Newbie to Gardening *UPDATE! TOMATOES GROWING!*

You are going to have to thin them out a planter that size should probably only have two plants it's going to be overgrown and they will not get enough nutrients.

 

 

X2 two plants and in the middle not planted on the outside rim.

Those containers look barely big enough for a single tomato plant each. I've grown tomatoes in five gallon buckets and even in a container that large it took a LOT of fertilizer to keep them healthy. For a container like you have I'd go with a single pepper plant, three loose-leaf lettuce plants or 3-4 snow pea vines. Look into getting some five gallon buckets. I've heard you can often get them for free from restaurants. Good luck and have fun!

Are these starter post so you can transplant later? Are you going to transplant to a prepared garden area or keep them in pots? #1. Breathe. In-out, in-out, don't panic. I have gardened all my life and I still have total flops. None of us are immune from failure lol. #2. The containers are very crowded and small. Transplant to larger containers or to a garden bed. #3. Congratulations on taking steps to growing your own food. Fresh vegetables from your own garden just can't be beat.

I agree with what was said, but it would be much easier to plant them directly in the ground. The plant will stop growing if it's roots have no room to grow. I hope this helped!

I am new to gardening myself. We started in pots and are currently working towards building rasied planters.

If I am not mistaken and I don't think I am. These are planters from agardenpatch.com. I have 6 of them myself. If you use their fertilizer patches you can sucessfully grow up to 8 pepper plants in each container.  Tomatos are 2 per container.  They are pretty cool.

 

This year I couldn't afford the fertilizer patches and I have planted one plant in each and using miracle grow in the water resovior. So far so good.  These are great for people with health issues or disabilities, who like to garden.

A big variable is what KIND of pepper and tomato plants they are.  Some tomato plants get chest high and require a cage to support them, while other stay fairly compact and are designed for a large pot.  Pepper plants tend to stay smaller, but again, depends on the type.  The thing about tomato plants is that they're water hogs, and containers dry out notoriously fast.  If you're able to stay on top of it and water as soon as you see wilting, then they'll do better, but if you're busy you might want to stick those suckers in the ground, or get a HUGE pot. 
 

I normally grow a large garden each year so I have plenty to share with the family but I have also found that my flower beds work great also. Think about it, that is usually where you have really good soil anyway. So if you have a sunny spot in the flower bed, put a tomato or something else in it. One year I had 3 tomatoes, 2 cucumbers, 6 corn stalks, and 6 yard long bean plants in about a 20 foot space. If you plant the corn first and let it get up about a foot, then plant your pole beans beside each stalk, the beans will have something to climb on and you wont have to stake them. The Indians used to do this but would form a round mound, plant the corn in the middle, a bean on each side, and a pumpkin at the bottom. They would wrap the pumpkin vines around the mound and it would help mulch it and keep out weeds. They called it the 3 sisters method.