Michelle, Let me say up front that I don't container gardden myself. I have a huge yard so have no need to. But I've given growing in pots a lot of thought, to see if I could come up with helpful suggestions for those that do. Plants "transpire" water, their version of sweating. And just like us, the hotter they get, the more they'll "sweat." So anything you can do to keep your potted plants cooler will help. A. If you have a choice of sites, putting them where they'll get only morning sun, but afternoon shade, will help a lot. Plants really do very little growing after the temps reach the 90s anyway. B. If such a location isn't possible, then just leaning something against or wrapping something around the pots to keep them cooler will help. Remember, only the plants themselves need sun, not the pots. C. If they're available, a nice layer of grass clippings on top of the soil will keep it a lot cooler and moister between waterings. The clippngs will also prevent weeds and provide all the nutrients your plants need. Don't let them touch the stems of the plants, though, cause they could rot them. You could make small "collars" from yogurt cups to prevent that. I'd also like to make some comments on your saying that you are growing things in pots because you are "in (a) hot dry zone 8 with only sand in my yard." I've been gardening since 1972, and like all True Gardeners, I often share things with others. And several times people would say they just loved what I gave them, which would prompt me to ask why they didn't garden themselves. And more than once the response was, "Oh, we would love to, but we have such terrible soil." (Sometimes very sandy, other times heavy clay.) It took several years- I am a bit slow sometimes, lol- but I finally came to realize that many people seem to think that soil is a permanent thing. If you're lucky, you have good soil and always will. If you're unlucky, you have bad soil, and there's nothing you can do about it. Nothing of course could be futher from the truth. If you do the right thing, which is bascially Add Organic Matter to the soil continually, you can transform the worst soil in the world into the best. (I started out with HORRIBLE red clay, great raw material for making bricks or pottery. I now have the most beautiful, black, crumbly, fertile soil you could find anywhere.) And if you started out with the best soil, but didn't add organic matter year after year, it soon would become just as bad as the soil you have. I know a gardener in Michigan who has very sandy soil. He started putting his grass clippings in his garden just this year, and he can't beLEIVE how much better everthng is growing than ever before! He has more tomatoes, peppers, greenbeans, watermelon and other things than he knows what to do with. So, if you did want to grow things in good old Mom Earth, and you can get grass clippings, all you would have to do is add a good 3-inch layer on top of the soil. You don't even have to dig out any weeds that might be present first. Just trample them flat and cover them. I've turned even sections of lawn, both in my yard and in friends', to garden or flower bed simply by covering them with grass clippings. I have not the slightest doubt that you could very successfully grow anything that does well in your area in your soil, and maybe even a few things that are not supposed to do well there? If you have questions on mulching, either post them here or e-mail me. This practice has soooo many benefits that it's a shame many people don't know about it. Tyrell

Depending on what's in your water, you may get some mineral build up eventually. Some people report staining from potting soil, usually this seems to get blamed on peat moss in the mix. I've never seen it happen myself. On the other hand, I nearly always use saucers, and water carefully with an eye to NOT overrunning the saucer - so anything like that would be kept inside the saucer. I usually use saucers because it's neater when watering. I feel like (with no basis in peer-reviewed research) keeping the water where the plant is is less wasteful, especially now that I've moved to a desert clime. Because it can soak the rest up during the day. Or it evaporates off during the day and provides a teeny bit of extra humidity - but then this is a very dry climate I'm in now. Other places I have lived were already plenty humid! It also lets me bottom water occasionally. Saucers are usually too shallow to do any damage when bottom watering, especially in the summer. I am shifting over to drip irrigation for everything, including in pots. One summer I had all my plants AND all my neighbor's plants - even the hanging baskets - on drip irrigation. My water bill went way down and everything grew like crazy beause it was so evenly watered. Had the whole thing on a timer. It was great.

Don't see why not, unless your plants previously succumbed to bad disease. Used pot contents I usually let dry out & dump into a bucket. Once enough accumulated I sift it out for the larger particles and discard the fine powder. Pep up with fresh nutrients and add more fresh potting mix topup.

Outdoors, many bugs will be picked by beneficial insects. Soil you bought may have fungus gnats - they multiply like crazy, adults laying few hundreds of eggs in their short lifetime. The larvae is what could munch on roots, adult flies are just annoying. In organic mix, they feed on decaying organic matter. So in a way the store guy was right...but it isn't so great when one pays $$$ for soil and gets bugs... You could grow veggies or anything in well draining mix like 511. Fertilize regularly, and you'll get a bounty. I grow many tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, even celery and other veggies like that. I even tried some in gritty mix - they need watering more often, but grew great. No fancy bagged soil that, at least to me, is a $ grab. Garden beds get compost added from my compost heap, where all spent plant debris and household organics go...wish I could make more :) - but this is only for garden beds, not containers.