Busting Out In Love: growing vegetables in containers

Hi guys!

I wanted to post, because I'm so pleased, and proud of my green peppers. Yes, I have more pepper plants than the last time I posted. Why? I went to the local garden shop, and it had a two for one sale, because of course it's late in the season. I plant my stuff in containers anyway, and some of the pepper plants were not only blossomed, but already had some peppers starting. So, I bought the 4 that I liked the most, and came home, replanted them, and then waited. Of course I added organic soil, and organic fertilizer. I also added a little of the tomato food, and calcium nitrate that I had bought for the tomatoes, which of course are NOT organic, (I will know better for next year), anyway, I read that Bell peppers, (Maybe all peppers, I don't know), and tomatoes, among a few other plants, are members of the nightshade family, and they can grow under the same conditions, and the same fertilizers work well for them. I'm by no means an expert, but it is certainly working so far. Even the bell pepper plant that I bought at Wal-Mart has begun to put off teeny tiny peppers. I think they would have been doing better, had I fertilized the little bugger properly when I began.

I am learning by trial and error, plus watching lots of youtube videos, and reading other peoples blogs, and what not. Anyway, here are some pictures of my green pepper plants, taken today. Woot!! Look at those little buggers!!

If you want to use ANY of my pictures on this post, or on another post, you may, but please link back here, that is my ONLY condition, say where you got them. I digitally watermark them anyway, but I do want you to give me credit. I need all the help getting traffic here that I can get. :)

Isn't this one nearly perfect??

This is my prettiest looking guy so far. :D I'm sure it will taste the same anyway. LOL This is the same guy as the one above, from a different angle.

Aww, look at this little guy trying to be all grown up! Woot! You can see his little sister to the right, in the background.

The little sister with her own time to shine in the spotlight!

Should I be worried about those spots that I have circled?

So, I have been trying to garden in containers for at least three years, it might even be 5 years. I know that I have tried, and failed, and failed and failed. I need to container garden, because I live in a rental. We have a small lawn out front, that is only about 12 square feet, and very close to the road with no fence, so that's out. I decided to research container gardening, when I hear the term somewhere. I can't remember where, but it very well could have been pinterest, but I'm not sure if I was on pinterest 4 years ago.

Anyway, I wanted to keep it all in the house, so that I wouldn't look like a lunatic growing things in containers on our veranda. I bought some flower pots, regular soil, and seeds. I planted the seeds and watered them. Little sprouts came up, and quickly died. I wonder why? I will tell you why, I figured soil and water was enough. No fertilizer, nothing else but water.

Then, I decided that I would use epsom salts as the fertilizer. Well, that's all well and good - epsom salt is actually natural magnesium sulfate, which plants need during germination and growth, etc. (I'm no expert). That was what I tried the second year. Another failure. Magnesium is not the only thing that the plants need, of course.

I didn't want to add too many chemical things, because I'm growing the veggies so that I can be healthier, what's the point of growing the veggies, (I know tomatoes aren't a vegetable), if you are just adding chemicals to make them grow? So, I wanted to be organic.

Here comes this year. I didn't quite get that I needed to use fertilizer and organic at that, until I had already started my seeds. I decided to go to Wal-Mart and look through their garden section. Now, I know that their herbs and plants are likely NOT organic, but I have justified buying some herbs there, because of the cost, and the fact that I would then put it in organic soil, with organic fertilizer, and try to even grow them to produce seeds for next year.

So, I shopped around the garden section, and bought chocolate mint, which I didn't know existed, thyme and a bell pepper plant. I wanted rosemary, but they didn't have any, so I bought a pack of seeds, and I found lavender seeds, YAY!

Anyway, I got home, replanted the stuff in bigger pots, with organic soil, added some jobes organic fertilizer tabs that I got at Dollarama, and watered them all, put them in their semi-permanent veranda home for the summer, and let nature take it's course.

I looked up videos on youtube to help me with the process of caring for my new plants, seedlings, and what not, and I found lots of useful information. As I was searching youtube for useful information on organic gardening, I saw some of their plants, and mine looked HORRIBLE in comparison, and I was quite proud of my little seedings up until then. So, I decided I would go to a local gardening store, and check out what they have, as they have greenhouses, and all that fancy stuff set up.

Boy, am I glad that I did that! It was already mid to late June by then, so some of their stock was gone, and some of the MANY tomato plants that they still had, was flowering already. YAY! And, the stalks looked like tree branches, they were so strong,turdy, and thick!! What's even better, the awesome flowering tomato plants were ONLY $5. At Wal-Mart, the feeble half dying ones were $3!!!! VERY FAR from flowering, and likely never would anyway.

I bought a tomato plant that day, and a pepper plant, as well as a lemon balm herb, also known as lemon mint. It's a mint plant, but if you rub your finger over the leaves, it smells like lemon, and exactly like original sunlight dish detergent. I bet that's what they use, rather than actual lemon rind oils to make the detergent. It smells exactly the same. I love it, it brings back pleasant memories for me of being with my friend Stephanie when we were teens, going out to the mall looking at boys, and then having to do dishes at her place. The dishes weren't pleasant, but the looking at the boys was! HAHA. (I was far too shy to ever talk to them.)

So, I have those things started. I also bought a package of summer savory, which germinated extremely well in a McDonalds napkin soaked with water, and put inside a ziploc baggie for a couple days. I think nearly ALL of the seeds germinated. I will include pictures of almost everything I'm growing below this post, with captions. :) Savory is an herb that some people describe as being like thyme and rosemary together, or something. I do have to agree it smells like that. It looks similar to rosemary when it's fully grown.

I have some lemongrass started as well, but I really messed up, and it's barely sprouting. I buried the seeds, because I was a dunce and didn't read the directions. I then had to use a nail and gently stir the soil and seeds around, so that the seeds at least had a chance of germination. It seems to have worked a bit, a couple are sprouting, but most are not.

I wonder if I can bring my tomato plant inside when it starts to cool down? Would it still produce tomatoes during the winter, if it's inside, or would it at least live so that I can bring it back outside in the spring? I'm sure the herbs will last, or am I wrong? What about my peppers? Any insight would be much appreciated.