You know what's ironic...? Over the last several weeks (at least a month), I've been contemplating and made my final decision on moving purely to pots next year. The main reasons behind my choice (that come to mind):
- Virtually NO disease: My garden plants have bacterial leaf spot; it's spread like an epidemic, and is still infecting new leaves constantly. It's even infected a few actual peppers. It's not fun picking leaves off every day, especially after storms, to prevent the spread (which, honestly, seems impossible to truly stop now that it's begun. And guess what? It's getting really dark right now, and there is yet ANOTHER severe thunderstorm warning in effect right now! By comparison, there's nothing much on my potted plants; when it rains heavily or at an angle that it gets on the plants, I bring them down to the floor of the porch to minimize contact with rain to the leaves. Which is what it looks like I'm going to have to do in a few minutes.
- No broken branches/stems: My Fatalii has gone through a lot, from several leaves and stems removed by to the wind to the main stem being broke off somehow (probably some animal). Not so on my potted plants; not a single branch is missing due to wind damage. When it's very windy, I move the plants onto the porch to avoid it. The animals tend to stay off the porch.
- Nearly perfect shaped leaves: Very few leaves, and on very few plants, get holes eaten in them chunks taken from their sides by insects--and again, animals are practically no problem on the porch. No need for regular slug hunts, and I haven't seen any earwigs outside of the garden either. Fungus gnats are the biggest problem, but they're really more of an annoyance.
- Easier to maintain and harvest: Once again, nothing beats the mobility of pots. They can easily be moved to a working area for watering, feeding and examination without having to bend down to the ground to find damn-near microscopic and well-blended pests, and I find it easier to gauge how much water the plant has than if it were in the ground.
- Bigger, healthier plants loaded with peppers: With the exception of my Scorpion, none of my garden plants are very impressive in terms of size. Similarly, the garden plants also don't have a whole lot of peppers. Meanwhile, the potted plants are impressively big, and full of peppers.
- Easier to overwinter: They're already in pots... I'll just bring thing inside on cold fall nights and eventually bring some of them in permanently for the winter. If they make it, they'll be re-potted next spring.
- Garden is a PITA to maintain: With the tilling and endless weed pulling, the garden is just annoying to keep in good condition. Additionally, it's harder to get to each individual plant and to water/fertilize properly.
To make a long story short: My garden this year is a nightmare, while my potted peppers are a dream in comparison. Next year I will probably use bigger pots though, especially on the varieties with big leaves and big peppers; those ones seem to drain the pot of water in no time. I'll leave the garden for things like sunflowers, pumpkins, watermelons, tomatoes and other plants that make more sense out there, but the peppers are going right on my porch next year.
The space issue and not having a backyard with some dirt is also a very compelling reason to go that route. 
