. I usually do not automatically prune off the lower foliage in container tomato plants because often it doesn't need it. You are in a generally more moist and more humid environment that I am so you may find that you do need to prune off that lower foliage to ensure better air flow and less disease issues. Time will tell.

Dawn

Mary, I buy cedar flake horse bedding to mulch containers with. It's easier to control than some things.

Thanks, Dawn. I will keep my eye on the lower leaves.

Amy, do you buy it at Atwoods? I have mulched them with straw from Stillwater Milling, but....once again....it was full of seeds so now I am getting alfalfa?? coming up. This is why I could never keep the garden weeded. lol I can remove the straw, and replace it with the bedding.

I get mine at atwoods, but probably any feed store should have it, I'm sure stillwater milling would have it.