Please keep in mind that I am far from an expert. Last year I grew strawberries (still an on-going experiment) in PVC towers. My plan was to simply stand them up on top the ground. I thought that if that didn't work, I would drive in posts and hang them. But in fact, they worked just fine standing upon the ground. However, I capped off the bottom of each pvc tower with a round heat duct cap (with drain holes), so my towers had a bottom. In this experiment, I tried several potting mixes. The lightest mix was miracle gro potting mix. That light one blew over several times in high fall winds. If I were to use that mix again, I'd put a heavier mix in the bottom few inches of the pipe. My towers were 3 to 4 feet tall. This approach might not work for significantly taller towers. As a side note, one of the towers had Al's gritty mix. For my purposes, it was entirely too heavy. (And that was a 6" diameter pipe.) But it would have taken a lot to blow it over. As a side note, my 6" diameter towers were a failure. The plants in the 6" diameter towers were obviously stunted compared to those in the 8" diameter tower.

I grow on a balcony so I really have little choice but to garden in containers. This is what I have/had out there this year and the vast majority did quite well: TREES Methley plum SHRUBS/VINES (2) Lilacs (2) Weigelas (2) Red twig dogwoods (2) Beautyberries (2) Honeysuckles Pee gee hydrangea Pussy willow Crape myrtle Itea American wisteria Clematis Rainbow leucothoe Black lace sambucus PERENNIALS Heuchera (2) Peony Dicentra Lady fern Daylily Asiatic lilies Orienpet lilies Lily of the valley Tiger lilies Bee balm (7) salvias Crocus Muscari (5) Amaryllis Hardy cyclamen Siberian columbine Hellebore Agastache (2) Callas (2) Cannas Golden bamboo (2) Hostas Sedum Prickly pear cactus Crocosmia Penstemon Dianthus Virginia bluebells Phlox EDIBLES (5) Blueberries Tea camellia Papaya (2) pineapple sage (2) oregano (2) basil (2) mints Lemon thyme (10) tomatoes Tomatillo (3) habaneros Strawberries TROPS/SUB-TROPS Hibiscus Pointsettia (2) Christmas cactus (2) Pentas (2) Tuberous begonias (2) Gloriosa lily Dwarf cavendish banana Oleander Coffee plant Verbena ANNUALS Scarlet runner beans Hyacinth bean vine Cypress vine Petunias Morning glories Sweet alyssum Sweet peas Annual dianthus Most of what I grow are perennials, shrubs, and bulbs, so the plants return every year. The salvias were new this year (at least 5 different species) and they did exceptionally well in their containers. My "garden" this year was sortof dedicated to my hummingbirds and they did appreciate many of the new plants that I had this year for them. I also wanted to try to get things that would give me blooms from early spring through late fall. I have some subtropicals that I overwinter inside and I will bring some marginal temperate or warm temperates inside as well if we get a cold snap. Regarding some issues - Whenever we have heatwaves, the leaves on my lilacs and weigelas often crisp up despite watering. The water just can't get to the leaves fast enough but then I've had them for a decade or so and they continue to grow and bloom (albeit more slowly than any in the ground, which is fine by me). Regarding PM as mentioned above - I did have that problem with my herbaceous peony ("Sarah Bernhardt") and a little bit with one of my honeysuckles - a coral one (but not as bad as a different honeysuckle that I grew in the past that I replaced - goldflame). My Jacob Cline bee balm did nicely and didn't get PM although last year I got it on a different set of what had been labled as "Jacob Cline" (I'm thinking it may have been mislabeled). I bought some Phlox paniculata ("Starfire") this past fall, and it had PM on it when bought but I really really wanted that plant! As for some of my trops - I have battled a mealie problem for the past couple years and my oleander finally lost that battle (using Bayer Advanced and hand-dabbing with alcohol wasn't working). My baby papaya blew over and the top snapped off. I tried to nurse it along and it did resprout beneath the break but then we experienced alot of windy days and those little leaves dessicated and it never resprouted, biting the dust. I had started the dark/light cycle with my pointsettia in October, where I was taking it in and out of a closet where it sat with a bag over it, and at one point, the thing fell over and snapped off the tops of the plant. I've been sortof nursing it (I had rescued it from the trash room about 4 years ago), but I may just try again with a new one. Finally, I've overwintered some habanero peppers plants for the past 5 years and this year, of the 3 that I kept (after starting with 9 back in '01), one of them bit the dust. I have the last 2 indoors and I'll see how they do - they have a couple peppers on them. I would usually stick them under some high intensity lights to grow during winter but am trying them in less light and in my cool bedroom this year. I may just let them go as I guess I am getting tired of them. LOL Anyway, I always tell people that if you go to a nursery and like the plant, then buy it and grow it. In most cases, unless you plant from seed or get balled and burlapped plants, the plant you buy is already growing in a container, so obviously it can do so. Just moving it to a new bigger container will make it happy. You just need to make sure that you provide it the conditions it needs (amount of sun, water, temperature, fertilizer, etc) and watch out for windy spots when siting them.

