Beginner Gardening: New here, and trying to develop my green thumb!, 1 by obsidian468

obsidian468 wrote:
Greetings, all!

I'm new here - and pretty new to gardening. I've tried growing things in the past, but never with any luck. The garden I tried (for three years running) as a kid never made it past late April. I've killed cacti. The apple tree I tried to grow from seed as a kid fell victim to root rot before it was an inch tall. I have about the brownest thumb known to humans. If it's green, I kill it.

Until this season. This season, I got a hair up my butt to grow my own herbs - I use a lot of them - to try and save money. That herb garden started in early March - both as part of a windowsill herb kit and a 12-pod Jiffy seed kit to grow the other herbs not included in the kit. Everything sprouted, and spouted strong, within a week. That weekend, the herb garden expanded into herbs and Jalapenos. Once again, everything sprouted like weeds. The weekend after that, the pepper garden expanded to include more jalapenos, along with serranos and cayennes. Plans were also formed to soon include tomatoes and strawberries. This past weekend, two transplant habanero pepper plants were added, along with three varieties of tomatoes and strawberries.

The final list of what I'm growing this year:

Herbs:

Basil (both sweet and Italian flat leaf)
Oregano
Parsley
Thyme
Rosemary (one bush from a cutting and three (and maybe more) from seed)
Cilantro

Peppers (5-7 plants each, unless otherwise noted):

Jalapeno
Serrano
Cayenne
Orange Habanero (only two plants)

Tomatoes:

Rutgers (heirloom)
Roma (heirloom)
Sweet 100 Cherry (hybrid)

Strawberries:

12 plants of generic Mid-Atlantic everbearing strawberries

Everything is container grown (I rent, so even though I have a decent back yard, I cannot do anything that would uproot or kill the grass). I find myself seeking out cheap plastic containers as often as I can, and have gone through at least 98 quarts of potting soil so far.

The tomatoes are all in a topsy turvy planter, the peppers are all in a single 2' x 8" windowsill planter (to be transplanted into 3-4 3'x8" planters once they get a bit more mature and have been properly thinned), the herbs are all in either a single 2'x8" planter or their own pots.

The strawberries are currently in two 3' x 8" planter boxes (they were pretty ugly when I bought them, so I'm nursing them back to health - after only two days, they've made a BIG improvement - even the one that was almost completely wilted has made a recovery).

The potting soil that I've used for everything (I'm not going organic yet - right now, I'm just hoping to have a successful crop) is Miracle Gro Moisture Control Potting Soil. Everything has been growing like crazy in it. If this season is successful, next season I plan on trying some of the organic mixes.

I'm open to any advice, suggestions, etc that anyone may have. I'm still a novice, and have learned enough online and from friends to be dangerous, but not nearly enough to be an expert.