Was it just the pot size or did you change up the soil mix too? I read somewhere that tomatoes are basically root monsters and will fill whatever space you give them. Your old pot was like trying to live in a closet. Makes sense that a beefsteak needed a real home to stretch out. That fabric bag probably lets the roots breathe way better than a hard plastic pot ever could.

Nah, that forehead moment is just pure comedy. The self-annoyance never even shows up.

That sounds absolutely brutal. I read a story once about a crew in Oklahoma using cargo straps as emergency wind braces on days like that. Sometimes you just have to get creative and eat the cost to save the rest of the job.