Moisture level?

How moist do you keep them?
Should condensation always show on your containers? Never show?

Condensation should be visible when the sun shines on the container.

I try to keep them pretty moist. In winter this is rarely an issue. In my zone they stay frozen most of the time. It's in spring that you really have to be careful. They can dry quickly in warmer weather.

Karen

Can being too moist cause any problems?

Thank you Karen! I may need to water a bit.

Yes, if the soil is too moist it can cause rot. If your soil is soggy, then add more drainage holes. That is a very quick fix.

Well, I find that adding more drainage holes might fix the problem, but not always. My worst containers last year were the deli roasted chicken ones. They are very shallow, soil depth not much more than an inch, and just never seemed to drain adequately. I kept poking holes and slits to no avail. They still stayed mucky. This drove me to research factors affecting drainage in potted plants, and I found that the problem was most likely lack of adequate soil depth. This causes essentially the entire soil to be at the perched water table and there is not enough gravitational pull to drain it.

Hmm.... Although I understand it, I'm not explaining it well. If you google "perched water table" + "containers" there is a lot of information, explained much better than I can do! This one is simple:
http://oregonstate.edu/dept/nursery-weeds/feature_articles/physical_properties/physical_properties.html

After finding this simple information my dislike of small shallow containers was increased. They not only dry out too much in warm weather, they also don't drain well when wet. Give me jugs!

Karen