A wierd year and I learned quite a bit.
(1) Fearing the worst distorted my perspective... into assuming or concluding, the worst. So there were some pleasant surprises after a while, but without the 'bonus' of an actual pleasant surprise, since I was sure of the worst for a period of time, and it just... wasn't the case. Imagine.. tomatoes taught me something not-helpful about myself!
(2) What they say about container mix is true. I got the wrong stuff - due to being misinformed about the mix before it was delivered - and I used it anyway, but if I had my time back I would not have bothered. All kinds of trouble with 'topsoil' in the mix (aka amended clay) instead of sand as I expected. And besides the emergency measures I had to do early in the season to try to fix the compacted soil effects, I also had some potassium deficiency damage to my crop anyway - as I had last year because of cold. Making potassium available, addressing every cause of deficiency..... yes I believe it is the #1 key to growing top notch tomatoes.
(3) Overcrowding is another cause of potassium deficiency. See above. Why do I make this mistake again and again?
(3) (b) Build it and they will come? Maybe a good idea. Let them come and build it later... not as good an idea.
(4) To everything there is a season. Carolyn is right.
I enjoy tomatoes more when I actually have none left in the freezer by spring time.
(5) Big beefsteaks are not a great choice for outdoors in our climate. That puckered stem end is a happy-hole for fungus rot.
Smooth shoulder shape is a better idea, or the whole effort may be wasted.
(6) If I sold every tomato I grew in our short/unpredictable season, I would not make minimum wage for the effort. Starting later and growing outdoors, even worse and a shocking amount of green fruit wasted.
Tomatoes are a bit of a lost leader here, even for farms with lots of infrastructure. It is just a (delicious) hobby, for me. Better to grow a few, and don't sell any.
