What Grew?
Here comes Summer! For gardeners, it is about mid-season and time to check our “land use.” What is out there making good use of our little composted garden plots, stolen back from the great sea of sand and teeth of the deer that dominate our shores? What is struggling and needs more tender care? What simply is not up to the challenge and needs to be eradicated and given up to the compost pile?
My Ocean Shores home was newly built last summer on a freshly scraped square of sand between Lake Minard and Perkins Pond. Not a single blade of beach grass was left on it, not even any sand mat. No topography at all; just the proverbial painter/gardener’s canvas.
I have been testing to see what will grow in the really-wet-in-winter and really-dry-in-summer climate while not creating deer-salad. Like many Ocean Shores gardeners, I have discovered that the “deer resistant” identification doesn’t mean much.
I have set up two raised test beds and used my initial landscaping attempts to put my plant studies to the reality test. Now, well into the growing season I have some promising successes, some spectacular failures, and a couple of surprising results.
Promising Successes
A flyer at the Interpretive Center suggested that squash, cucumbers, and potatoes were not particularly attractive to deer. Since bush varieties generally fare better here than the vining type, I selected long and round bush zucchini, bush acorn, and bush butternut squash, all of which I have grown in King County. On seed-buying day I could only find the vining cucumber, so I purchased a short season (65 days to harvest) variety.
I planted seeds of all varieties (Black Beauty Bush Zucchini, Round Zucchini Bush, Acorn Table Queen Bush, Waltham Butternut Bush and Tendergreen Vine Cucumber) in the ground on April 18, which had just barely reached soil temperature of 45oF. On July 2nd (at 49 days) all of these remained un-deer touched. The potatoes and both zucchini types looked great. The Acorn and Butternut plants looked small but on track for harvest in late August. I am still not sure about the vine cucumber but hasn’t yet been deer touched so it’s worth a fit more TLC. I was able to harvest three perfect long zucchini and one small round one. To track their progress, I dug up one All Blue potato plant. Dinner will be fresh tonight!
Spectacular Failures
I had brought my favorite pink and purple Astilbe plants with me from Renton. These are on just about all deer resistant lists. I was even preparing to order several more varieties. I set out my plants where I was going to plant them. They survived 3 days, and then……. they were gone! Just a bunch of sticks! Good thing I had not already sent in my new order.
As we enter July and high summer, remember that our wonky climate leaves us nearly bone dry for the next three months. Do not forget to water! The standard one inch a week means nothing here. The sand quickly drains the water away and the winds evaporate much of the rest. Water every day! Check to see that the water is penetrating the soil. And then, water some more! Every Day!
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For questions, comments about this article or to share your gardening experiences, please contact Dauna at: dauna@gardenbytheseaoceanshores.org
This article was originally printed in The Ocean Observer, July 2020.
