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I live in Minnesota and container gardening? A site to help for planting?

Hello I just bought a lot of different types of seeds. Maybe there is a website that can help me if I just search basic questions like when to plant these which kinds of soil.? I'll list the ones I have: White Alpine Strawberry Pink Boar Tomato Michael Pollan Tomato Blue Pea Peas Isis Candy Tomato Butterhead Lettuce Spinach Walla Walla Onion Cosmic Purple Carrot Black Cherry Tomato Jubilee Heirloom Tomato Lemon Grass Lemon Basil White Sage Calabash Tomato Broccoli Eva Purple Ball Purple Ruffles Basil Sweet Pepper Ok these will ALL be going into containers! Please help advise me!

Public Comments

1. http://www.organicgardening.com http://www.thegardenhelper.com/ http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/ http://www.urbangardeninghelp.com/ http://gardeningguru.tripod.com/ http://www.easygardenhelp.com/ Take a quick look at all of them there is surely something there that will help. The best place to go offline is your local USDA extension office which has all kinds of free advice. Their advice is like taking a master gardeners course. Here is one of my personal favorites http://www.backwoodshome.com/ They have a magazine and a website with a forum. The forum is the best place to go for advice. One time my wife made a post there that wound up as an article in the magazine. There are other places that are good but I have forgotten them. If i remember and you allow e-mail I will send them.
2. Here is another, geared toward patio, balcony locations: http://www.oldhouseweb.com/gardening/liven-up-your-patio-or-balcony-with-a-container-garden.shtml One word of caution-- you have a lot of names there. I would start small and expand it or you may get overwhelmed.
3. I am in Northern Illinois and buy Fafard potting soil in the big bag - 25 pounds or so. It's a great lightweight mix of peat, perlite and vermiculite, perfect for growing in containers. You can google Fafard and see if there is a seller in your area. A bag costs about $15.00. It would work well for all the plants you have listed. Broccoli and head lettuce probably need to go in the ground, not pots. You can put several herbs in the same pot, they don't have deep roots so a shallow pot will work for those. I put two pepper plants in each 10" pot and they do fine. Spinach can grow in the top soil of the pots you plant tomatoes in. The spinach will want the cooler temps of early summer and the tomatoes will set on later than your spinach harvest. Good luck, happy planting.
4. If you are planting in pots just go to your local garden center and get a few bags of potting soil. The links that others posted are ok but are not specific to our climate. I am located in Mn too. Your local garden center is going to be your best bet for information. When I say garden center I am not saying Lowes or Home Depot. I am talking about a real garden center with more than just high school kids working there. Not sure where in Mn you are located but there are a lot of local garden centers around. If you are in the metro area Bachman's and Gertens might be a good source of info for you.
5. All of the vegetables you have can be grown in containers fairly easily. However there are some precautions you will need to take. For instance peppers and tomatoes need a lot of sun and water. Spinach and lettuce like some shade. It also depends on what planting zone you are in. These two websites offer a wealth of information as to when and where to plant, what kind of container is suitable and watering & feeding advice. http://www.vegetable-garden-guide.com/ http://www.veggiegardener.com/