Deck Gardening 2024

 

What I have learned from decades of talking to gardeners is that whether you have acreage, or a single pot, every spring brings with it hope for a great harvest. Last year was one of my absolute worst. I decided that it would be a good idea to install a drip irrigation system in the container garden that I keep on my deck. Unfortunately, I didn’t have the water pressure to cover all of the pots equally, so some overflowed, and the plants rotted, others didn’t get enough water and they dried out. I won’t do that again. Having now removed all of that tubing, and gleefully tossed into the trash, I’m ready to start anew.

  One thing I’m doing differently this year than I did last is to try raised bed gardening. You don’t have to garden on the ground in order to have a raised bed, you can get a trough planter like this one to raise things up, making it much easier to deal with when it comes to watering, weeding, and harvesting. I’m quite excited about this. I’ve really just starting planting in zone 6B where I live, but I will say that I did plant potatoes on March 17 as I used to do with my dad when I was a little girl, and they are doing well, although in very early stages.Shortly after I planted the potatoes, I decided to not waste a garlic bulb that had sprouted, so I separated the cloves and planted them in my trough garden that will end up being a salsa garden if things go well this year. Take a look at them! Can you believe it?  I feared for their safety when we had two cold nights where temperature zipped into the 30s. I had to very carefully cover them up to avoid damage, but I couldn’t be happier with how well they’re growing. Yes, I know that garlic generally needs to be planted in the fall; I don’t know if this is going to be successful or not, but I love the experimentation, and so far so good.

Another thing that I decided to do is to harvest, dry, and plant seeds from organic fruits and vegetables that I buy just to see what happens.  The other day I was enjoying a Charentais melon from Melissa‘s produce, and decided to save and dry some seeds for planting. I’ve never grown melons before, so I’m very eager to see how this works out. Within a week of planting the seeds, a couple of little seedlings poked up their heads, and I couldn’t have been more excited. You wouldn’t believe how fast my heart was beating. I was reluctant to give over too much space to growing melons when I could use it for a guaranteed success like tomatoes, but a little experimentation is good for the soul.

I’m going to try to provide you with an update every month, perhaps twice a month, so you can see how things are growing.

Interestingly enough, petunias self-seeded into one of the house plants that I had moved outside, and I currently have them blooming in a pot along with a kangaroo paw fern, and a Zinnia blossoming in a dracaena pot. Considering that I did not move the dracaena outdoors during the summer, I’m wondering how the heck that zinnia seed managed to get into that pot, but isn’t that half the fun of gardening? 

See you next month with an update.

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