I'd strongly suggest that you leave the top soil out. The greatest top soil on earth turns into something quite different when used in a container. Real soil needs to be insitu for the 'system' in the term 'soil system' to work. I, too, would use a decent peat based potting mix, perhaps adding plenty of extra perlite to it. Bagged potting mixes are (typically) peat-based, so no reason to add extra, imo. You are getting a bit of a late start in your location. Some of the plants on your list are not known for their heat tolerance. But it's always worth experimenting. I always germinate my seeds in rows, in germination flats. The seeds are sown closely and I can get a couple of hundred in each flat. I'll use bottom heat until they germinate, then allow them to develop their second set of leaves 'au natural'. I'll then transplant the babies into their individual containers, usually decent sized plastic cell packs (1204s) or 2 inch square pots. All of the stuff can be sterilized from year to year and stacked for storage. Here is a link that might be useful:

Carol, The temps here in May drove me nuts. We usually go a degree or two colder than Burneyville since the weather station is a slightly higher elevation, but even so, the frost the first week in May kinda shocked me. (It was the third consecutive year we've had a light frost the first week in May, so maybe it shouldn't surprise me any more.) Talk about going from too cold to too hot...and we hit the 90s at our house about a week before Burneyville did. I'm about to decide our temperatures more closely correlate to Gainesville's than to Burneyville's. I hope (and I don't mean this in an unkind way) winter comes earlier to Grove than it does here because at last that would be the logical thing we expect. Nothing about the weather surprises me, especially this year. Haven't we just about had everything in 2010? Snow, sleet, thundersnow, thundersleet,rain, hail in every possible shape and size, wind storms, ice storms, tornadoes, multiple tornadoes all over the place in the same night...almost at the same time on some days, dust storms in some parts of the state, flash flooding, regular flooding, some winter or spring wildfires that even destroyed homes, earthquakes (not really weather related, I guess), snow in southcentral OK on the first day of spring, July and August temperatures in May and June, heat index numbers esp. north of the Arbuckles that have been some of the highest I've ever seen, very high dew points for weeks, and whatever else lies ahead the rest of the year. Did I forget any weather that we've had? Oh, we're having tropical moisture sent our way by Alex, but at least it didn't bring the strong winds like Erin brought us (and maybe Ike too?) a few years ago. By the way, there's Invest 95L in the northeastern Gulf of Mexico off Florida's panhandle. I've been watching it all week...even before it was named as an Invest, because some tropical weather models were trying to show it developing into something even before Alex hit Mexico, so many felt it likely Alex would hit and that the area now called Invest 95L would just disappear. It didn't disappear. Invest 95L is an odd little low pressure circulation and the Hurricane Hunter aircraft were scheduled to fly into it today to investigate and see what it is going to do. If Invest 95L develops, some models show it moving towards.....Texas or Louisiana. So, it could be a rainmaker for us here in Oklahoma in a few days, although I cannot imagine it could attain tropical storm or hurricane status since it is forming so close to land. It would be great if it sends us more rain next week though. Now that we've had a little rain, I am greedy and want more. Dawn

Yep, that is what will generally happen after you pick some or all of the peppers. The plant realizes it has lost some of it's peppers and starts to put out more. I have a Manzano with the same issue as yours with a single large pepper on it. It is big, but I don't know how big they normally get and I don't want to pick it until it is ripe. I would like to pick it asap so that the plant can get a new round of peppers going but I want to see how big it will get. Jalapenos are typically picked when they reach mature size but still green. It takes them a long time to ripen to red. If you wait, it will delay them putting out a second round of pods.

Thank you very much again!! The garden is coming back to life....finally. Not many roses, but the ones that are beginning to bloom again are richer in color, I love the fall's deeper rose colors. Janen, no, I don't sow seeds for anything. I think I bought a batch of hollyhocks from Wayside some years back. Now, they spread very well and I get more and more. They are so healthy for me, I'm crazy, really crazy, about Hollyhocks. The only thing is, once they bloom, they'll continue to bloom, but they'll start look really ratty. I still have blooms on them, which is unusual, but they look so bad right now. Can't cut them down yet, though. We may put compost on them if we remember at the start of the year, otherwise, I mostly don't even water them. I really like that old fashioned bloom rather than the pompom, but just to mix it up, I'll probably get some of those too soon. harryshoe, thank you! msmisk, I hope the fall will bring you a renewed garden. My garden also went to sleep in the summer, mostly. It's just waking up now. ronda, you're a peach!! I'm actually putting together albums of my very best images, it's taking a little time, because I'm so picky. It will be a different type of website, a change from amateur status, and I'm excited about it!! silvergold, thank you very much, I appreciate your feedback!