Dear angierainbow83, Please think about the info from Jodi and Al. I add my own story below. Since thinking through my own experiences will help me too, I hope you don't mind. I believe for me, I need to separate the garden beds from my containers; just as a two bedrooms can be used differently while still being a room, a separate approach to garden beds (to use Al's words, more "organic") vs. containers (more "inorganic") is still gardening. Good luck on your journey! Over the past few years I seem to be suffering from a case of harvest envy. Due to space and location, I do not have the ability to grow vegetables in the ground due to shade, but I do have a very sunny spot where containers work fine. I have "successfully" grown various vegetables (and am lazily including tomatoes in this category). I say "successfully" since I have never been able to come close to the level of harvest that neighbors get when the essentially identical plants with similar methods EXCEPT the plants are grown in the ground. In fact, I can say this with with confidence since I have provided them with their plants. I have experimented with various combinations of top soil, organic potting soil, compost and small gravel. (I won't go into nutrient supplements I have tried.) I have used about 15gal lightly-colored plastic pots raised off the ground. Given my growing climate, young plants move into these pots in early May and typically are taken down sometime after Columbus Day. The plants are still producing, but the colder temps negative influences many of the types I grow. In the case of eggplant, tomatoes, cucumbers, and peppers, for example, my plants are 5-6ft tall and produce a crop not quite sufficient for a small family throughout much of the season. When I take the pots down at the end of the season, I typically find the exterior soil to be damp/dry while the center below the stem and near the main roots to be very wet. Further, there are many small roots near the soil surface, possible due to the thin mulch layer I applied (thinking I needed more moisture retention). There are some larger roots that spread in the pots, but not a tremendous amount. The best fruiting, distribution and size of roots was in the year where I only used organic potting soil without a mulch cover. Although I can't say with 100% certainty that by making the soil more organic I caused this problem since from year to year I changed conditions (and growing conditions change too), the evidence is pretty well stacked against me.

I grow lots of herbs in the gritty mix. I don't grow veggies in it, but everything else grows well in it (that I've tried to grow). I take that back, I've grown peppers in it, basil, rosemary, santolina (lavender cotton), oregano, lavender, parsley, thyme, .... If succulent plants like Coleus, Impatiens, Begonia, Geranium .... grow well in it, then most veggies should too. I've even grown lots of plants that form a caudex, as well as other plants that form storage root structures (dahlia, canna ....), so I expect that root veggies would probably do just fine, too. I usually use the 5:1:1 mix for all the short term stuff (like veggies) because it's easier to make & less expensive. Al

Al, I have a many questions being a first year "gardener", well attempting to be at least, but I'll try to narrow them down to the most important. First, here is my situation: I am growing a couple tomatoes, tomatillos, and several pepper varieties in containers. I am using GreenAll soil booster (50-60%) and perlite as a growing medium. I put Osmocote 4 mo. release in the soil as well. I have some New Mexico "Big Jim" varieties I am growing from seeds which are developing their 3rd set of true leaves yet are behind the other plants which I bought from a nursery. Anyway the peppers and tomatillos all look great, except for one serrano, which I found aphids on. However the tomatoes look stressed. I am struggling to figure out a watering schedule. However after reading your post on soils and water movement, I think I have a better understanding of how to proceed from this point on as far as watering. The tomato plants are a little over 12" tall, and have a few flowers blooming on them. I have a small portable greenhouse which I keep the plants in at night, and sometimes during the day. Usually I move them out of the greenhouse during they day so they can get a few more hours of sunlight. When I do, the tomatoes tend to wilt, or droop during the day. However the next morning they seem to have perked back up. I think a big part of my problem is simply not understanding how to water, (I am working on it). When I was getting started the guy at the Green Thumb nursery asked how I wanted to feed them. I told him organically. I didn't know any better. So, here's what I have been doing, I have been using E.B. Stone organic fertilzer spread on the top of the soil, then kind of mix it in a little, and on tomato and tomatillo plants I then cover with a thin layer of earthworm castings. I have had the plants since April. 9th, and have now fertilized twice this way. Also, on Monday, 5-9, I sprayed the foliage with Neptunes fish and seaweed concentrate according to manufacturers recommendation. The peppers and tomatoes look good generally, the leaves on some are not as dark green as others but the leaves look flat, and I think they are all healthy. The tomatoes concerned me, so I bought a cheap pH tester and it reads between 7.5-8. Well, I wasn't sure about the meter, so I bought a chemical testing kit, and tested one of the tomato plant soils. Oh yeah, the soil in all the containers was pretty much the same. according the chemical testing kit. the pH is right around 7, however the Nitrogen, and Phosphorus are all very low. It also tested for pot ash which was very low as well, but I don't know that that is and haven't heard it mentioned in any of the threads. So, having said all that, and sorry for so much information. What are your thoughts on moving forward? I feel like I am kind of committed to the E.B Stone organic Tomato & Vegetable food, and Neptunes. Is it too late to switch to the Foliage Pro 9-3-6? Will I be ok, with what I am doing? should I be worried about the Nitrogen, and Phosphorus, and Pot Ash levels which were quite low? Is all this related to the fact that I don't know how the hell to water my plants? I read about wicking the pot. What do you recommend for using as a wick to lower the perched water table? I know one of the tomato plant pots doesn't drain as well I I would like. I drilled some additional holes, but I think using a wick would help. I addressed my question to Al, but I welcome anyones input as well, Thanks, Jon

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