Get with NRaleighLiberal for suggestions and possibly you can get some seeds to try....and then save and continue. You will not find a better source of information on heirloom tomatoes.

And don't worry about goofing. Just keep on trucking.

You'd have a pretty good frittata!

Thanks, I'll contact NRL - I love heirlooms and devote quite a few pots to them. But somebody started raving about Ruskin tomatoes, so naturally I became obsessed with the subject and can't rest until I grow them at least one season. At least I stay organic!

All my food gardening is done in pots, partly to cut down my work load and also to keep things away from pests - including my dogs. Only once did I suffer an insect invader, a single gigantic tomato hornworm. I caught him in a jar and then let him loose on the ground where birds are known to congregate.

My first spring here I stumbled across a closeout sale of huge clay pots at a local variety store and bought all 20 for $5 apiece. Most were somewhere around 12-15 gallon size. When some of them finally started to give out from the harsh winters even though I covered them then, I turned them upside down and set the better ones on top for good elevation. Almost 8 years ago people swore I was a fool to buy clay pots, but there they sit today. The pots, not the people.

Since then I've kept a sharp eye out for big-pot bargains of any kind and now have more pots than the potting soil to fill them up. That will have to come next spring. And of course I scarf up pot substitutes such as double laundry tubs etc. Anything that holds still long enough gets conscripted as a pot!