In container culture, which is more like hydroponics than gardening, it's always better to use a fertilizer or supplement your fertilizer with something that provides all the secondary macro and all the micronutrients. Almost any soluble fertilizers you'd choose to use provide NPK in various %s. Many also provide Fe, Mn, and Zinc (Miracle-Gro formulations e.g.). Usually glaringly absent are the secondary macronutrients Ca and Mg. Including a micronutrient supplement and liming your soil insures a full compliment of all the nutrients. In short - choose a fertilizer that HAS ALL the nutrients or use a micronutrient supplement, and lime homemade soils with dolomitic (garden) lime. Hard to find, but very effective at supplying the micronutrients are Micromax and STEM. Easier to find is Earthjuice Microblast. One fertilizer in the 3:1:2 ratio that contains ALL the elements (including Ca and Mg) is Foliage-Pro 9-3-6. This fertilizer alone should be excellent for most things you would grow. Use it at a reduced rate & combine it with Pro-TeKt 0-0-3 for a lower N mix for tomatoes. The silicon on the Pro-TeKt will also improve cellular health & make for a stronger plant that resists cultural adversities (heat, cold, insects, disease . . . better. Though irrigation water DOES have an impact on nutrition (usually mostly Ca/Mg), unless you know it's content via analysis, you shouldn't rely on it to insure adequate levels of any of the nutrients. Al

Hello Welcome. Your drawing looks fine - i assume each box is one square foot. The most important things you can do for success is to have good soil and to water enough. I would suggest against growing your own seedlings until you get the in ground stuff under your belt. Seedlings need a lot of babying. If you buy seedlings - go for small ones not the big ones. Large tomato plants with fruit already on them are usually root bound. A tomato or pepper seedling about 3" high is usually perfect. Then make sure you harden them a few days - let them get used to outside weather. Someone from your area of the country should give you advice on this. I would fill the raised beds with a 50/50 mix of good topsoil and compost. The compost should not include human waste and should be well aged. Ask a good garden store for help on this. Once filled the beds will serve you for years. Once your seedlings are in the ground - make sure to water deeply a couple times a week. A soaker hose and a timer might really help. Lots of fertilizer is probably not needed with a good soil mix. I just add more compost each fall and never fertilize. Happy to help with any other questions. You'll find the folks here have varying opinions on things but will really try to be of help. Scott

Ahh, thanks so much everyone! The seedlings always seem so fragile that I've never tried to bare root them. I will wait until they have 5-7 true leaves before trying I think... I have space under grow lights so I could grow the peppers as indoor/outdoor perennials... I just start one of these tiny tiny flat seeds in the gritty mix and then water from below so that it doesn't move around too much? If I start them in the gritty mix in little cell flats then will the medium all fall out of the root structure when I move them to larger pots? I understand I can start them in larger pots to begin with but I prefer to try to start more than I have room for and assume I will lose some or that some won't germinate. I guess you've just said to bare root them out of peat so even if it does fall out then it's just the same thing hmm... That thread looks great Josh I will read it carefully - is there a reason you switch from one to the other and then back again and don't just stick with the gritty? hmm hmm this new mix makes everything exciting aha

Welcome!!! I too, am new to SFG. Last year, I paid for someone to dig some beds out around the foundation of the house, figuring I would plant perennials. When all was said and done, because of my impending divorce, I didn't want to spend money on perennials and instead, threw cuc's, tomatoes, eggplant, peppers and basil in the beds (if you haven't guessed yet, I am italian.) :-) They did so well and with that, I became addicted to gardening!!! This year, I am building four 8 x 4 beds in the yard. And will also use the beds around the foundation for more veggies. Why bother planting stuff on the sides of the house when I can grow something that we can eat??? It will fill in during the summer and nobody will see them in the winter. BUT, while my house may not be the nicest in the winter months, the impact my garden had on my neighborhood last summer was priceless. I am a newly single mom. I bought out my ex's equity in the house. As a single mom, owning a home is a little daunting. But my little garden helped me with that!!! Before having a garden, I didn't know my neighbors. Our houses are pretty far apart. Last summer, while bringing extra veggies to my next door neighbor, he introduced me to his next door neighbor. So I started leaving baggies of fresh veggies on his mailbox when I had extra. He in turn, introduced me to another neighbor and so on and so on etc. Now, a year later, we all know each other. And have since become friends. And knowing that I am a single mom with two little kids, they now look out for me. They have helped me tremendously. They help fix clogged drains. Taught me how to spackle. Told me to turn off water pipes going to the outside faucets in the fall. All the little things that you need to know when you own a home. They have even sent over the "construction" guys when they were doing home improvements to see if I needed help with anything. And sometimes, when I get up too late to bring the garbage to the curb, I find that someone else pulled it from the side of my garage and my garbage is taken out. Through my little garden and extra veggies that I gave away, I have gotten more help than I could ever hope from my ex!!! My intentions when giving away the veggies was simply that they wouldn't go to waste. I wasn't looking for anything in return and honestly felt that knowing and becoming friends with the neighbors was really nice. While I appreciate all of their help, nothing proved more important to me than last week. I was on the phone with a friend and happened to look out my kitchen window. And saw the mental, schizo, bipolar neighbor sitting at my outdoor table. In his boxers. And taking off his shirt. And it was 40 degrees out. I immediately called the cops. Then called my neighbor across the street and asked her if her husband could come over and stay with us until the cops came. He was here within one minute. I was comfortable knowing that a guy was in the house with us. But the wife called all of the other neighbors. Within five minutes later, I had 5 more people in my living room to stay with me. And another mom in the neighborhood took my five year old and three year old to her house while I waited for the police. The police came a few minutes later. I've never felt so threatened yet so safe at the same time. And it all stemmed from my few cucumber, tomato, eggplant, pepper and basil plants that produced too much!!!