Oh, my poor tomato plant. When I posted “My Garden” at the end of August the tomato plant was doing great. Just a few days later, it was an entirely different matter. The leaves near the base of the plant started turning yellow. So I consulted with our resident expert (GRIT Editor Hank Will), and he thought aphids.

I was still searching for diatomaceous earth when, a few days later, the entire plant was yellow! Another consult resulted in the diagnosis of tomato blight. Ouch!

With a heavy heart, I trimmed all the leaves off the plant, leaving the remaining tomatoes to, hopefully, ripen. No new tomatoes, although there were about 25 or so pieces of fruit in various sizes. I’ve harvested almost all of those, and my kitchen counter contains a pile of red. Unfortunately, a few tomatoes had to be tossed, with strange holes. And since I’m squeamish about that sort of thing, into the trash they went.

This weekend, the rest of the plant will follow, as will the soil. And I plan to rearrange the garage so all my gardening paraphernalia will fit. A problem I never thought I’d have, by the way.

Now armed with a homemade pesticide/fungicide, I have high hopes that this particular problem will not repeat next year.

And yes, I’m already planning for next year. What can I say? I’m hooked.

The basil and the oregano didn’t do too well together, so I’ll leave the oregano in the current pot (letting it winter in the garage) while I plant a new basil plant in a new pot next spring.

The red peppers are still going strong – new blossoms have appeared, and if all goes as I hope, I’ll pull the plant inside when Jack Frost comes calling and have fresh peppers in a month or two. And a second pot of peppers will undoubtedly be part of the container garden come spring. Those red peppers are delicious, if I do say so myself.

The tomato plant will have a larger pot – and I do believe I’ll add a second plant, probably one that ripens a bit earlier than Brandywine – and I’ll add the wire cage from the beginning, training and pruning each plant as the season progresses. As you can see from the photo, my re-tying efforts were a bit erratic, so I don’t want a repeat of that particular problem. The homemade pesticide will also be applied from the get-go.

Guess I’ve become a real gardener. The roller coaster set of emotions were mine from the beginning – the thrill of new growth and a great harvest, the sadness of a dying plant, the anticipation of next year – and I’ve begun to look at gardening equipment in a whole new light. Too bad I can’t quite get myself to be thrilled about working in the dirt when it comes to my front garden. Maybe next year?

For a first-time garden, my container tomato and pepper plants are growing great. In fact, I’m pretty amazed at how well things have gone.

The Brandywine tomato plant has already produced 10 beautiful pieces of fruit – and, believe me, I’ve enjoyed every bite! There have to be at least 30 green tomatoes still on the vine, and I’m pretty sure I saw a few more buds appearing just this week. My only problem is that the plant is not producing ripe fruit in a nice orderly fashion – I really don’t like the wait! I’m joking – well, a little bit anyway. It would be really great if the plant would ripen one or two tomatoes each day – I’d be in seventh heaven!

I definitely can’t complain about the quality of fruit. Although I do have a bit of a complaint about the monster plant in my container. I’ve been pruning, and it’s a bit more manageable these days. That wasn’t always the case.

One day I came home to find the tomato plant leaning against the table holding the pepper plant. The tomato’s container is an urn design, and the plant decided to put all its efforts into vines on one side, rather than a neat round bush. A slight wind that day caught the mass of growth like a sail, and the plant tilted to the side. It’s actually lucky that the pepper plant and its table were right there to catch the wandering tomato plant. Otherwise, I’m pretty sure the tomato plant would not be looking too good right about now.

The massive growth has necessitated quite a few re-ties over the summer. I started out with three stakes in a teepee configuration. That didn’t last long. Then the three stakes were untied at the top and replanted straight up and down. That lasted for a bit. The pepper plant about that time decided it needed a stake, and a week or two later, the extra two stakes were planted with the tomato. That makes five stakes and I still need more! I tried a wire cage for a while, but it seemed to be crowding the plant too much, and of course, at this late date, I wasn’t able to place the cage properly without damaging the plant. I’m still looking for more stakes, because the darn tomato just keeps growing!

