My Rooftop Gardening Efforts

I've always been a very neglectful plant-parent, but at the same time, I really like having plants. This year, I was determined to keep plants alive outside on the deck, so I interrogated the nursery employees to make sure that I only bought plants that love the full sun. I also reined in Josh's tendency to choose plants without any regard to the conditions that they require from their growing environment.

I've managed to keep the little deck community alive this year for more than two months (go me!). I'm ridiculously proud of this fact. Here is a picture of some of my charges, thriving:



I also decided to follow in my dad's footsteps and plant a tomato out there. He gave me some soil additives to get the little guy started off right in life. Now it has taken over its pot:



And here is my very first tomato:



These pictures were taken one day ago, so I can't report yet on how the tomato tastes. I can tell you that my investment in the plant and the equipment (pot with water reservoir, special soil, cage, ground cover, and fertilizer) totaled $50. This means that that one tiny tomato cost $50.

I plan to keep track of my tomato harvest and when it is over, I will calculate the cost per tomato (CPT... in DC, you're nothing without an acronym) and report back. The plant has lots of flowers at the moment, so I am hopeful that the CPT will soon drop below $50.

*I recently decided that my blog needs more photos, and this is my first attempt at bringing my life in pictures to the internets. Next up will be a photo essay on my toenail that got torn off a few months ago.