Calling All GARDENERS!

[Renee]

Okay, for all intents and purposes, I have a black thumb. I killed my friend's cactii when I was house sitting one time!! Now, I live in Southeast Texas. My in-laws gave me a sprouting Roma tomato plant in a pot/container. From dirt to top, it's about 3 1/2 feet tall. It has one green tomato growing, but I don't see any other flowers or buds.

My questions are these:

1. Will there be more than one tomato?

2. What do I need to do to optimize this plant?

3. If I don't let this plant get frozen (it rarely freezes here in TX, and I can take the plant inside if a freeze is forecast), will it come back next year?

4. What else do I need to know...

I'm really scared that I'm going to kill this thing, and I don't want to! Any advice would be GREAT!

Thanks!

[nimuay]

Moderate watering, you can prune it back if necessary, no it won't have just one tomato, 1/2 strength fertilizer or good organic rotten salmon fertilizer. It can develop diseases, so you can look up tomato diseases for your area and act accordingly.

[sidewalker]

make sure the container is on the larger side.
(size of the container/pot will determine how big it will get)
I'd say maybe a 10 gallon would be *safe* or a wine barrel would also work well.

and FULL SUN.
(be sure to check the soil if its been very hot) If it stays really hot you might want to pick a spot that gets some shade (not much tho)

No, it likely wont come back. (unless it reseeds itself)
Tomatoes are annual plants (at least as far as I know) Annual means one season. Thats it.

Oh also after its been established and growing you can probably cut down a bit on the water. One yr I stopped watering toward the end of summer (Aug/sept) and the buggars still kept giving me tomatoes.

Here is a pretty good primer
http://www.weekendgardener.net/veget...oes-070707.htm

[nimuay]

Just for the record - they will reseed like crazy . . . tomato sprouts always show where the trailer used to be parked . . . the seeds survive even the human digestive system.

They won't necessarily seed true - the genetics of tomatoes is truly complex, and they have many diverse genes which will recombine madly.

[Divamc]

Speaking of tomatoes....

My two plants outside (one is Amish Paste, and the other is a Viva Italia) are fruiting. My Viva Italia has a lot of fruit while it took a little longer for the fruit on my Amish Paste to form.

I have more seedling tomatoes. I have...

Gypsy
Amazon Chocolate
Emerald Apple
Orange Icicle
Paul Robeson
Opalka
Brandywine
Black Krim

I have to start over on all of my peppers. My basil is out of control (it is beyond leafing, into flowering). I lost some of my other herbs, but I still have my marjoram, sage, and a little dill.