I started my vegetable garden this year. I did well on some and not good on others. With the unusual rainy summer that we had in HOUSTON, TX, my veggies got lot of rain than sun this year.

I have a raised bed which i added gardening soil and chicken manure. I planted
Hybrid Peppers - Did get good produce and still getting them
Jalapeno Peppers - very few

Tomatoes - Didn't get even one single fruit
Cherry Tomatoes - Very few
Both the plants look healthy

Failed miserably on Squash and Cucumbers. Crops got rotten because of the rains and excess water. Finally got 2 Squash which tasted more like cucumbers with seeds inside.

Then i started a few vegetables in containers like
Edible Amarnath - Coming out very good
Okra - first pods are coming out now
BottleGourd - Had 3 of them so far
SnakeGourd - Yet to see any fruit

Now my question is:

1. I don't spray any chemicals on my veggies.I didn't even do a miracle grow. But apart from the manure and soil that i did initially, is there anything taht i can add to the soil
occasionally to improve the growth of my veggies?

2. Can i leave the peppers and other veggies outside in the winter this year?
Can i transplant the pepper into containers?
can i leave the containers in the patio or do i need to get them inside the house

3. what kind of winter preparation should i do for the soil for vegetables?

2. My peppers died in the Houston cold last year but they can overwinter. You can move them to containers and keep them indoors or cut them back and then cover them when it freezes. They are easy to grow from seed though so don't sweat it too much. Most other annual veggies should be ripped out when they're done so you can plant a good winter crop.

3. Mix in lots of compost to your soil before planting. Mulch well.