Interesting, I hadn't thought much about cross pollination! I've got a basil plant that's been growing in my windowsill for the past 3 years and this year for the first time I'm letting it flower so I can collect some seeds. Maybe I'll try planting some outside this summer.

Any other herbs that you think go well with tomatoes?

Water is tricky. We bought the house a few years ago. A developer bought it and tried to rehab it and flip it just before the housing crash and we wound up picking it up for a good price... but it seems like some things were only half finished.

They built a stairway to the rooftop, and even put an outside power outlet on the roof. But there's no deck or water supply.

Fortunately there is a third floor bathroom and a laundry room. So I fill up a big watering can and lug it up one flight of steps. Before I added the strawberries one can seemed to be enough for most of the planters. Now I usually have to make about two trips. When it gets hotter/sunnier it might be three.

There were days last year when I felt like I had to water twice a day because the planters were drying out so quickly -- but I may have been overdoing it. :)

I also had virtually no success with peppers or spinach last year. The snow peas were my only really strong crop. I'm a little more optimistic about my chances this year now that I know part of my problem is the fungus gnat community that's decided to move in.