Lilred-
You'll make friends here in a hurry and find this place to be therapeutic. As is gardening.
I'm not going to tell you you are doing anything 'wrong', because there really isn't a wrong unless NOTHING is growing. But I will give you some tips.
A decent basic fertilizer is Espoma Gardentone. I use it to some extent in all my gardens. Kelp, Fish hydrosylate and a P dominated guano (rock phosphate too) I also keep on hand to spot feed plants with special needs. Epsom salts as well.
Regular, consistent water is crucial. Gardens on timers with drip irrigation do best. Best intentions don't make for great gardens.
Get those plants in the ground. It's too hot for containers to do really well unless special precautions are taken.
Start composting ASAP. I assume you have grass clippings about once per week? Mix 50:50 with brown material...straw, leaves etc. Add kitchen scraps except for meat/fat to the compost. And/Or start a worm bin.
Any organic matter you can add to the soil, do it.
Well composted manures are good. Forest humus is great too, and free. Have any fallen rotting trees? Roll it over and collect all the rich goodness.
Mulch the soil surface to reduce soil temps and retain moisture.
Choose appropriate mulches for the plants you're mulching around.
-Generally speaking garden veggies, grasses and flowers prefer a green mulch, like grass clippings, alfalfa meal etc. It's a bacterial preference thing, and you will learn about it as you learn about the 'soil food web'.
-Also generally speaking trees, shrubs, bushes prefer a brown mulch, which promotes more fungal growth. Wood chips is another decent brown mulch.
Don't over mulch. You don't want it to cut off air to the soil surface. Just a couple inches.
If you want a couple books to help you figure out what the heck happens in soil and plants, buy Teaming with Microbes and Teaming with Nutrients. It's seems to be some heavy stuff, but the writer makes it understandable. The two best books I've read in a while and really de-mystified what goes on on top of and below the soil surface and in the plants.
We are all here to help you in any ways we can!