You'll want to cover the dark containers with something that reflects heat, rather than absorbs heat as black does. Otherwise the absorbed heat will cook the plants' roots. Some people use white garbage bags or silver space blankets; I haven't ever done that, but have read that the garbage bags, at least, will disintegrate due to UV damage. 7 gallons is too small a container for an indeterminate like Cherokee Purple (yes, it can be done: but it's too small -- and you may need to water more than once a day; mulching the top of the pot will help somewhat with the water issue). Also, you will need some major-league -- and much taller -- support: yes, you can prune suckers, but the plants will still grow to 8-10' in height (maybe longer in your zone). Whatever support you use for a tall and/or heavy (all that fruit weight!) tomato vine needs to be anchored firmly outside the container. I don't grow peppers, but the small rings you have for the tomatoes are often mentioned as appropriate for peppers. (I use them for dwarf tomato varieties.)

Thanks, I usually use whole dried peppers. The recipe calls for one whole Ancho pepper, a certain number of whole peppers of each variety that goes into it, so getting the ratios right is just easier with whole peppers. Maybe I should just stick to buying them. I inquired a year or two ago and think I was told most dehydrators like the Nesco require you to cut them up to fit. I can't remember where I saw it but I saw a mention somewhere on the internet that they can be dried in the oven, and that if you have a convection oven that is even better. But I never saw specific instructions. I could buy a dehydrator, but this is all I would really use it for. I could just cut them in half and that would still be easy to just take out 2 halves to to make it. Not sure how long the repay would be in pepper savings to recover the cost of the dehydrator. Now that I think about it, Anchos are dried poblanos, not anaheims. Still large peppers. This post was edited by sue_ct on Sun, Aug 24, 14 at 21:30

Making up your own recipe is not safe for salsa. If you don't use enough acid you can get botulism. Especially since you are adding oil. Freeze it instead or use the tested recipe below. Cold pack was an old timey term. It brought confusion as some people meant raw pack, some meant the old unsafe method of "open kettle", in which nothing was done to preserve the food, just put a lid on the jars and let them seal. There are two packs of food, raw pack or hot pack. Raw pack, the food is packed raw into the jars, hot pack where the food is packed with the food heated to boiling. Both must be processed. Here is a link that might be useful: Green tomato or tomatillo salsa.

As long as they contain the proper amount of acid and you processed them for the recommended time, I don't see why they would not be fine. I don't know why the liquid has seperated, but I have only used the marinated mushroom recipe, not the peppers one. It has never separated. I don't care for peppers, so never made them.