Deck Garden Challenges – August 2016

This August has been very hot and dry – punctuated with downpours. The deck garden is dominated by green since the day lilies finished their bloom cycle in July. The hose says arced up the stairs and across the deck all the time because the downpours are not frequently enough.

I use the bird bath to decide when to water. Certainly when it starts to dry up the pots are dray too. So far – the bird bath water has not been around long enough for any mosquito larvae at all. There are always dead wasps floating in it.

The pleasures of the August deck garden are smaller than the day lilies – things like zinnias,

A cantaloupe vine (no fruit…but lots of flowers), and

A sweet potato vine (I’ve already harvested some of the leaves for a salad).

The butterflies and birds are noticing the zinnias and sunflowers….that’s another reason to keep the deck garden watered in August.

Planters in the Window

I am reusing plastic bins from Organic Spring Salad Mix as planters. I had a sweet potato vine that I’ve started from a sweet potato that I didn’t eat quite fast enough this winter. I will probably eat the leaves rather than wait all season to harvest sweet potatoes in the fall.

I also planted a maple seedling that I pulled out of the flower bed last summer. It rooted in water for months. The leaves turned red in January and most of them fell off. It still has one…and I hope to see the bud at the tip of the stem begin to enlarge soon. It should enjoy having its roots in soil – although it is too early to know for sure if it will have a second season.

I’ve also planted radishes and lettuce seeds - that have now sprouted. If they do well, I’ll harvest them both for salad. Even the ones I pull to thin out the bin will be good eating. I like radish leaves and always am disappointed that the tops in the grocery store are generally wilted.

I haven’t decided whether I will transplant any of these except to bigger pots on the deck. Our area has an overabundance of deer and our yard seems to be in a main thoroughfare from the forest behind our house and into our neighborhood. Everything gets thoroughly sampled….and sometimes browsed…by the deer passing through.