Your questions aren't silly at all. It would help to know where you are and what exactly you mean by "hot". Also, my best advice would be to not over-think things. It's possible to mother hen plants to death (I know, I've done it!). Don't worry about leaves bending over the containers and don't try to study your leaves too closely. Just make sure the pots get good water and fertilizer, and the rest will take care of itself. Also, 5 hours of sun is under the recommended, but I've planted plenty in spots that get about that and they do fine. I think rather than worrying about sun, you should focus on how big your pots are. Vegetables need lots of space. Smaller pots dry out faster, too. How big are they? Also, there is a container forum on this website where you'll find lots of experts on growing in pots. You might want to look through some of the threads there as well.

Pruning can also be stressful to the plant. Pruning is always optional only. It is not REQUIRED. The condition you are having is called 'Blossom Drop" and it has several possible causes - too much N, too many temperature extremes, inconsistent soil moisture, etc. I have linked the FAQ on it that we have here below and you can learn much more about it from the many discussions here about it that the search will pull up. Blossom Drop discussions My first suggestion would be to move the containers outside if possible and if the temps are not above 90 in your area so the wind can assist in pollination Then perhaps cut back on what you are feeding them if it is high in N as too much N is one of the primary causes. I hope this helps. Dave Here is a link that might be useful: Blossom Drop FAQ

One more thing to consider is that getting a land-only loan can be difficult. First, there are not that many lenders who even make land-only loans and second those that do usually charge at least 2 to 3 percentage points MORE for a land-only loan than for a construction loan. In 2003, when DH and I decided we wanted to buy land where we would eventually build our dream home, we found a 4 acre lot we loved for just under $50K. Since our credit rating was impeccable and we were confident we could easily pay off the loan in 5 years, we didn't think financing would be any problem. However we discovered that if we wanted to purchase a $50K new car, we could have gotten a five-year new car loan for 2 percentage points LESS than the best five-year land-only loan available! We really wanted to go ahead and buy the land because it is a lovely piece of property, in a neighborhood that we loved, outside of the city but close enough to drive in easily, and because of an influx of people moving to our area, land prices were sky-rocketing and the number of available lots was shrinking quickly. But we didn't want to commit to building YET because we already owned one house that we were still paying for and we didn't want to wind up saddled with two mortgage payments if we couldn't sell the first house when the new one was ready to move in. But, it didn't seem right that a land loan would cost us 9% to 10% when we could have walked into any dealership in town, picked out a $50K new, and gotten immediately approved for a loan at about 7.5%. Didn't make sense to me at all! I even asked one banker why they would be willing to loan us the same amount of money for a brand new car that I could easily drive off the lot and totally wreck the next day leaving them with nothing to repossess for less than they would lend us the money to buy land that simply could NOT disappear. The banker had no answer other than "that's the way it is." So we did some creative thinking and ended up doing a cash-out refinance on our first home and essentially borrowing the equity we had built up in it to buy the land we wanted. (In other words, we sort of loaned the money to ourselves!) Because mortgage interest rates were lower at that time than our original mortgage rate had been we actually came out quite a bit ahead...even after paying the points on the refinance. As I recall, the mortgage refinace loan was at 5.3% and we had been paying something like 7.4%. Five years later we had paid off the first house completely and owned our land outright. Therefore we could use it's full value as equity to qualify for the construction loan we wanted. Plus, because we were no longer making house payments and had no rental expenses, we could qualify for a larger construction loan. Anyway, just thought you should be prepared. If you're hearing that 30 year fixed mortgages are costing around 4.25% and thinking that you ought to be able to get a land only loan for less - because, after all, you won't need 30 years to pay it off, think again!

I always have found that zucchini, yellow squash, cucumbers and melons do better directly seeded in the ground. If I was going to try to grow them in a container I would do the same. They germinate quickly! I would stick a few seed in and when the come up thin to 1 or 2 plants. They grow huge! When I first started gardening I thought I'd have better luck with transplants but I found out the directly seeded plants catch up really quick and out perform transplants, for me anyway. Give it a try, a few seeds are cheap! I have also found that compost works best mixed in with the soil in the ground. Potting mixes work best for me in containers. Hope it helps! Kathy