She said though that if I waited that long (Oct 1) that if I had a "freeze" before the tree was in the ground 6 weeks that it would freeze the roots and basically the trees would die. where are they.. z8???? .. your ground freezes to a foot or two.. like mine.. doesnt it .. lol ... we would prefer the tree leafless.. aka dormant... ABOVE THE GROUND ... but it will continue to grow roots.. at least get them pumping again ... until the GROUND FREEZES .. the roots will presumably be down 6 to 12 inches.. or so.. and at that level.. the soil will not freeze until after thxgvg... if not 1/1 .. in a NORMAL winter ... whatever that is anymore.. lol ... [we are both z5] the temp of the air has nothing to do with root temps ... in the ground.. [now a potted that late in fall .. well the pots can get really cold ... and the roots might freeze and the plant go totally dormant] you dont have to wait until october ... your window of opportunity ... is when the days barely get into the 70's .. but MOST IMPORTANTLY... the nights are down in the 50's ... a cool moist night to recover from any day heat ... and by that point.. who cares if the leaves fall off.. the only concern.. is that it is cool enough.. that the tree goes dormant ... and does not try to releaf and waste stored energy.. only to get hard frosted ... i learned this stuff.. when i had a guy who would allow me to mark things all summer.. for digging.. but he refused to dig in summer.. and i would get the call in late august or so ... when he felt.. in his vast experience.. that he could be digging in a few weeks [soil moisture was another variable for him] ... so i usually got the 'come get them call' .. right around mid sept or so ... which gave me a couple weeks notice to go dig some holes ... if they come in one gal's .. i would still pot them into 2 gallons... and stake them thru the holes in the pot ... so they dont fall over.. just to give them some extra root space.. and have some fresh media.. for some root extension ... finally... i would put them right out my north facing front door.. extremely bright.. but shade.. where i could check them every day.. AND ONLY WATER WHEN THEY NEED IT ... [and i presume you know to wet the media.. before potting...] be the tree.. do what it needs done.. not what you want done.. which a lot of us want it to be out in the garden ... the minute it gets 'home' ... ken

if you can cover the plants with cloth like blankets or even bed sheets on the frost nights they can last much longer. My experience has been that the first frost hurts some top leaves. the 2nd frost kills the plant. The peppers are like new. But no experience on Habs freezing. Green peppers are perfect for use and eating. You can freeze them, make hot sauce. or store them for later. Green new mexico peppers are usuaully used more than red ones. Remember to save some seeds. Some peppers will ripen red indoors. This time of year they do put on a lot of peppers. they do not like the extreme heat. so the cooling down gets them going again. mid feb should be early enough for me zone 5. My guess is that your plants needed more sun and less shade and competition from the other plants. You should have had tons of ripe habanero and anaheim by now and Jalapeno are early also. If you bring in plants I would not use a lot of grow lights. they will probably not make it anyway. read up on overwintering peppers. I plant all mind in pots in the spring that I want to bring in over the winter. thus avoiding the transplanting shock in the fall. You might try the heavy prune method. dig up remove some roots and a lot of the top and repot in soil. keep cool and let grow slowly. watch for aphids. The shock from potting up will probably drop all the leaves but not the peppers so much. Freeze all the peppers you can harvest and then learn what to do with them. If the harvest is really big and the freezer is very small then chop them up before freezing to reduce the volume. You can also fill a mason jar half full of vinegar and fill with peppers kept under the vinegar and they will keep. Read up on making hot sauce. Kendra makes them this way. first post in the thread. simple and a great way to make hot sauce. Here is a link that might be useful: hot sauce