Hi Deb,
Thank you for your response. My garden is in all about 10ft x 17ft, full sun, I rotate plants as much as I can, but it's not a perfect rotation. I do add
compost every year and the soil is pretty good, I start my seeds in the winter in my house, and repot up as they get bigger, before the last frost I have red wall-of-waters that I can use to start them out early and keep them protected to extend my season. I don't get much wind unless a storm comes through, I have pretty high heat in the summer and it is normally dry too. I like tomatoes that are more like a beefsteak, and I use those for everything (salads, sandwiches, sauces) I've grown some sauce tomatoes, and I haven't been overly impressed with them, I'm more into a great flavor (I like the sweeter pink brandywine or the sweet, tomatoey, dusky Cherokee). How's the flavor of an Early Girl? This year I've got two pink Quisenberry strain brandys, 1 red brandy, 2 Cherokee, and 2 Beaverlodge slicers, all 7 plants growing this year in a kind-of a zig-zagged row using 1/2 of the garden (it's about 4ft x 17ft) it's a little tight, and have been setting r-bar on either side and 1 in the middle by the plant, and weaving garden twine around them to kinda cage them in. (The beaverlodge was an attempt to find a determinate I like, but I haven't gotten to try one yet, the squirrels took all of those to-date.) I think next year I'll only do 2 plants. Maybe I'll just grow my favorites, but with only 2 plants trying to sprawl and take over I'll be able to keep after them. I guess my bigger to deal with is getting my garden fenced again, I'm losing most of my fruits to squirrels and birds!