Garden Progress

I am so excited about my garden- I am actually getting food that I can pick and eat! It's so amazing! So far I've had lettuce, one tomato, and just tonight I picked some of my beans.
I've been keeping a pretty close eye on the progress, but I was amazed to find that the beans were ready to pick today, I thought it would still be a week or so. I probably got somewhere between 1/4 to 1/2 a pound. I can't wait to cook them. They are a beautiful deep eggplant/purple color right now, but apparently will turn green when I cook them. I would love to show you some pictures, but sadly we don't have a camera currently. We're thinking we might be able to get one next month, so maybe I will have some fall harvest pictures for you!
There's definitely more to come. I counted 17 tomatoes on my tomato plant! I also have one decent sized red bell pepper, with about three tiny ones just starting. And the cucumber, zucchini, and summer squash are blossoming right now, so I'll expect to see some fruit pretty soon from those. The funniest thing is that my lettuce is still growing. I planted a mix and didn't use the best container so I didn't get much. I had some of it bolt, so I thought it was finished and I stopped paying attention to it and even stopped watering it. However in the last few weeks it has made a comeback and I've got some nice leaf lettuce that I probably need to pick.
I'm really glad things have worked so well in containers. I have a few things to do differently next year, so I'll make sure to keep a list and give you all my best hints for vegetable container gardening. I don't think I have to weed as much as I would with a garden in the ground and I don't have to worry much about rabbits getting my plants, since they're raised off the ground in the containers. It was kind of an investement due to having to buy all the potting soil, but I think if I can do it again next year and reuse some of the soil, it will really pay off!