Container gardening

Our backyard is quite shaded which makes gardening a challenge. The majority of our sun hits the deck--the far end in this picture. I started off with a few containers of peppers to take advantage of the sun, but this year have gone hard core with these new deck rail planters from Ozbo. (Use coupon "spring" for free shipping!)

I see I can squeeze a few more on here, so an order has been placed for a few more of the rail planters. They are out of the 30" so 24" will have to do. They are so nicely wedged on the 2x6 rail, and hold a surprising amount of dirt. (They also are great at disguising the multiple construction defects left from my experiment with deck building.)

I like to have things on the deck that I can easily access come eatin' time. This year we'll have herbs, peppers, lettuce, and cherry tomatoes of every color. (Well, not every color but I do have white, red, orange, yellow, green, and purple.  Somebody get on inventing a blue tomato, please.)

Things grow really well here, IF I can remember to water every day. Eventually I'll set up a drip irrigation system, but I have bigger issues on my hands (like finishing the stairs from the deck). In general the squirrels, birds, beavers, etc. that live behind our house leave my deck garden alone as it's 7 feet off the ground. The biggest predator is a 5 year old human who loves tomatoes.

Every year I put new soil in my containers. The old stuff is recycled into the raised beds, and replaced with Miracle Gro moisture control from Costco. They sell enormous bags of the stuff for $10, a price you can't beat anywhere. This year I went through, ahem...ten bags.

I'm using scrap lumber left over from the deck building to make little stands for the pots. I want to get the pots up a little bit, both to keep water from settling on the deck and also go get them a little more sun. I got distracted and didn't finish - you can see the blue, green, and lime planters are different heights. I'll get around to it one of these days.

I love the black deck rail planters. We had a sudden cold snap and wind storm, and within 3 minutes I had hauled them right in the house. Made some new bug friends, but my plants lived to see another day.

Now I just sit and wait and stare. Had a cold day today, and don't think I didn't consider putting my space heater out there more than once. I try not to think about how long it is until July, the expected date of my first tomato. Sigh.


No freebies were given in exchange for me linking to these awesome planters from Ozbo. But if they wanted to throw some surprises into my next order, I would not complain.

Help

I am trying to maximize the few sunny areas of our yard. The first 2 feet under the deck does get a decent amount of light. Thoughts on how I can use the space, particularly between the pillars that are close together? Trellis? Hang plants on the deck posts or off the side of the deck?

The big dark area of dirt is one spot I planted grass today. Tilled down 6", put in gypsum, peat moss, hummus and new topsoil. I dumped 750 sq feet worth of seed there and in front of the stairs and now I'm just holding my breath that I remember to water and some of it takes.

Too many ideas in my head right now--considering covering the deck in pots or window boxes and doing reverse vertical gardening - pole beans and other vine like veggies. Maybe then it will be less obvious that my deck still isn't done?