Mistakes, again. Can I fix this one?

My goal this year: rather than increase the size of my garden , I planned to do more with the existing space. Most of the plants did well -- the tomatoes didn't.

Last year the tomatoes grew much larger than their cages, breaking on the wire and flopping on the ground, where tomatoes (still growing!) would begin to rot. The poor pepper plants behind them were struggling to get any sunshine at all.

This year I moved the peppers in front of the tomatoes and planted the tomatoes around a taller coated trellis so I could tie them up with cloth as needed. Unfortunately, I planted too many and put them too close together. They're fighting for water and nutrition out of a relatively small piece of soil. Even the drainage and the extra calcium I provided (shredded paper and eggshells) couldn't make up for the crowding.

I pulled out three plants that were really struggling and transplanted them into a large planter near my deck. They get more sun here, and despite the limited space, they're doing much, much better now that they don't have to fight the other taller and larger plants. Will they flower and produce tomatoes? I don't know. If I'd left these in the back with the others, they were dying. They would not have survived to make fruit.

Next year we have plans for a smaller separate plot -- just for tomatoes. We'll see what happens then! But for now, I'll wait and see what kind of tomatoes I can enjoy on my BLTs in a few weeks - or hopefully, sooner.