The pepper plant had a bit of a problem earlier in the summer – a storm blew off a lot of blossoms. At the time, there were six or seven peppers beginning to form, and I thought I’d have a slew of them by now. Not the case. I’ve been forced to harvest two green peppers – one was knocked off by the tilting tomato plant – which were good. But I wanted red peppers as advertised! Yesterday, I picked the first red pepper. It’s a deep red color, and I have yet to sample its deliciousness. I have every reason to believe it will be as good as the green versions. (It was!)

So there you have it, the latest from this neophyte gardener. Don’t get me wrong, I’m loving every minute of this experiment (and every bite too!). I do have a confession to make, though. I’m already planning next year’s garden!

In my area, spring has disappeared, and summer’s heat and humidity have taken its place. Being a complete indoors type, I’m not particularly thrilled with the changes. However, there is one outdoors arena in which I’m pleased to report a bit of success. OK, only if you don’t count my lack of weeding skills (or more accurately, weeding motivation).

You may remember a blog post from last November – Garden Headaches – in which I detailed my wonderful sister’s efforts in clearing out my front garden and dividing/transplanting hosta and sedum. (Do I have that right, folks? What variety of sedum do I have?) The before shot is above.

Check out what the spring brought! All of the transplants are flourishing, and a couple of the sedums are now almost as large as the two we divided last fall. Amazing!

I added the rock around the downspout, because the rain kept washing away the mulch, which is the same reason I added the border. And while both have helped, mulch continues to wash away. I think it’s going under the border, which I only placed on top of the ground. It probably needs to be installed properly. One of these days.

I smile every time I drive up to my house. It’s looking pretty good, if I do say so myself. Now if I can just get it weeded!

In the backyard, I actually started my container gardening. Yes, I actually did it. In Neophyte Gardener, I wrote about my intention of starting a container garden. I am proud to report that I am now the owner of three containers holding a Brandywine tomato plant, a red pepper plant, basil and oregano. The tomato plant has buds on it, so I am eagerly awaiting fruit. My mouth’s already watering.

The basil and oregano have yet to be used, and I’m struggling with ways to cook with both herbs. Once the peppers and tomatoes start arriving, though, that probably will no longer be an issue. I love tomatoes with oregano and mozzarella cheese. Yum!

So there you have it, and I promise I’ll keep you updated on my gardening adventures. I feel like a gardener; am I?

Most people who like to play in the dirt have probably had their gardens planned for a long time now. I suspect it’s actually a constant thing – a continual revising of the garden in one’s head, imagining the colors, the textures, the produce. How it will look and all work together. Even dreaming of the harvest to come, and the preserving of the wonderful treasures coming from your very own garden, I’m sure are part of mental gardening.

Those of us who haven’t gardened much in the past (or none at all, as the case may be), are just now thinking of a semblance of a garden. In my case, it also helps that the six sedum my sister and I transplanted last fall are all, yes, count them, all, showing green. Still no word from the hostas (we split and transplanted eight) on how they survived the transplant and winter. Remember my Garden Headaches post?

So green showing in my front garden, houseplants that are doing well, a series of novels set in a greenhouse (lots of talk of flowers, seeds, propagation, grafting and the like) and a kitchen garden article in our May/June issue of Grit have all combined to start my mind whirling.

I’m going to container garden this year.

Well, that’s the plan anyway. I’d like to start with at least two containers on the back porch (it’s a slab of concrete outside my sliding glass doors, but I call it a patio) with one tomato plant, at least, and the other … Well, I haven’t made up my mind yet.

I miss homegrown tomatoes. A former neighbor planted almost half his backyard in tomato plants, and he was kind enough to keep me supplied with gorgeous fruit all summer long. I’d like that experience again, just with fewer numbers, I hope.

So I’ve decided. It’s time to get over my dislike of playing in the dirt. I can get my hands dirty, I can handle the bugs and the heat. I can do this.

Now all I have to do is decide on the containers!

Any suggestions for this neophyte gardener?

Photos from top: iStockphoto.com/pixonaut; dirkr; kkgas