As a last resort in May or early June,I planted "Thousands" cherry tomatoes. Its been fairly productive considering its grown in a wooden 4' flower box only 8" square. Long and narrow. Its not what they can do in ground..but its remained disease free. A tip.

Mine stopped producing about 6 weeks ago, and I finally gave up and yanked them yesterday. Last year the crop was wonderful and I pulled up my last plant in December.

Last year my tomatoes did almost nothing, but I relied on the miserable drip irrigation which was strictly limited by the city due to drought. I wasn't able to hand water as I was out of town a lot. This year I've done a lot of hand watering and have tomatoes coming out of my ears. They seem to love the heat, just needed more water.

I also had a really sad harvest, full of disease, maybe it IS the weather.

After doing some research I have concluded that I was hit by a double Whammie-- not rotating the location where I grow my tomatoes and also a super hot summer. Yes, tomatoes do you love the sun but we had 90s and above for much of July and into August. I've learned that after about 85 or 90° tomatoes stop pollinating. Additionally, my plot recreives 8 to 10 hours of full sun.

Heat ruined mine, however a compost pile volunteer in mostly shade is still going and producing cherry tomatoes. They aren't very sweet.

I had a terrible year for tomatoes too. Spider mites got them really early this year. They're always a problem but usually toward the end of the season and I can keep them at bay long enough to get a decent harvest. My plants didn't even get to full size this year - 1/3 or 1/2 the normal size. I pulled them weeks ago. Planted a Stupice in one of the spots. Fingers crossed I eke out a few tomatoes.

I did notice the mites..that was new. I think that's because we only water the base of the plant since we've been taught wetting the leaves is dangerous!

I guess tomatoes need the grime and young bugs washed off too.

Last year, almost all of my tomatoes died mid-summer, as did my neighbor's. This year, I got nothing but hybrids that had resistance to the problems I get here - blight, coastal fog, etc. It worked! Maybe chance? Because my neighbor also had a good year and she plants whatever. I also followed a tip and planted onions and marigolds around each tomato to keep away pests. Seemed to help. Will do the same again next year.