Back-Deck Container Garden 2015

Last year I started an adventure in container gardening (see photo below).  It went OK...but more importantly I learned how to do better.  Although, to be fair to myself, one of the main problems was that I went on a work trip at the end of June last year. While I was in Las Vegas, the weather at home was equally desert-like.  I think that my plants took the whole no-rain-for-a-week thing pretty personally. They did bounce back--sort of--but I never managed to harvest more than a few cherry tomatoes before the cold struck and my flowers were never what I would call "lush." 

Container Gardening 2014

This year, I have to go on the same work trip at the end of June, so I decided to do two things differently.  First, I wanted to get my plants in a little earlier so that they would be more established when I leave.  Check!  As of today, everything has been planted for at least a week and a half, and some have been in for nearly three.  Second, I wanted to use bigger pots for most things, rather than lots of smaller ones.  This way the soil in the pots would have the potential to hold more moisture.  Happily, Menards had window box planters on a super-sale a few weeks ago and I bought a big pot for a tomato plant at the end of last season.  So...check!

Container Gardening 2015 

Since I now have some beautiful, matching flower pots (thanks to my very own completed painting project!), my deck now looks lovely...and I'm all set to grow the following:

• 2 varieties of cherry tomatoes (Sugar Gloss and Supersweet 100)
• A mixed-color assortment of snapdragons
• White alyssum
• White Nicotiana
• Pale yellow and white-and-purple petunias  

The one thing that makes me a little sad is that my hanging pot holder--purchased at last year's Renaissance Festival--is much too heavy to safely hang from the hooks on my deck.  I don't think the hooks are really anchored in the beams of the porch ceiling, so I don't want to risk it.  However, I think that the "hanger" actually looks pretty good as a "vertical-rack-thing-leaning-in-the-corner," don't you? :)