Basil should be grown in a position that receives a good amount of sunlight - around 6-8 hours a day. Basil can be grown indoors on a sunny windowsill or outdoors in containers or soil. If growing outside try and position the Basil in a sheltered spot that avoids cold winds. It does like a fertile soil that has been welll dug to allow good soil air circulation. Introducing well rotted organic compost or manure into the soil a month or so before sowing will help this. If growing in pots then a general purpose compost is a suitable soil solution.

I think I would take more into consideration what kind of room your have around your container garden. Hybrid teas are really easy to grow in pots because you prune them down to green wood each spring. Rugosas and other Hardy roses you don't prune will just get bigger and bigger on you and not be good for a pot soon. As far as cold goes, If your containers are large enough, and you can protect them from wind and sun scald, I think you will do fine. My mom grows her roses in pots in zone 4. She pushes them over to a fence for wind protection and throws straw over them making a mound. She loses few roses- no more than anyone growing them in the ground in zone 4. her pots are 20" or so. Be sure to water them until the ground freezes. Drying out and severe temp changes are the hardest things to survive. (going for balmy 50s to single digits in a day or 2 can kill a rose). I am in 5 b and I had a dozen roses overwinter just fine in little 3 or 5 gallon pots this winter (several were bands from last year- several were Austins). I ran out of time creating a new bed for them. I just dragged them to the foundation of my house in the most protected corner and throw pine needles on them. I lost zero (tho our winter was not harsh at all). I have 3 that live in ceramic pots (24") and they have managed 3 years that way. I make sure they are able to receive moisture (rain, snow) by not putting them under the eaves. If you can find them, I recommend own root roses. Northland Rosarium carries roses for our zone and they are all own root and they have all kinds. They are bands... but they catch up in year 2 or 3 to the other HTs. I have a 2 year old Stephen's big purple that looks almost as big as the other older plants. I recommend him. I have several Austins both grafted and own root. I think I would pick the Austins that are least likely to have an octopus habit (no Gertrude Jekyll, no Abe darby). Lady Emma Hamilton, Jude the Obsure, Tamora, Tradescant are the ones I have that I think would be good in a pot. I was thinking about getting Princess Alexandra of Kent and Young Lycidus for a pot too. I am planning to grow Baronne Prevost, Madame Isaac Pereire and a few other old garden roses in pots next year. I think they should do fine. (I would avoid polyanthus, chinas, most musks) Buy what you like and give it your best shot is my advice. I was just thinking - there is a long time poster here who lives in zone 4 and she grows so many many roses and does not winter protect and they do fine. You can find some of her roses pictures here and her comments about them. Here is a link that might be useful: Celestial Roses zone 4 roses This post was edited by lola-lemon on Thu, May 23, 13 at 0:35

Plastic bag is fine, I've done it. Holes are better towards the top if at all, just make sure the mix stays wet. Potting soil in the mix is not so good, peat sand is better. These guys like acidic nutrient poor conditions ... although the chadd's ford will probably like your mix.

It really takes a large pot for success. Yes, dump the peat moss. I suspect the Miracle Grow potting mix might have been too rich. Every time I have used MG, even with a fraction of the recommended ratio of MG to water, I have induced tons of rot. Your garden will look good and the bloom will be great using MG, but just wait a few weeks until the weather warms and then comes more rot than you can handle. Walter Moores