I can't say which is better. My containers have been watered every day and the plants have grown politely to 2.5 feet and are producing. I have eaten 3 tomatoes from them already.
The garden plants I can't prune fast enough. They have grown over four feet in every direction, each plant. There are hundreds of tomatoes in there but I'm too scared to go look. I don't know how they will ever ripen but if they do I'll have great canning this fall.

So I see above one vote for garden-beats-containers, one vote for to-be-decided, so I'll play Devil's advocate and muddy the waters by saying containers-beats-garden.

The only direct comparison I can make is for the Sophie's Choice tomato. Hail was an issue of course, but for the tomatoes that survived the hail, the container plant produced more and they ripened a bit earlier.

Container tonight:
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Garden tonight:
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I have another variety in the garden only (Stupice - not pictured) that lost most of its fruit to the hail, but the fruit that survived I've been picking over the past week or so. I end up having to pick it slightly under-ripe and finish it on a windowsill, otherwise the slugs get the tomatoes. Maybe that issue would decrease as fruit higher up ripened, but of course that's the fruit that was mostly lost to the hail.

I also have two containers of cherry tomatoes... they were supposed to be Tumbler, but clearly aren't, so I don't know what variety they are. But they have done very well in containers. I keep them pruned to about 3.5 feet. Fruit set has been pretty good I think and I just started picking them a day or two ago. And in a container on the deck I was able to mostly save them from the hail, plus the slugs don't get them there. Downside is they require water pretty much every day:

{{gwi:771683}}

Just responding to this thread as I am totally devouring a toasted Early Girl sandwich with mayo and salt. I just picked 6 red ripe EG's about an hour ago when I went out to water. I'm in heaven when I am "involved" with a homegrown tomato sandwich!! :-) These ones were from the potted EGs. I have been picking cherry types of Sungold, Sweet Million and an orange variety that I can't remember the name of nor can I see the tag, for about 10 days or so. Fantastic as well last week. Another awesome sandwich! Gotta cut down the forest some more so everyone will get more sun.

So far this summer has been awesome for vegies and horrid for this old gardener. Flooding rain or stifling heat and mosquitos from hell! The dogs and I have spent most of the summer in the basement. I have a literal jungle of tomatoes out there with 14 potted, 3 each in 2 large tubs, and 22 in ground that are over 4 feet high! I totally can empathize with you, Gil! I have to take a machete with me out there! Lots of fruit but have to hack off lots of green to get it to ripen.

So, as far as production goes, I would have to say it is about equal with potted and in ground. I think the advantage of the pots is their position in the yard for ripening. They are, however, at a disadvantage in that they dry out rather quickly even with all the rain and watering at night on hot days. Bigger pots would work for that problem- like 5 gallon pails and maybe tying them up to the deck. The ones in the home made table cloth/laundry basket planters are actually doing the best.

In ground ones just need to get some sun on their fruit. Monster huge plants that are about as wide as they are high. I'll take some before and after pics in the morning when I head out to tame the beasts. :-)

Don, your tomatoes look great. I haven't tried Sopie's Choice yet but maybe next year. We have been lucky still to have no hail on this side of the river. :-)

Ginny

PS Forgot to move my Tiny Tim and my boys have decided it is their favorite tomato to pee on. Tiny blueberry sized tomatoes non the less. Shoulda put it in a hanging basket. :-/

O.K. Everyone. Final observation. In ground or pots?

In ground without a doubt for my yard with a hot summer. The plants in the pots were too much work and didn't produce much fruit. Now if I had taken even more time to fertilize more often, water more often, maybe, but I think the effort would be more than the reward. My in ground plants produced an acceptable amount of fruit (far far more than in the pots), especially considering they were planted in soil that's been grass for over 30 years and no amendment to the clay soil other than chopped leaves on top and double digging. I'm looking forward to next year when the soil will have been amended with compost/leaves/grass.

So what's everyone else's vote? Inground or pots?

My vote is for in ground. I would love a series of horse shoe beds with which to grow them one tomato plant wide. The one advantage of pots is they don't take up as much room and I can move them with the sun. Bigger tomatoes on the in ground but still lots of green ones due to garden position. My neighbours trees shot up this year with all the rain. Maples tend to do that very quickly. :( Love the trees but will be ripening toms in the house. :)

Ginny

Ginny,
Skip Sophie's Choice. Mine came down with some kind of disease like blossom end rot, but I don't think it is BER, but it wrecked a good portion of the fruit. Makes me think they are succeptible to disease, as none of my other tomatoes had disease issues. That aside, they pass through the good-eating stage so quickly that it isn't worth it. Once they reach ripe stage and you pick them, you'd better eat them right away because one day of sitting as leftovers in the fridge and they have turned into tomato mush. I'm pretty sure I won't be growing them again.

I pulled my tomato plants this morning.

Another noticeable difference between the in ground and pots.

The root system on the in ground plants was far better. The roots were much thicker.

I suppose all this could be because of nutrients in the soil versus not enough fertilizing the pots, ( and the excessive heat ) but I'm not sure I'll be willing to try the experiment again next year or not. I'll probably plant the Elfin Grape tomatoes in the pots next year, as there wasn't much difference in the amount of fruit from the smaller plants. BTW Elfin Grape tomatoes are absolutely delicious =:)

No Sophie's Choice seed, Don, but thanks for the heads up. I have literally 215 varieties of tomato seed and that is at last count on paper. I think I have to add a few more that I purchased this year. Anyone looking for a particular variety, just ask. I may just have it.

Ginny