Should be fine for a single season planting, but in the future you might wish to leave the compost for the stuff growing in the ground. It really doesn't 'work it's magic' in the confines of a container and over time will start holding lots of water, but little air for the roots.

Yup - the compost that was magic in my in ground garden is more like mud in a container. I tried using it initially (not knowing better) and it worked, but since I've learned more about containers, have found that there are better things to do.

Your post made me think that while there are gazillions of posts around about this, it would be nice to simply list the characteristics of what the mix needs to do for the type of container its in. Maybe I'll start a new post with that in it.

I use "Organic" fertilizers instead of compost in my container gardens. For each square foot, I use 1/2 cup of Bone Meal (for Calcium, Phosphorus, and slow-release Nitrogen), 1/4 cup of Blood Meal (for quicker-release Nitrogen), and 1 oz of Sul-Po-Mag (for Sulfur, Potassium, and Magnesium) per Month. I also add 1/2 cup of Greensand per square foot at the beginning of the season for slow-release Potassium, Iron, and Trace elements as well as Dolomitic Lime as need to adjust my pH to neutral. Heavy feeders and vertically grown crops (like tomatoes) require refertilizing every other week.

"Square foot" recipes have little meaning on this forum, Rob. They're probably much more useful on the 'Square Foot' forum. It's also generally accepted that a good starting point for container media is around a full point lower than what's considered an ideal pH for gardens or raised beds, so 'neutral', @ 7.0 is probably close to 2 points (1.8) higher than ideal for a container media's starting point (for all but a small % of plants).

Al

What would you suggest for fertilizers? I have been trying different things. When my plants were small i was using MG general purpose with like 12-4-8 i think it was, then i tried Plant Tone, i really wanted tomato tone but couldnt find it anywhere. Then i switched again because i thought that prob had to much nitrogen since all my plants have fruit on them now. So now I am using MG tomato food. The box says 1 tablespoon per gallon, but then how much do i give to each plant, a cup, half gallon, or a hole gallon to a ten gallon pot? And how often should i give it to them? And also one more question is MG tomatoe food good for all my plants, I have several different kinds of peppers, some cucumbers, peas and some flowers. Kinda sounds like im rambling but thanks for the help.

It's not that easy. There are relationships between the strength of the fertilizer, how fast your soil drains, your watering habits, the plant material, how often you have to water, temperatures, .... that need to be considered. If you were to choose only 1 fertilizer for all your plants, all the time, the 12-4-8 would be among the best choices. If you are using a soil that allows you to water so you completely saturate the soil every time you water, and so at least 10-15% of the total volume of water applied comes out the drain, then you should be able to fertilize at recommended strength (saturate the soil) every 2-3 weeks when the plants are growing well & at greater intervals depending on temperatures and growth rates. If you're using a soil that drains poorly, it puts a wrench in the works & complicates the program.

Al

Then i switched again because i thought that prob had to much nitrogen since all my plants have fruit on them now.

You are inadvertently buying into the myth that nitrogen is only for new growth. The NPK usage of plants usually changes very little regardless of growth stage. Some plants like more N than anything else, some prefer more potassium than N, a few even seem to prefer more calcium than N, but whatever the case it doesn't usually change much over the life of the plant.

If your fertilizer got the plant to the stage where it is flowering and setting fruit, it will be a good choice for the life of the plant.