Hello all!

I live in central LA. I'm posting because I have some questions about two of my heirloom tomato plants.

I have a rather large organic container/tub garden with several different varieties of veggies: fairy tale and Santana eggplant, a multitude of hot and sweet peppers, purple okra, zukes, sugar baby watermelons, cantaloupe, green and purple tomatillos, and an assortment of heirloom and hybrid tomatoes. Of all of my tomato varieties, I have: Black Prince, Yellow Pear, Orange Blossom, Great White, Sungold cherries, Big boys, Black Seaman, some random heirlooms that a friend of mine started from seed and gave to me (not sure what they are, frankly), beefsteak, Green Zebra, a couple of Patio tomatoes, a yellow Brandywine, and a pink Brandywine.

Everyone is doing absolutely great except for the Brandywines. I've gotten multiple fruit from each tomato (that Black Prince is absolutely ASTOUNDING). And even they're doing quite well apart from the fact that they never set fruit.

Now I know it's probably too late for them to set fruit (it's hot and the middle of June) and it just rained like the dickens for the 2 weeks, so I guess a lot of the pollen may have washed away but.....here's my question.....

They're lush and gorgeously green. They are still making flowers, and hand-pollinating seems to have *perhaps* helped. Maybe. I think I got one to set a fruit. So we'll see. I know brandywines aren't big producers, and I've been fairly light with the fertilizer to make sure they don't get too much nitrogen (I've been container gardening for the last few years. I've made that mistake. Ha. And the over-watering. And under-watering. And every other thing people warn you about container gardening.)

My question is this: is it worth it to try and nurse these babies thru the rest of the summer for the fall garden? Do these guys produce better in the fall months than they do in the summer? I'm not sure I'm going to get any off for this crop. The rest (particularly the green zebra) all have tons and tons of tomatoes.

Oh, and the Brandywines are both in huge containers- I think they're 24 inches across? At any rate, they aren't rootbound, and I have been growing indeterminates in these guys since I started, so I know they're big enough to handle it. (I've grown indeterminates in 5-10 gallon containers and had more tomatoes than I could give away. I contribute this to my rabbits' poop. Rabbit poop is awesome.)

ok....I'll quite rambling. Point of question is: is it worth it to nurse my Brandywines thru the really really hot summer? How can I go about doing this? Does anyone have experience with these delicate heirlooms? It's pretty easy for me to shade them from the heat of the day sun.

I've lurked on these forums for years- actually posted once about an orange tree but forgot my user name, so now I'm here under this. :)

Thanks for any help!