Growing your own gardening is an excellent option considering the current state of the US economy. Heres a few tips that can help you.
When container gardening you'll need to put holes in the bottom for drainage, if there isn't any already. Selecting a location that receives at least eight hours of direct sunlight a day is a good idea for maximum plant growth and flowering.
For fertilizer, I suggest using 10-10-10 with micronutrients every two weeks. Commercially available fertilizers are poisonous if injested by people. Plants however, have the ability assimilate ammonium nitrate without any adverse affects to people. Some gardeners will add a can of beer to there fertilizer to increase microbial activity in the soil. Using organic fertilizers(manure) in container plants is problematic as its difficult to meet the nutritional requirements of the vegetables in question.
Should you encounter any any insect pests munching your plants a pyrethrum base spray(non toxic to people and mammals) will take care of any pest problems. Pyrethrum pesticides are organic, made from the pyrethrum daisy and are very effective, they work by disrupting the movement of sodium in the insects nervous systems. Also, using seeds or plants that are not genetically modified is a good idea. GM vegtables produce there own toxic insecticide which effects human health.
Heres some gardening sites I recommend.
http://www.seedsavers.org/
http://www.survivalistseeds.com/
Incidently, I have a degree in horticulture.