Planting herbs...in the fall

I have finally gotten around to picking up some potted herbs from Lowes and Home Depot over the weekend. I've been wanting to establish a small herb garden for awhile, but just haven't had the time or opportunity till now. Yes, I know it's October, but when you live in Florida, you can pretty much plant stuff year round. I would much rather be living further north where I would be walking around to the sound of red and gold leaves crunching under foot this time of year. Unfortunately, I live in a state where our leaves go straight from green to brown in December/January. Sometimes you can catch a few rebel leaves brazenly sporting some yellow or, if you are really lucky, a bit of red, but that doesn't occur often. So until I can move, I've decided to make the best of it. That includes planting some herbs in the fall.

After a few emails with a friend of my from the UK, I realized I was a bit disappointed that my development, which is deed restricted, doesn't allow vegetable gardens. I would like to have a small veggie garden as well as an herb garden. I had resigned myself to simply putting my herbs in long rectangular pots on my lanai (what Floridians call a screened in back porch), when I stopped. Couldn't I also grow a few veggies in pots on my lanai?

Hmm...why not? So I headed back out to Lowes and Home Depot and picked up a few potted veggies: three types of tomatoes: cherry, yellow and red; four types of peppers: green bell, sweet orange, poblano, and mucho nacho (that's what the tags called them); some butter lettuce and brussel sprouts. Okay, okay, the brussel sprouts weren't planned, but I always have a hard time finding good, fresh brussel sprouts.

Pleased with my sneaky way of getting around a ban veggie gardens, I dove back in to re-potting my herbs and my new veggies. I got half way through transferring the plants to the pots I purchased when I read the smaller print on the bag of organic vegetable garden soil I was using to re-pot. It said, "in-ground use only."

So, what? It doesn't work when used in containers? This made no sense to me. I had also already purchased two large bags and was over half way finished re-potting. I really didn't feel like buying something new and starting over again. Besides, soil is soil, right?

Of course, I have no idea if any of the plants will grow. I don't really have a green thumb. My sister and mother are wonderful with gardens. Plants seem to let me walk into gardens, but if I even look like I may lift a hand to actual do something, they automatically start to wilt.

Hopefully this time the plants will live long enough for me to see some fruit for my effort, literally.