is my thumb green :) or black :-/ ?

it remains to be seen! but I started a garden on my deck the other day -- first up to bat: patio tomatoes (no pun intended) and green bell peppers. i really wanted tomatoes and cucumbers, but somewhat really late in the season to be doing either, so i took the advice of matt helping me at home depot (check him out at the ponce de leon location, he's awesome!) and went with the bell pepper.

basically, i randomly got the urge to do this and after a few hours on the internet, i realized it was possible to do so without having an actual backyard. yay for city living! most sites recommended starting from a plant versus a seed. initially, i wanted to be ambitious and go for the seed, but decided to go with a plant. next year i'll start around may (probably april since i'm in hot 'lanta) and be able to plant the seeds and see them come to full life.

i ventured off to home depot, and got completely LOST in the HOT outdoor gardening section. i searched for pots, potting soil, stakes/trellis', watering cans (ended up getting this from walmart for 2 bucks), and tomato food (vital component).

Here are all my components:

next, i moved outdoors to the patio to get the dirty work done. i began by removing the bottom half of the biodegradable pot my plants were in. my bell pepper plant already had a small pepper growing. You can see lots of roots have already developed.

after adding the potting soil, and re-potting the plants, we have a finished product:

topped them off with a cool drink of water, and now the wait begins...i wonder if they will survive :-/

thus far i have learned that tomatoes need lots of water (daily) and lots of direct sun, in addition to the tomato food every 7-14 days. this is going to be an interesting little project. my hope is to plant lettuce (most likely romaine), basil, and some type of flowers starting in late september.

if any of you all are gardeners, novice or pro, your advice is appreciated.

toodles,

T.