Microorganisms live on plants roots, just as microorganisms live inside our guts. Washing off the dirt probably took most of the microorganisms with it. ( I killed a plant that way once. It had bugs in the soil, so I rinsed the soil off, the plant then promptly died) container depth should be deeper as you suspected. Beans sprout easily from seed. I have some bush wax beans seeds, for beans the that do not get very tall. Root system should be shorter too. I would select veggies varieties from higher latitudes so they are accustomed to less light. Green beans I would think need more light than a pepper, but I am guessing. Tomatoes (which are in the same family) grew on the forest floor in the wild, or so I read.

1) Peas tolerate pretty cold weather. I plant mine as soon as the ground can be worked in very earliest spring -- planted them this year the last weekend in March here in Michigan. They had a few light snowfalls on them, which didn't hurt them a bit. You have about a four week window of optimal timing in early spring to plant -- if you plant them too late, they won't do as well. 2) You can go ahead and replant a second, fall crop in the same exact place you planted the spring crop, assuming the first crop didn't seem to have a lot of root rots or similar diseases. Long term, it's good to rotate your crops, though. 3) You can transplant peas quite successfully from cell packs, peat pots, etc., as long as you don't disturb the roots too much during the process. The key is to plant three to four peas in a cell pack, so that they'll make a nice, full rootball which will pop out cleanly and easily. And, they should be transplanted before they get over about four inches tall, or they become a tangled mess. But, really, they grow so easily direct seeded, that overall, it's probably not worth the effort to grow transplants. 4) Peas fix their own nitrogen, and a LEGUME INNOCULANT made for peas will help them. Many garden centers and most mail order seed catalogs carry this stuff. Also, any good fertilizer which is relatively balanced should be fine for them. I usually just use something like a 12-12-12 or 19-19-19 on my vegetable garden, making three to four to as many as five or six applications, depending upon the crop. I do the first one just before I am ready to plant in very early spring, another when things are up and about four weeks old, then repeat every two or three weeks for the crop's life. I can't tell you exactly what rate, I just take some in a bucket and scatter it about until it looks "right," something you learn by trial and error over the years. Then, I like to water it in. I often try to put it down just before a rain to accomplish this.

Backyardmomma, I agree with George that twine is an excellent trellis--cheap and easy! I've used it plenty of times. I've also grown them on poles tied together tepee style using various kinds of poles.....bamboo, long thin cedar limbs from trees we were removing, etc. I've grown them on chicken wire and woven wire fences. They will climb just about anything. I don't think I'd interplant them with morning glories as the morning glories would probably out-compete them and limit their production. One of our favorite pole beans is Cherokee Trail of Tears, an old Hugo, Oklahoma, heirloom from Dr. Wyche (from whom we also get Dr. Wyche's Yellow Tomato) and it is great as a snap bean or dry bean. Others we like include Wonder of Venice, which is a yellow pole Roma-type bean from Franchi Simenti seed, and also Supermarconi, which is a green pole Roma-type from the same seed source. We often grow Roma II bush beans, Pencil Pod Yellow Bush, Royalty Purple Bush and Kentucky Wonder (pole and bush varieties are available). We also like Top Crop (easy to pick with beans on top of the bushy plants) and Contender, which is early and a heavy producer. One of the loveliest beans you can grow is Dragon's Tongue. It has cream-colored pods with purplish stripes/blotches and great beany flavor. I like to grow Scarlet Runner Beans because the hummingbirds love their blossoms and also grow Purple Hyacinth Beans for their lovely blossoms, which are incredibly ornamental. There are lots of good sources. I use Seeds of Italy if I want Franchi Simenti seeds, and also SSE and Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds. There's lots of perfectly good seeds on the seedracks at Wal-Mart too as long as you aren't looking for anything too rare. Dawn

Sometimes there are pathogen strains or environmental conditions increasing suspectability isolated to localized areas. I often have trouble with "Black Beauty" zucchini, but no other squash, even when right next to an obviously diseased BB, though I've also found that I have better luck when using BB from a big name rather than the $.10 packs. Was your compost home-grown, or purchased from one predominant source? Also, what was the seed source for those KW beans? I'm suspicious there is something else afoot, that bean is bulletproof in my experience, you shouldn't be having issues with it.