Planting Around and on a Deck

Image: Taken by me. A pea experiment at the side of
our deck years after this post was written.

While we would love acres of land out in the country, we're stuck in your typical suburban neighborhood.  It's pleasant enough even for having an HOA.  So we're making do with the yard that we've got as far as gardening.  Last year we had two raised bed gardens.  We're keeping those but we were considering adding a couple more, though we've decided against that for now.  We also have a good-sized deck that we haven't utilized to its greatest potential.

Last year we tried to protect our raised beds from critters by placing plastic greenhouses over them.  While it wasn't quite a disaster, it definitely wasn't a success.  They didn't fit like we thought they would and one even blew off to the side of our yard during a storm.  It was difficult to keep them in the ground (they use tent-like spikes) when placed above the raised beds.  We eventually ended up making a mini fence around the beds with chicken wire.  Not fancy, but it works.  The rabbits left our stuff alone.

This year, we'll be placing the two greenhouses (sort of like this one but without shelves) on our deck and place some of the things that got attacked by cabbage worms in the past in them, i.e. collards and Brussels sprouts.  They have a zippered door to let in air.  We're going to try the method of using plastic bins like Patriot Nurse does in the video below.  We're not sure if this will work, but that's what experimentation is for.

We also have pots on our deck and herbs have done really well for us in the past, so we're going that route again this year.  I'll be planting some edible flowers and herbs around the deck as well and maybe even a smallish vegetable or two, all the while keeping in mind the sun exposure of certain areas and the light needs of each plant.  We'll most likely have to add soil because ours has a lot of clay or we may have to have raised beds around the deck, but I'm trying to avoid that right now due to finances.

The point is, we have your usual backyard and we still have time to experiment, so we're taking advantage of that to see what works best with our surroundings.  While we both grew up with gardening grandparents, we still have a lot to learn.  Growing a garden isn't as easy as throwing a bunch of seeds in the ground.

What about you?  Do you have an area that you could make better use of in your yard?  Consider container gardening or planting around a section of your yard that isn't a high-traffic area.

© P.J. Deneen