Gardening woes

Today I left work early to go to the Gardening Center. There's a fantastic place down the street from work on Sepulveda called International Gardening Center. They were really helpful, especially after I managed to pull a flatbed trolley inside to the decorative fountain area, only to realize I couldn't get out, and thereby abandoning the trolley, only to be found out by staff that I was the one who brought the trolley in in the first place. I was sweating! I've decided to start a garden in containers, and today I bought seeds for a bunch of lettuce, chives, Basil, and Blue Lake Beans. They all appear to be OK for containers, according to my research.

Blue Lake Beans can be grown in a 8" pot with 2-3 plants in a pot.
Lettuce only needs an 8" pot with 4-6 plants in a pot.
Tomatoes need 12" deep (if dwarf), and if standard, then 24" deep. But I have gotten away with less.

Some disturbing realizations while potting plants outside:

1. The fuschia bush is COVERED in aphids, mealybugs and white flies. At first I thought the bush was merely dusty, but upon closer inspection I found millions upon millions of small tiny insects on it. Also there's honeydew on the leaves (poor thing), which I thought was water initially because it was dripping onto the ground - that's how bad it is. I hosed down the bush with some soap and water. Hopefully that will keep things ok for the time being. I moved all my plants to another location as a result. I will take a picture of the mess shortly. I warn you now, it is TOTALLY GROSS.

2. I need to get a spray bottle.

3. I have to pick up the worms for my composter.

4. The window box has not been disturbed in many many years, with old cigarette butts stuffed into a small ramekin. Made me want to barf. When I removed the top window box, which was lodged into another window box, I found two cockroach carcasses attached to the sides. I was so grossed out I couldn't deal and put everything back into the corner. The last tenants here were FILTHY.

On an aside, I made a pizza dough tonight, only I put in too little yeast and so I'm letting it rise and settle in open air over night so I can make my calzones tomorrow. Hopefully with all that time, the yeast can feed and multiply.