Ok I'll do it. I think nobody is saying anything because all of the plants you listed would likely suffer from lack of sunlight in your barrel, except the lobelia. Early morning and late afternoon sun is not very strong, and the plants you listed really all need at least 6 hours of stronger sunlight. I might try the lobelia, foxglove, vinca, but the others I think will disappoint you in such a shady spot. Since it is mostly in the shade, I would recommend a lot of white and/or very light colored flowers, and variegated foliage, which show up well. How about some of the taller begonias, caladiums, coleus, impatiens, maybe some tradescantia, sweet potato vine and/or pothos trailing out of it?

It is an herbaceous perennial and as such once it is killed by frost in the fall you can cut it back to a couple inches above ground level. If kept in that container, you may want to keep it in an unheated garage over winter and put a snowball on it once or twice a month for just a little bit of moisture. Don't let it become a block of ice. tj

Welcome to the forums Shana. Honestly, there's only one piece of advice I can give you and it may sound very trite but here goes. You aren't alone. We've all been there. There's an old saying that your willingness to accept change only happens when the fear/pain of remaining where you are overcomes than the fear/pain of moving to a new situation. You are there. You've had some challenges, of course, and yours are unique to your situation but not materially different than anyone elses. For example, I currently own 7 properties. I'm far from "homeless" and yet I ended up renting an 8th home from someone else while I waited to locate and close on my primary residence. See? Different circumstances, same situation. This too will pass, and in the scheme of things, will pass very quickly. Use the time while renting to go to some home improvement shows, catch up on these forums and HGTV, plan out your upgrades and the budget to spend for same. Do it together, both you and your husband. Shared dreams are so much more vivid than individual dreams. And make some memories while waiting.... True story. Shortly after the birth of our first child, we moved from our fixer-upper (which was totally fixed up by then) to a new custom home we had built. I had a contingency on our existing home that it had to sell prior to closing on the new one and it was mid December and we still didn't have a buyer, although our new home was scheduled for completion in mid-January. We were terrified, scared every day of not being able to move into our new home, losing some of our deposit and more importantly, having to watch our "dream home" go on the market and potentially be bought by someone else. On December 20th, we got a cash offer for our home but with the condition that we vacate by Christmas Eve so they could spend the holiday there with their family. Short summary to this story. We worked it out so that they spent the Christmas holiday in our home and we spent ours in a Residence Inn. My daughters' first Christmas was spent in a rented hotel room, just the three of us. At the time we were totally relieved just to know we could move into our new home later in January but it was a little depressing to spend that holiday "homeless." But funny enough, my wife and I still look at those pictures, recall that story and just laugh about what a special time of bonding it was for our happy little family. Take solace in the moment. They are precious and few when you get a chance to look at your life, and future, through a new set of lenses. You've got that opportunity now. Carpe Diem.

Whole guide on how I grow my tomatoes (did I just wrote all that): Germination: In seed trays and let them go for 2 weeks until they have a few first true leaves. Seedling stage: I move them into red plastic cups with holes for drainage. This is when I give very light fertilizer as they are very sensitive when small. They stay in the cups for 3 weeks until they get at least 8in talls before transplanting into containers. My experience tells me during this stage it is better to keep them under some roof or inside so they don't get wet from the rain, as it's possible to catch some airborne fungus (like septoria leaf spot) that will wipe out all your seedlings. I personally harden them off for at least two weeks before transplanting, by giving them partial sun, patio roof or shade cloths works. Transplanting: I think high 70 to high 80*F is an ideal range for tomatoes. From my experience living in in Florida, it's the humidity that is the problem, not so much the heat. I believe this is why tomato grows very well in California climate. There are variety that are more heat resistant and some does better in cooler climate. For transplanting into soil, let the plant get to at least 1ft tall first by transplanting them into 1 gallon containers first. For my situation there are more chances of pill bugs chewing the stem of weak seedlings in the soil. Container mix: It's good to use a type of potting mix with good porosity, which mean it should hold water well, but at the same time have good drainage and aeration. Unfortunately, this require a bit of experience. I find MiracleGro potting mix are too water retention so I can't recommend them. "Pro-Mix" is a professional brand, but very expensive. I like "Ecoscraps" potting mix that you can get at Target, it have more 'fine pine bark' and perlite included than other brands, this gives it good drainage. However, I find their bags sometimes have 'fungus gnats' so definitely not recommended for indoor growing (some people avoid anything with fungus gnats, or microwave the potting mix). If you feel your mix is too water retentive, you can add these amendments to help them drain: perlite, vermiculite, or fine pine barks. Mixes that have too much water that don't drain will become aerobic, when you empty the container you will smell ammonia in the bottom. Personally I add some compost to my potting mix, but some people are completely against using compost in containers, so it's up to you (in this forum, "violently oppose" is probably more precise). Avoid 'potting soil' which sometimes is mistaken or used interchanged with 'potting mix'. A lot of growers think soil shouldn't be used in containers because they are very heavy and compacted, and potting soil is exactly that. Fertilizer: This is a loaded topic and more knowledgeable people can get very scientific into it, so I don't want to get too much into it. Tomatoes prefer fertilizer lower in nitrogen. Too much nitrogen will give you lots of leaves and reduces blossoming. I think it's fine to have a little more nitrogen during the early stage. I prefer slow release organic fertilizers. For starter, you can use tomato specific fertilizers from the brands Espoma (Tomato-tone), Jobe's, or Ecoscraps, all should available at HomeDepot/Lowe's. In my opinion and experience, it is possible to grow tomatoes completely without fertilizers if you have rich compost. Occasionally I do use synthetic fertilizer (low in nitrogen) sparingly if I feel a plant is deficient. Management: I'm more OCD than others so I break off leaves branches in the bottom that are touching the soil (if you think you have healthy disease free soil then maybe you don't have to do it). Mulching the base of the plant is a good idea, but be careful because bugs can chew the stem and breaking or weaken it, so I always give the stem some free space. I also break off bottom yellowing leaves and any that shows signs of bacteria or fungus infection. To me it's simply a good idea to clean off the bottom of the plant when it's larger to improve aeration which reduce pests and chances of disease. I can't help you with curing diseases since I stay organic as much as possible. Some people use copper and/or Daconil to deal with fungus, even as a prevention spray. For pests control, I use organic peppermint soap + cold pressed neem oil diluted in water. (The reduced non-cold pressed neem at HomeDepot is useless to me). Beware the dreaded whiteflies if you live in the South. Around here they often carry a disease called 'tomato yellow leaf curl virus', which to me is death for tomato plants, your option is to yank and trash because the plant can no longer produce anything worthwhile. I find that both underwatering and overwatering can lead to "bottom end rot", which is the fruit rotting from the bottom.