i am trying artichokes for the first time this year too Dean. Little embarrassed to confess that i planted them last spring and left them in four inch pots until just a few months ago because i didn't know where to plant them out. They look happy, getting very wide but not very tall. i just received some Naranjillo seeds and will be planting them soon. Not really sure what to expect but sometimes the only way to find out about something is to try it. i think i found the thread you were looking for. Google works better than the GW search function sometimes, especially when you get those Whoops! messages. i don't think it's a full thread (didn't take the time to reread it yet) so maybe if you add a post it will repost to the forum. Doesn't always work tho... Here is a link that might be useful: Zeedman's unusual vegetables thread

Here's my rule for growing climbers. do NOT prune the first three years. That includes pruning to encourage vertical growth. You may prune branches that are a hazard to navigation but that's it. That's my rule. Roses are grown to produce flowers. I have never ever removed flower buds to increase growth. I have never ever noticed that my roses are stunted by not removing flower buds. You may have a root sucker instead of a long climbing cane, if these are grafted plants. Yes it will stop growing in length once it sets flower buds but will continue when you deadhead off the old flowers. There's no intrinsic reason to limit the number of flowering canes. Only space limitations. Zig zagging the canes may help produce more flowers, depending. The most flowering shoots come off horizontal growth. So it will depend on how horizontal you got it while zig zagging. Vertical trellises are always problematic with climbing roses - not enough space to get the canes horizontal. The blackening and withering at the tips can be a number of things. Heat damage, cold damage, drought damage, rose midge. If those new long canes are not root suckers, what you want to do is wait til late summer when they just start to turn woody, and train them then. they're too soft in spring, and too woody in winter. They will put out flowering shoots next year. No, last year's canes do not suddenly take off and shoot up 15 ft. although they may continue to put out new growth over the course of a few years, but the dramatic shooting up you're looking for is done by new canes all at once, or not at all. Like you've seen. The one that did not shoot out long canes is right on schedule. Give it another couple years to get its roots established, then stand back!

I'd leave the flowers on. The plant will edit itself. Unless you can provide more light, I'd keep the pot size pretty small. Habanero can get very large - much larger, I'm sure, than you want in your apartment - and a smaller pot will keep it small. You can't give it enough light to hurt it. Nothing you do will get even close to the brightness of the sun. Peppers are high energy plants that eat sunlight for breakfast, lunch, and dinner if they can get it. Overall, the plant looks very healthy. It should provide you with nice, hot pods! Good luck, Dennis

Hi Caelian! Enjoyed your post and the pictures. I've never used grow bags before but plan to next year. I purchased two 25 gallon ones in which I will plant one plant per bag. Now regarding the issue of your soil drying out quickly. What type of soil did you use, potting or garden? Potting soil is recommended when using containers and my choice is organic because I don't enjoy eating the chemicals that are found in Miracle Gro, not to mention the fact that non-organic fertilizers destroy your soil. (Check out the information available on the net on this subject.) Happy tomato growing. This season has been so different from last year. However in spite of all the challenges it has been fun and a definitely a learning one for me.