I'm doing my best to educate myself, but I'm very much a newbie... patience is appreciated!

The short version is that I don't think I have enough sun to support the plants I want to grow, but perhaps it's just that I've had a bad round.

The long version:

I've now had two rounds of an attempted patio garden. I am using 2 of these self-watering containers that were gifted to me:

http://www.gardeners.com/39%22-Windowbox/34-502VS,default,pd.html?start=10&cgid=PotsPlanters_SelfWateringPlanters

Zone 10 (southern California), organic potting soil with no treatment as I am trying to grow edibles. I planted winter thyme, thai basil, peppermint, chamomile, rosemary and sweet basil in one planter... heirloom grape tomatoes, chives, and sweet pepper seeds (all others were established plants) in the other.

My patio faces due west and really only gets 3-4 hours of a band of sun moving across it in the afternoon. I know this automatically presents a challenge!

The first attempt ended with root rot and mushrooms sprouting out the bottom of the planters. This current attempt was going okay until I filled the troughs and then got an unexpected two days of rain. Fungus gnats moved in, and I read that the best defense was to let the soil dry out. I emptied the troughs and didn't water for over three weeks, until a couple of the plants seemed near death... at which point I broke down and watered - lightly, and only over the plants that looked saddest. The fungus gnats seemed to have diminished, but came back with a vengeance the second I watered. It's been over a month since that watering and the soil still looks damp, with no rain and sunny, warm weather every day.

Last week I read that cinnamon and chamomile tea are both natural fungicides and may help me, so I sprinkled cinnamon directly on the soil and then spritzed lightly with strongly brewed, cooled chamomile tea to help it soak into the soil. It seems like the population is slowly diminishing as the eggs hatch, grow, and hopefully move on?

This morning I saw a pillbug/roly poly, though.

I don't have a specific question, just looking for critiques of what I'm doing, I suppose. I've already learned that the tomatoes need their own pot as they're too much to compete with, but everything else seems to be doing okay short of the drying issue. The thai basil and peppermint even seem to be thriving.

Thanks in advance for any thoughts/suggestions. I fully acknowledge that I've made some mistakes, but I'm learning!!