A month and a half ago, I showed you the new beginnings of what
I had hoped to be a thriving deck garden, when I planted carrots on Mother’s
Day. (You can read that post here.) I thought it
was about time that I gave you an update. Naturally, like all gardeners, the hope
is that everything planted will grow and thrive like Jack’s beanstalk. That is
not often the case.
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| Carrots |
Here, in the Mississippi Valley, we have been weighed down with the most
intense heat I can ever remember having this early in the year. We went
directly from winter right into the heat of summer. Early May brought us 90°
temperatures, and with rare exception, we haven’t left them since. The upcoming
week will bring us upper 90s/low 100s.
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| French Radishes |
When you have a deck garden, one of the most important things is keeping your
potted plants watered. With this intense heat, that means hand watering nearly
two dozen plants (Additional plants are in the covered area, some are on the
patio below, and I water those with a sprinkling can from over the side of the
deck. I hate to think how that looks to the neighbors, so we won’t even go
there), up to three times a day. Essentially, these past six weeks or so, I
have made a career out of watering plants.
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| Zucchini |
Thankfully, they are doing quite well. This week, be still my beating heart, I
saw the beginnings of a zucchini. Prior to that, every day I would get a male
flower (and I know the flowers are edible, but I never got enough at one time
to make harvesting them worthwhile), but patience (and fertilizer) paid off, as
here you can see a zucchini on the way. I cannot tell you how excited I am
about this. I have a recipe for Chocolate Zucchini Cake that looks amazing, and
I think that is one of the first recipes I’m going to try. (Note the tone of
optimism in my voice…confident that I am going to get more.)
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| Cucumber and Black-eyed Susan Vine climb the bottle tree. |
One of the most exciting things about my garden this year was the inclusion of
a bottle tree. I have always wanted to have one of these, so was thrilled to
death to be able to finally make this addition. The wine bottles I have been
collecting of the course of two years. As you may have guessed, I’m not a big
wine drinker. One bottle, made its way to the tree via a neighborhood party. I
still need five more, and I had better get them soon because the black-eyed
Susan vine that I am training up the tree is really starting to grow. In
addition, at the base of the tree, I have a bush cucumber. Despite the fact
that it is a “bush” variety, it, too, will climb, so, in my mind’s eye, I am
going to have a beautiful, colorful bottle tree, laden with yellow blossoms and
fat cucumbers, all thriving amidst a swirl of butterflies. We’ll see how that
works out.
I think the birds spotted my tomatoes before I did. I wondered why they were
standing along the railing staring at the tomato plant. I just know they’re
waiting to punch holes in a couple of the tomatoes and take their leave. At any
rate, a couple of them are on the way.
Similarly, a couple of green peppers are also on the way, and the tomatillo
plant (that is shockingly spindly) is showing some blossoms as well.
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| Red and green peppers both grow in one pot. |
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| This slow starter has nearly 50 blossoms! Salsa verde anyone? |
While cleaning out a drawer, I found a package of multi-colored string bean
seeds that were stamped “2007.” I know that seeds remain viable for quite a
long time so I figured, what the heck? And I planted a couple of them. They
grew! I have no idea what color string beans I’m going to end up with, but
that’s half the fun.
French radishes border the edge of the pot that contains the string beans. The carrots are doing very well, at least the tops are. I have no idea what’s
underneath this delicate green foliage. Truthfully, it doesn’t matter, I love
the way these look.
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| Giant Multicolored Zinnias are doing well. |
Zinnias, that attract hummingbirds, goldfinches (who love to hang onto flower
stems, and pluck out the petals with their beaks in order to reach fat, fresh
seeds — and because they’re so cute I let them), as well as butterflies. I
planted these from seed, and I’m happy with their progress.
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| Lemon Grass |
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| Italian Flat-leaf Parsley |
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| Sage |
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| Thai Basil |
In addition to all of this, I also have herbs (not enough), and two citrus
trees. Despite being laden with fragrant blossoms, neither one of my trees is
showing much. I’m told that’s because they need fertilizer. So, having
purchased a special citrus variety of fertilizer, I treated them early this
week, we’ll just see what happens.
This is my first time ever growing Cosmos. I am happy with their progress.
This is the end of the update. I will check in next month and keep you abreast
of the progress. What have you got growing?
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When you text someone every day, it can become a bit boring, so I like to
throw some interesting one liners at her, including what I have planned for the
day. This morning I sent her a text that simply read, “I’m making gin today, what are your plans?”
When you text someone every day, it can become a bit boring, so I like to
throw some interesting one liners at her, including what I have planned for the
day. This morning I sent her a text that simply read, “I’m making gin today, what are your plans?”
