Hi

A couple suggestions that might help

Soil - To make it easy get a huge bag of Miracle Gro brand indoor potting soil with the TR ferts already mixed in. Get a small bag of seed starting mix (scotts or any brand) and one bag perlite (scotts or any) I suggest these brands because they are widely available anywhere. To start seeds get say 12-16 oz plastic cups, make a small hole in the bottom and and fill 3/4 w/ the MG mix and top 1/4 w/ the seed start mix. Once they pop ground they must have a Flo light right on top of them like 2 centemeters above if starting inside which I recomend. Put them outside about 2-3 hours a day for 2 days before transplanting to outdoor containers. When they are about 6 inches tall transplant into large containers filled w/ a mix of 1 part perlite to 4 parts MG soil (roughly). Find plastic plant containers about 4 gallons as they will be a bit wider and shorter than 5 gal paint buckets because of your height concerns. Put them out on the deck / patio in full sun.
Start late as Nightpharmer said to keep them fairly short. Plant more than 1, at least two - three, because one won't produce much when going in late like this. Also you are new, and if one dies off, which is likely, you will still have one left. Since your restriction is height not width, you can have a couple shorties next to each other. You can also tie them down w/ string if they get over the 4 foot max. Start with good quality FEM seeds from FS. It will make all the effort worth the trouble.