The tomato is America's favorite garden vegetable (though, technically, it's a fruit).

Last year was a dismal one for some homegrown tomatoes — due to blight or bad weather — but don't despair.

And if you're an inexperienced tomato grower and last year's failure made you vow to forsake them this year, don't.

Try again.

Here's a way to cheat: Instead of buying a small, tender transplant in a 4-inch pot, spend more on an established plant. It will cost more, for sure. But your chances of successfully harvesting fruit are better.

Bonnie Plants sells 3-gallon bush tomatoes at Lowe's and Home Depot stores for $9.98. At the Dallas Farmers Market, once the weather warms, a few farm vendors sell plants in their stalls. Plants in 3-gallon pots stand 3 feet tall and even have small, green fruits developing.

Home Depot accommodates the trend for patio and balcony gardens by stocking varieties developed for small-space gardens. The plants, including okra, tomatillo, three kinds of squash, six tomatoes and two eggplants, are grown in Lindale, Texas.

Priced at $4.98 in gallon pots, the varieties are advertised as suitable for small vegetable plots, containers and even hanging baskets.

Almost every garden retailer is selling Bright Lights Swiss chard now, for the vegetable garden as well as for ornamental uses. If you see it available in a gallon pot, that's a bargain. Renee Fisher, manager of Redenta's Garden in Old East Dallas, pointed out that the gallon size, priced at $6.99, holds nine plants.

They look so tightly entwined many people might be inclined to plant the whole tangled root ball in one hole. But Fisher shows how to gently, gently tease the webbing of tiny roots apart, careful to keep each taproot intact, into separate plants.

If given the right conditions, including room to develop, chard becomes a tall, broad plant ribbed in bright red, pink, orange or yellow. The leaves are rich in vitamin A, calcium, iron, magnesium, phosphorus and potassium.

"I eat Swiss chard every week," Fisher says.

Home Depot has a new line of lightweight decorative containers styled after historical European shapes. Versailles tubs, Italian footed urns, low bowls and others are made of resin and crushed stone, an ingredient that allows them to weather naturally.

Another new line, Southern Patio, is made of high-density resin that is recyclable and resistant to frost and ultraviolet light.

The hot, bright hues are ideal for modern and contemporary looks.