Deck container garden is doing well -just a few photos

My deck container garden is doing fairly well.  I am sure my neighbors are thinking "what?"  Well, container gardening is so easy because you rarely have to pull weeds which is the part of gardening that I detest.  The toughest part is buying flower pots large enough to not stunt the root growth.  I invested in some very large pots this year.

After many errors I have finally gotten this right.  I have veggies growing.  Yeah!  We have been eating the lettuce out of our container garden for months now and it finally decided to flower and seed which means with the hot weather it has gone bitter. Yuck.  It is definitely a cool weather plant..  

Sophia has also had the opportunity to pick strawberries from our strawberry plants all spring.  Although the strawberries were very small but tasty.  Now that it is turning hot outside the strawberries will not produce anymore but the plants still look a pretty green.

The other vegetables are starting to come out now.  I am so excited that these are sprouting.  I am even going to let Scott eat one of these jalapeños tonight pictured near the bottom if he wants it.  

Sweet Banana peppers

Sweet red bell peppers, not red yet though. 

Cherry tomatoes

Peas

Broccoli plant

Oregano in the background and basil and purple basil

Rosemary

Mint

Chocolate mint

Jalapeño peppers I grew for my husband who loves spicy foods. 

 There is a lot more here but this is just a sampling.

 My favorite thing though is this beautiful, "not edible" Chocolate Calla Lilly that just came back from last year's Mothers Day 2012.  I gave one to my mom, my grandmother, and my mom's friend Cathy.  This is the last thing I ever gave my grandmother as a gift before she passed. I also planted one for myself.  I thought it had died because it never sprouted a leaf or stem all spring. Last week, a tiny green sprout came up where it was planted the year before. For the last week, I have been praying for God or Grandma to give me a sign that Grandma is here with me.  I miss her dearly.  Today is the one year anniversary of her meeting God in heaven and my Calla Lilly bloomed.  Coincidence?  I don't know.  I think somehow Grandma is helping me with my plants.  I have never kept plants alive for long, but this one came back and my vegetable garden is thriving. Grandma Consolino had a green thumb and taught me when I was a small girl all the names of flowers and plants.   I think somehow she may be helping me now, but I am not exactly sure how.  I miss and love her so much.  I wrote this as a small tribute to her on this day June 25, 2013 to celebrate life, memories, and the love that I have for her and who she has taught me to be.  She was truly the most beautiful person I have ever known with the biggest heart.