We have around 500 square feet of deck, trex decking with a solid surround and angled cap. During the lock-down we decided to start our urban gardening.
We moved here with over 30 plants. Getting them loaded into the U-Haul truck, then unloaded here and moved to our deck was no small project. Slowly over the past 12+ years, some plants made their end-of-life transition. I mourned the loss of each one. There were 3 bushes, numerous perennials and a limited number of annuals, which for some reason came back year after year when we lived in downtown Seattle (Belltown). One I mourned was a Rosemary bush that had thrived in downtown Seattle but found Burien just too harsh to live with.
We settled down to 2 wisterias, 1 burning bush, a moonshadow euonymus and annual flowers. We had a couple pea-patch bins here and stocked it each spring with tomatoes, potatoes, beans and herbs .
With “The Lock-Down”, since neither of us were working, we decided to go full bore into gardening. We bought a patio “Veg-Trug” and two “herb trugs”, retrieved all the pots that were stored away from losing our old friends, the annuals and bushes.
The first year (2020) I was all in with tomatoes. That was a steep learning curve that almost consumed our entire deck. Not the best choice for me, especially since I had to “process” all the tomatoes into sauces, juices and marinaras. I grew quite tired of blanching, peeling, de-seeding, and cooking tomatoes.
Summer 2021, we expanded our bins. Bought two more identical “Veg-Trugs”. Again, experimenting with a limited number of tomato plants, beans, pea pods and herbs.
Summers 2021-2024, we continued to grow beans and pea pods as well as pansies, lavender and cosmos. My favorite Cosmos strain is “Candystripe” which supported Ladybug Larva one summer. It lived well with dill and flat leaf (Italian) parsley that same summer.
Then came “construction defect remediation” in our condominium property. Remediation started in July 2024, with the contractors projected to get to our deck starting February 2025. We had some friends who had purchased a home south of our location. They graciously took all three compact veg trugs, the two herb trugs and a mini trug. That was a huge relief. By the beginning of winter we had the 5 big bushes left as well as the three deck sets of tables and chairs. Supposedly we were going to get to leave them on the deck because there was room to move them around.
February 12, 2025 contractors descended onto our deck and about 6 weeks later, we were told to remove the deck furniture. By that time the locations for storing deck furniture and plants around the property were filled with everyone else’s stuff. We were given an exemption to store our furniture in our empty parking stall. That was a relief. All but one of the plants were on wheels so they could be moved back and forth as needed. Burning Bush, the elder, just had to endure the abuse of ropes, ladders, pump jacks and other miscellaneous construction materials and equipment.
5 months in, the deck was finally released to us for our use. We had gotten used to the additional space not taken up by plants and pots. We are still uncertain as to whether the contractors will be back on the deck to examine the trex decking and stringer materials (pulling them up to check the roof membrane).
Unfortunately the pea-patch roof location is also in poor condition (more a matter of maintenance rather than construction (or design) defect. But it is going to be renovated (Bins have been removed and the trex decking materials will be reassessed for longevity). The landscape committee seems to have control of how it will be renovated so only time will tell. 🙁
Urban/Condo Gardening has a lot of hurdles to jump through. If renting instead of condos (multiple ownerships), there are probably more options. When we were renting from 2002 to 2013, we had a lot of flexibility without a lot of rules. Condo living is all about rules. So urban gardening can be a challenge. It is definitely not for everyone.