New questions:
I dug up a couple of the ones I killed (maybe i didn't.... they were scraggly when I got them). I dug down into the bucket and the pure compost/soil mix was an absolute clot/sponge. You could almost squeeze water from it. So I definitely need to redo that mix, and get some "fluff" in the soil. I have heard that crumbling up styrofoam packing material makes a good perlite substitute. Any experience with this? For right now, I am going to get some peat moss for the 5 buckets where I lost plants.
Also, I failed to put down a good layer of mulch on top of the soil. Lots of splashed up muck on the plants the last rain, so I have repented (!). I went an bought a bale of wheat straw, stuck it in a large trash can, and ran a weed whacker in there. It cuts it up REALLY good, and I can spread it out on the tops of the buckets in a fine layer.
Just learning as I go, and REALLY regretting I did not engage in this earlier in my life.
For the record, my squash/zucchini, corn, peppers, cucumbers, melons, eggplant and spinach are all doing superb. Potatoes are not up yet (planted them almost 4 weeks ago and getting nervous). I plan to get some lettuce, carrots, herbs in over the next few days. NC weather is tricky. I thought it was straight up summer, with temps in the mid 80s, and then last night we hit 37 degrees Farenheit.
Thank you to all for responding, and putting up with my nervous nellie fixation here.
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