5 ways to turn your deck into a private oasis

Put plants to work by turning your deck or patio into a private oasis. Tall plants or vines trained up trellises can work like green walls in summer, when you're most likely to spend time enjoying your outdoor room.

Make the most of limited space on your deck, patio or balcony by arranging plants in layers.

• Put some of the plants in pots on the floor, others in hanging baskets and some in boxes attached to railings.

• Lift patio plants to new heights by placing some on top of upside-down flower pots.
• Or get a piece of PVC pipe and cut it into pieces that can be used as stilt-like sleeves for plants growing in 15-centimetre pots. If you like, you can paint the pipe with enamel paint to make it look like wood or terracotta.

It's fun to grow flowers in old boots or baskets, but how about that hanging bird feeder that got mangled by squirrels?

• Bird feeders are naturally leaky, so they make fine containers for small blossoms, like little petunias, or for trailing plants.

• Place hanging baskets anywhere you need a spot of colour — at the front or back door, near a lamppost, on a tree limb, roof overhang, fence, gazebo or balcony.

In all cases, make certain that the baskets are hung securely enough to withstand strong winds and the weight of wet soil.

Like most container plants, hanging baskets dry out readily.

• Water with a spraying wand attached to a garden hose or use a turkey baster to spritz water into a small basket.
• Either way,watering hanging baskets can be messy, so position them where a bit of dripping won't matter.