gardening

In the last apartment in which I lived, I had a rather expansive balcony, and I was able to grow green beans, sugar peas, cayenne peppers, chives, thyme, and oregano.  It certainly never snowed, and while it had to be watered assiduously in the summer, for the most part, the garden took care of itself, and I had herbs and cayenne peppers all year. 

After I moved, I tried very hard to keep some plants alive indoors-- I bought a small thyme plant, and planted a few cayenne pepper seeds in pots by the window.  I don't know if I just don't get enough light, or if my apartment was just too cold and inhospitable, but none of my plants ever did well indoors. As soon as it was warm enough to keep plants outside without the frost getting to them, I bought some more plants to keep outside.  Some were lost as a result of some late in the year frosty nights, others died after being rained on for a week straight.  And finally, the mint plant I had (and it's mint too!  it's not like mint is particularly fussy) was infested with some disgusting pest that gave it ugly looking spots on all the leaves, and that seems to be stressing the entire plant.  Even the leaves that don't have whatever pest (they're some brown furry things that attach themselves on the bottom of the leaves, and creates purple spots that fade into yellow on the top sides of the leaves) are clearly stressed, and have become elongated and thinner.  

Why are all of my plants dying?  All I'm trying to do is be a little bit greener by growing at least some of the food I eat and the herbs I use. But, it's of no use if everything I try to grow dies.