Advice on what to grow

[SmartAlex]

Well Done!

My Stepdad got his mother a cherry tomato plant, and she refused to eat the tomatoes because they were too precious to her

[dice]

Eva Purple Ball and Stupice will take over the space (my Stupice plants
are typically 5' high and 4' around by end of season) if you let them.
The rest of those may come out of the top of the cage, but not by too
much. Golden Dwarf Champion and Sophie's Choice should fit the cages
just right.

[cloz]

Originally Posted by dice

Eva Purple Ball and Stupice will take over the space (my Stupice plants
are typically 5' high and 4' around by end of season) if you let them.
The rest of those may come out of the top of the cage, but not by too
much. Golden Dwarf Champion and Sophie's Choice should fit the cages
just right.

Luckily the Stupica is the plant on the right in the 3rd picture, so it is separated from the others a bit. The Eva Purple Ball is the middle one in the 2nd picture and will probably be the problem. Worse comes to worse, I'll pull it out.
I had meant to use an Al-Kuffa and New Big Dwarf there, but they were slow in coming to planting size so I went with what I had when I was going down there for a visit.

Getting her walking and out of the house a bit during the day is more important at this point than the tomato results. I just got through planting 62 tomato plants at my house, so I think I can afford to bring her a few tomatoes later in the season.

[cloz]

My planting for my Mother-In-Law turned out much more successful than I ever imagined. She was the hit of the block, supplying tomatoes for her neighbors. Stupice was the standout that everyone liked and it has been requested for next year. Very productive right till frost. Golden Dwarf Champion produced a few tasty tomatoes and then died. Black Sea Man produced no ripe tomatoes before it died. Grubb's Mystery Green produced a few very large tomatoes and died. Danko hung in there to the end producing quite well. Eva Purple Ball grew huge and took over the entire space (as predicted by someone here) and produced a huge harvest. My Faux Sophie's Choice grew to 7' + in length. It grew up over door height before collapsing down on the bushes and ground. Obviously wrong seed as stated earlier. It did, however, provide a very large harvest of tennis ball sized tomatoes. The pictures below were taken mid September and she picked her last basket full of green tomatoes in mid October.
Next year I may substitute 2 or 3 of the New Dwarf Project releases since Golden Dwarf Champion and Grubb's Mystery Green were quite manageable there.
Faux Sophie's was too big and unmanageable. Eva Purple Ball was also too big, but it may be back again because of the fantastic production of tasty tomatoes.
Picture 1 is basically all Eva Purple Ball. Picture 2 is the Faux Sophie's Choice (the seed supplied by Tomatofest) , Picture 3 is Stupice (which was quite manageable also)

[TomNJ]

I also plant tomatoes for my 92 year old Mom, and cover the ground with a heavy layer of straw mulch. Eliminates the need to water and weed, and looks great.

TomNJ

[lakelady]

I think it's wonderful to keep seniors active in gardening! I work in that industry and am constantly telling communities they need to get a veggie garden going for the seniors if they don't have them already. Aside from giving them fresh produce, that generation still takes pride in doing things themselves, it's important for their independence. Not to mention, purpose is so valuable at that age, and I think it's great that having those plants gave mom a reason to get up and walk outside to see them. Good for the arthritis!

Hmm...you gave me an idea. I think next year, I'll bring my bonus plants to some assisted living communities that I work with. If they don't have a a garden setup, I'll convince the administrators to get the gardeners to build some raised beds for them!! GREAT idea!