been reading this thread. grew up in va, now live in CA. try putting plants in a small greenhouse to avoid mold. doesn't have to be much, couple pieces of 3/4" pvc and clear painters tarp from home depot will do the trick, just needs to cover top from rain, and keep ground dry, doesn't even need to be fully enclosed, clamps will keep the poly on. as for bugs, they have netting you can put over plants easy, just gotta be resourceful, but start your plants at home in a 1 gal pot until it needs to be transplanted, most plants only really get affected by bugs when they arr saplings. as for soil, most native soil is shit to start with, good news is a few months growing some other plants and a little compost or food scraps will get the soil nice. I started out in almost complete sand and within one season it's great. camouflage is key, plant some tomatoes around your plants, hard to tell the different really.