You should be using potting medium and not the garden soil. I can't imagine where you would have read not to use potting medium for any container growing purpose. The pebbles serve no purpose, either.

If I recall correctly, the 'garden soil' you've used turns into a nice cement type mess after a few weeks of being held hostage in a container. (Others have used it be error, also, and reported their experiences here.)

I agree with Rhizo in that the soil will be a problem. I do know of people using garden soil in containers and it kind of works (my grandma in law is one who uses it), but from what I have seen the plants do not grow as well as those in a potting mix that is lighter weight and looser packed.

The crops you are growing are warm weather crops and if your nights are getting close to freezing it is unlikely you will have good results. I wouldn't be surprised if your peppers and squash died and if they survive they will certainly stall in 30ish degree F weather and be highly prone to disease from the cold stress.

Now, no worries. You are getting started with container gardening and lots of mistakes are made on the road. It's OK and perfectly normal.

I would recomend you purchase some large bags of potting *mix* such as Miracle Grow potting mix. I am not saying this brand is the best out there, but it works fine and is commonly available. I don't wish to recomend something you won't be able to easily find in your area.

I would also recomend you look at The Alabama Extension website since it appears Alabama is where you live. The link takes you to their garden section, but you can also call your extension office and get literature that will guide you as to when to plant what in your area.

You will want to use a different potting soil/mixture for the plants. In fact many would say use a soiless mixture for containers. If I were you, I would replant with different soil.

As far as temps, I'm guessing that it may be too cool for your pepper plants at night so you would want to bring them in. Plus the daytime temps for these plants may still be a little cool. Do a google search for each plant to determine fertilizing frequency and growing conditions.

Also, the squash plant will grow huge and need a lot of room to grow.

Let's clear up though some questions.
The size of the containers you are using to grow vegetables....I take are major size...perhaps a half or three-quarter size wine barrel.
Certainly a good size to grow veggies.

And I bow to others who might be more aware of just the timing of growing such vegetables in Alabama.
The nighttime temps suggest to me that possibly its still a little early to begin growing these types....am I wrong)

Vegetables are very much recommneded to be grown in their own special type of soil...and much humusy soil is the usual recommendation.
So saying that....humusy, does lean away from suggesting potting soil straight up.

Lots of organic matter, composted cattle manure (commercial) or a well-composted finished home compost can be 30% of a mix.
Builder's sand should be a part of it to increase good drainage.
The potting soil with its combination of perlite/vermiculite/peat make-up I think could be at the 70% level.
I definitely wouldn't recommend garden soil straight up...not for containers.
But one must give to the plants the soil best for their growing.

The gravel I take it is in the bottom of the container to keep the soil away from the drainage holes.

The use of compost can most often delay or avoid entirely use of fertilizer.

Rhizo, is this not the test you spoke about in the other thread? LOL

Vegetables are very much recommneded to be grown in their own special type of soil...and much humusy soil is the usual recommendation.

Why?

What makes a veggie different than a plant grown for reasons other than eating?

Who recommends this?

Concerning the soil (and keep in mind I'm relatively new at this), I would reccamend perhaps simply ammending the soil you already have by adding perlite and some sand and maybe pine bark. It would certainly be better than leaving the soil as is, but not as good as the previous suggestions.

Since you planted the seeds right in the containers already, I might suggest leaving things as they are until your seedlings sprout. You could then take out your seedlings when they get big enough and fix your soil.

Also, since they are in pots, I would take the pots inside at night and during especially cold days.

Chances are, you'll have better results if you just start over completely, but you might not have as great a sense of accomplishment. And the way you have things now is not a guaranteed recipe for disaster. I've found a great part of my gardening experience so far has been experimentation. Good luck!

so glad I wasn't the only one.

Thought Miracle Grow Garden Soil would be fine for growing my plants in containers. Didn't say anything on the front about it not for containers. Of course, I'm not going to turn the big lug around to read the back.

I'm planting containers like crazy, and as soon as I'm almost done with this big back of soil, I see on the back "Not for Containers" Well...something they could of put on the front for us planting-newby idiots! LOL

Needless to say, I'm not repotting, but have been using Miracle Grow Potting Soil from now on. Hopeing the other stuff will be okay for now.

I just want to say that all is not necessarily lost. I too planted a couple of plants in garden soil, but I was lucky and mine turned out to be pretty chunky (lots of bark hunks and such). It still drains well and bears no resemblance to cement or a soggy mess. You never know when the "In Spite Of" garden gnomes will be working in your favor (although justaguy's grandmother-in-law and I may have exhausted their powers for now). So you don't need to despair and dump out the seeds: you can keep them and see what happens!
And don't worry, there isn't anyone on this forum who hasn't learned by trial and (lots of) error. =)

I agree. I used that garden soil and perlite for all my containers for the first four years of my container garden until last year when I came in here and realized I was doing everything wrong. :-) I had some pretty decent gardens those years and a lot of things grew regardless of the hostile environment I had them in. A few notables though. I always had big problems with tomatoes. They would grow funny and ripen all misshapened. Although they were quite edible I felt funny giving them away and just used them in things like salsa where they get chopped up.

My morning glory vine system did well at the beginning of the season but petered out early. The fourth year we had a huge drought here in Chicago which exasperated the problems with using straight garden soil and I even had problems with wildflowers. Some plants, like herbs, hot peppers, sunflowers, etc. don't really care what you put them in since they'll grow regardless.

After the drought season I came here and read that container soil thread (do I get college credit for that? :-) and radically changed what I was doing. The most notable difference was last year I had the best tomato crop ever (for me) and my vines did exceptionally well lasting all the way into October before yellowing and losing leaves.

So the bottom line, a lot of plants will grow in pretty much anything so as lalibellule said, all is not lost.