You can lighten heavy clay soil
Adding compost and other organic matter will improve texture over time
Q How can I lighten my heavy clay soil and improve its drainage?
A For faster draining of excess moisture, and earlier warming in spring, raised beds are a help. Regular additions of organic matter like compost and aged manures improve soil texture over time.
In my half-acre Vernon garden the soil was hard-packed clay. It was both a back-breaker and the most wonderfully productive garden I've ever had. Clay soils hold on to nutrients as well as moisture.
To improve the soil's texture, I found that grass clippings mixed half and half with aged sawdust worked well to break up the dense clay when they are scratched into the soil at the end of the growing season, during which they served as a summer mulch between rows and around plants.
Q What do “determinate” and “indeterminate” mean in tomato descriptions? Is one better than the other?
A Determinate tomatoes are bush tomatoes. They grow to a fixed (“determined”) size and are not pruned of sucker growth except enough to provide adequate circulation of air through the plant.
Indeterminate tomatoes are grown against stakes or some other sturdy support. Their size is not “determined.” The plants keep on growing until wilted by cold weather. To prevent a muddled tangle of stems, sprigs of suckering growth that emerge in the V shapes created where leaf stems meet the main stem are snapped off while they are still small. In this way, each plant can be kept to a single stem, with the optimal exposure to sunlight and air that leads to healthy, productive growth.
I grow mainly staked tomatoes.
They take less space, and I find them more neatly manageable; however, summer temperature patterns are changing and sun scald has become an issue. A fertile, humus-rich soil of robust texture and moisture retaining capacity helps to maintain plant and fruit health. As well, I'm planning to have light shading on hand for use in times of intense sunlight and high heat.