The type of plant you have, the amount of water (whether natural rain or manual), and container type will make a big difference on the type of mix and how your plant responds in your environment. I think that sometimes we overthink it too much for a plant that is basically only going to be grown as an annual. People have posted great results for tomatoes growing in 5-gallon paint buckets, tires, actual bags of soil as the "container", rubbermaid totes, half whiskey barrels, fancy clay pots, plastic square pots, foam pots, etc., etc. The big thing to consider is your climate - ie., does it get brutally hot all season with little rain or does it fluctuate with hot periods and cooler periods with rain or does it stay cool all summer, etc.? Do you get lazy (or go away alot) during summer and can't water as often or do you baby your plants and try to water them every day whether they may need it or not (out of habit)? Do you get full blazing sun all day long or just morning sun or mainly afternoon sun? Are the plants sitting on concrete? Grass? Black asphalt? Gravel? Wood decking? Basically, over time, you would learn about your area's climate, the actual growing area's microclimate, as well as your natural watering practices, and would then adjust your mix and container type to best fit that. And as an FYI, my mother insists on getting bagged soil rather than a soiless mix and based on her yard, sun exposure, and her watering habits, her container tomatoes and peppers blow mine away by a longshot (she has a south-facing spot for her plants where mine are on a NE-facing covered balcony getting little or no overhead sun but full morning sun and a little in the afternoon in the corner where I position mine). It's the most remarkable thing to see but the whole debate about soil in containers seems to get thrown out after watching her container production year after year after year. Last year, she planted some 12" - 18" tall tomatoes and peppers in pure "Miracle Gro" vegetable and bedding soil (the kind you dump in a bed) at the end of May and by July, her plants looked like this: By August, they looked like this, sprawled all over (she moved her peppers to a different spot as some of the fruit were getting scalded): Apparently, the heavy wettish "soil" that she uses for her containers sitting in full blazing sun was kept in a sort of balance due to the tomato foliage helping to act as a shade over that soil to keep it from getting rock hard too quickly, and thus the soil's tendency to retain moisture helped the roots deal with the sun. So I just say, do some experimenting to see what works best because often things don't always pan out the way that would make any sense whatsover, but the environment and your care practices will be more the determining factor. ;-)

Thanks for some wonderful trades to many! here is an updated list of what is available: Lettuce: Pablo Lettuce Herbs: Organic Common Chives Organic Plain Parsley Organic Cilantro/Coriander Organic Sweet Basil Organic Oregano Common English Thyme Dill 'Bouquet' Broadleaf Sage Vegetables: Climbing French Bean Fin de Bagnol bean Flowers: Pink & Red Peony Poppy Salvia Mixture Painted Lady Improved Runner Bean Sea Shells Cosmos

That's normal pole bean behavior, happens all the time. As the plants keep putting on new growth, they let go of the old. It may be worse because you're growing them in a pot that probably seemed large when you started, but is now small. The plants will grow stronger and bear longer when grown in the ground. One really should not spray chemicals until you know what you're deality with. Be cool.

Cool, Worth. I like to make peace between our native Lepidoptera and gardeners. I asked a while back if planting cilantro really did work. I think if it does, it will be the best way to build that bridge between us and insects. if hornworms only stayed on their side of the fence, no one would ever have incentive to kill them. they are large, high-profil insects which have big appetites. If you think a hornworm is voracious, try feeding out some Cecropia or Polyphemus cats! Sheesh! Cecropias get nearly 5" and a Poly is only 4' at the longest, but thicker and heavier than a tobacco worm. Well, Carolyn posted how cilantro does not always work. Maybe even mere coincidence. I have NO cilantro and still NO hornworms at all! Last year, I regularly combed my neighbor's tomato plants and found only 6 or 7 larvae--all of which were parasitized by the dreaded tachinid fly. This fly [an introduced species, has not only taken a huge toll on sphingids, but has been responsible for the extinction of a few saturniids and is still taking a huge toll on existing species! My neighbor told me just 30 years ago, hornworms were everywhere. I can believe it. Nature is out of whack and the virtual local extinction of the beautiful Io moth only proves it! I used to find Io's like you find hornworms--30 some years ago. I always reared Io's every summer. Now, I haven't even seen a wild Io in 15 years! Yes, hornworms are quite pretty. Not as ornate as our sat cats, but remarkably designed and strategically camouflaged. Green, the color of most plants, caterpillars and even some birds--is also my favorite color. Another hornworm and non-pest, is the ash sphinx, also found in Austin, and the ofen colorful white-lined sphinx. Unfortunately, disease, not insects, has destroyed much of my crop and if I don't get hornworms soon, I'm just going to abort about half of my plants!