Will you be coming to the green elephant trade in March? There will be plenty of plants for you to fill as many containers as you have.

The temp is above 60 at night and 75 in the day time and they all stay outside all the time. I think I have an eggplant coming on before the blossom just dropped off now it is there and it is poffing up at the base. I am excited. Liswobble, I'll check out the Balcony Forum. Right now I have to put in more drip system for my Decks and my ground. Justaberry, blue currant, strawberries, potatoes, ferns, and blackberries. So I'll be to busy to do any thing else for the day thanks. Later. Paul

Since I've decided to switch to containers, all my herbs and veggies are in pots/containers so far. I have cinnamon basil, sweet basil, spicey basil, lemon basil, lime basil, feverfew, mint julep, pineapple mint, spearmint, curly mint, hoarhound, Roman chamomile, rosemary, horseradish, garlic, onion chives, garlic chives, regular chives, common sage, lavender, three types of speedwell, epazote, oregano, sweet marjoram, bronze fennel, patchouli, cumin, and that's all I can think of. I plan to plant other herbs, some from seed and some from plants from the local nursery. I expect to have a lot of chamomile, hoarhound, speedwell and mints by the end of summer because I love my teas made with my own herbs. Basically, if I can eat it, cook with it, or make teas with some part of it, I plan to grow it even if only as an annual. I've had some failures with seeds until I stopped fussing over them. When I tried to neglect them (make myself check my plants only once a day, fertilize every other week, won't water if the water has not been sitting out for at least 6 hours) they began to flourish. I even planted the feverfew seeds in a big pot left outside (zone 5) and it has filled the pot already. I'll let them get a little bigger then split them up into different places in the yard. I kind of feel bad that I have experimented with and killed off a few plants and seedlings while trying to learn, but I'm learning a lot. I have a tendency to overwater, so I put pots where there is plenty of sun. Just don't water it in the heat of the day because the plant will cook. The sun is hot here and I have found that the herbs prefer some dappled shade, but I rotate different plants so none gets to hog the shade - and it isn't even full summer yet. Also, since I like to overwater, I put the speedwell and chamomile in self-watering containers. Each time I water them, I tip the container so the excess water goes into one of the other herb containers - they are good tonics for other plants. The only fussing I indulge is moving my plants around a lot. I like to feel that I am doing _something_ for them, so I'll move them around so they can get a little shade, more sun, less wind, insulation on cold nights, etc. That's one of the reasons container gardening is so enjoyable for me. Planting in the ground is a lot of work and if a tree grows more than I expected, or if the wind really kicks up, it's harder to move plants around. My herbs that are in self-watering containers are really thriving, so I suspect that I will switch to using only self-watering containers next year. I'm also seeing how well styrofoam containers will work as they were only $2 each at Walmart. But I haven't put any herbs in them yet, only vegetables so far. When I run out of my small containers for my herbs, I will put herbs in the styrofoam (picnic coolers) containers.

Outdoors, many bugs will be picked by beneficial insects. Soil you bought may have fungus gnats - they multiply like crazy, adults laying few hundreds of eggs in their short lifetime. The larvae is what could munch on roots, adult flies are just annoying. In organic mix, they feed on decaying organic matter. So in a way the store guy was right...but it isn't so great when one pays $$$ for soil and gets bugs... You could grow veggies or anything in well draining mix like 511. Fertilize regularly, and you'll get a bounty. I grow many tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, even celery and other veggies like that. I even tried some in gritty mix - they need watering more often, but grew great. No fancy bagged soil that, at least to me, is a $ grab. Garden beds get compost added from my compost heap, where all spent plant debris and household organics go...wish I could make more :) - but this is only for garden beds, not containers.