Gardening Without a Yard

The lakeside house I rent with my roommates is amazing. Tons of storage space, great view, huge kitchen, lots of light in the family room. Unfortunately, the owners decided that the entire backyard should be deck & dock. There's pretty much no green, and very little shade unless we sit directly under the balcony. So today, (non live-in) Boyfriend and I ventured out to the garden center to buy some plants and proper pots. I chose the two herbs I cook with most often (cilantro and basil), a tomato plant (plus some marigolds to share the planter), a jalapeno plant, and some chamomile. My hope is that over time, I'll manage not to kill them all and my investment of $66.81 will pay off over and over again. (I'd budgeted $100 for the project).

If these plants thrive, I'm hoping to save enough for a gigantic planter, big enough for a small lemon tree. Over time I'd like to have almost a full vegetable garden. Maybe one day I'll be able to transplant everything into an actual yard. But for now I'm 23 and my plants need to be mobile so they can move where I move and the investment isn't left behind.

Now I've just got to find a way to protect it from the geese, ducks, and neighborhood cats.