Clear the deck!
Here we are toward the end of October, and I don’t even need my long sleeve pants on yet! Glorious, but I know a change is gonna come. One handy weather report predicts rain daily by the end of this week with nighttime temperatures sinking below 40° the following week. We already know our summer garden plants are losing their mojo, and they will be repurposed to the leaf mulch pile soon to become soil for future generations. Seasons are shifting.
However, some gardeners have plants on decks and porches that will survive a winter but not outside. Me, example. You’re lucky if you have a weather-secured greenhouse. I have two large windows in my living room, so I’m lucky, too. It has become a winter tradition for my living room to have a greenhouse component.
Two winters ago, I ordered two dwarf pomegranate plants from a catalogue. Very impulsive, but a gardener and scientist follows the whim. They summer in prime real estate on the deck, spend their winters watching through a living room window surrounded by their deck neighbors. Someday, I’ll be the pomegranate king of Madison County, but not yet. So far, they have not produced a pomegranate, though they have produced plenty bright orange-red flowers. Just like a Chicago Cubs fan, next year’s the year.
Sprouting in the pomegranate pot is an amaranth plant. I must have been an Aztec because I am drawn to these plants. They can grow ten feet tall or more, and are prolific reseeders. I planted them once, and I’ll never again need to plant amaranth. I keep some here and there in the garden for their leaves that are nutritious, full of minerals, and add a different color to the garden air. It’s cousin lamb’s quarters grows well here also.
The largest plants on my deck are two Blue Turmeric plants. They are tall like calla lilies, and I had no idea what I was going to grow when I ordered them. Another whim. I sprinkle on turmeric powder when I’m cooking, and I’ve even taken turmeric capsules. Turmeric is called the spice of life in India. It contains antioxidant compounds and anti-aging properties that keep me looking ever so dapper, so the ad in the catalogue hooked me. Plus, the rhizomes are supposed to be blue! We’ll see.
Think about it. Rhizomes underground decide to be blue even though no one might see them – like when I sing songs and no one hears them – we’re the same!
I’ve tried growing rosemary in my garden before, but my microclimate won’t allow it – they succumb to frost. My rosemary on the deck is flourishing, so the world will see how it handles life by a window. Besides flavoring bean and egg dishes, rosemary is useful for making an invigorating tea. Mix dried leaves with lemon juice and a tiny touch of sweetener such as local honey or agave syrup. Tingly.
A friend was trying to find homes for aloe vera babies, and one had its forlorn but intrepid eyes upon me, so I took it home to be part of the deck community. It has demonstrated its appreciation by offering two new babies. Aloe veras are generous that way. Now I have three.
Aside from vegetables and herbs, there are other gardening adventures such as when a friend leaving town gave me a damp paper towel wrapped around several colorful plants’ twigs. I learned they were a Purple Prince variety of Brazilian jewelweed. I planted them in soil, mothered them through last winter, and after planting them in garden beds in the spring learned they are tasty to deer. They are doing well after repositioning back onto the deck and soon will need to spend their second winter inside.
Within a couple weeks, the migration toward the living room windows will begin. Some plants will be adorned with holiday ornaments, and winter can have the deck.