Welcome to the forum GoW - It's hard to know how to interpret someones commentary, so I'll ask you not to think I'm talking down to you. I'm anxious to see that you get all you can out of your foray into container gardening and help you along the way toward success.

It's helpful to understand the very significant differences between container culture and gardening in the earth. If you read the original post & the subsequent conversations if you like) at the thread I'll link you to below, I think you'll have a much greater chance for a effort:reward quotient that leaves you feeling satisfied. You'll also see a recipe for a soil (the 5:1:1 mix) toward the end of the post that, in the long run, should cost about half as much to make, as a commercially prepared potting soil based on peat would be to buy. It has the additional benefit of being much easier to grow in, AND of providing a much wider margin for grower error in the areas of watering and fertilizing.

There are a lot of good people here, most of them very enthusiastic, that carry a positive message and are willing to help you. I'm sure we all hope you stick around a while. ;-)

Al

Here is a link that might be useful: More on soils. If you click me,I'll take you there.