Deck Garden - Take One!

These are my hands after a couple washings!  I had to scrub them really well to get all the dirt off, but it didn't matter...I love the feeling of dirt on my hands. :-)

Two nights ago around dusk, I decided that I must immediately go get supplies to begin planting our "deck garden".  Mr. C was kind enough to oblige; so, we headed to Home Depot to pick out plants.  Between HD and Wal-Mart, we left with the following plants:

1. tomato = 4

2. jalapeno = 4

3. yellow bell pepper = 1

4. buttercrunch bibb lettuce = 3

5. herbs (sweet mint, oregano, parsley, chives, and cilantro) = 1 a piece

6. flowers (ranunculus x 2, purple butterfly flower x 1, purple petunia x 2, orange marigold x 1, yellow marigold x 1, and fuschia petunia x 2)

We also bought three deck hang/supports for three flower boxes and several, brightly colored flower pots in yellow and turquoise (the colors we'd like to eventually have as accents in our deck furniture, if we ever buy any! :).

I was really pleased to find that WM carried very reasonably priced organic potting soil.  So, we bought a bunch of that up (Who wants to eat veggies and fruit that wasn't grown in organic soil?!  Not I!).  As soon as we got home, I started planting like crazy.  It took me back to the days when I was a kid growing up on the farm in Iowa.  My mother was a super-woman and always put in a massive (I mean MASSIVE!!!) garden that we lived on (she canned everything) all year round!  So inspiring...it also makes my little deck garden look a bit sad in comparison, but you've got to start somewhere and work with what you've got, right?!

Some of the plants may need to be transplanted into larger pots later on, but I think they'll do fine for the time being.  Here are some pictures of the results:

Several of the veggies lined up looking so pretty in their bright pots!

The ranunculus before planting - aren't they gorgeous?!

Veggies lined up with the herbs on the end.

The fuschia petunias and orange marigolds.

Rather blurry photo (sorry!) of the purple petunias and yellow marigolds.

The ranunculus and the purple butterfly flowers - these are my faves!

How about you?  Are you/will you be planting a deck garden (or real garden) this spring/summer?  If so, what do you intend to plant?  Are you only doing flowers, or will you do "food" plants as well?  I hope the weather remains nice from here on out; so, these little plants will grow, grow, grow! :-)

Cheers to flowers, plants, and dirt under our fingernails!
*mandie*