I went outside early this morning to fill yet more seed trays with potting soil. Guess what? We’d had a fairly hard frost, and the grass was silver-white, gleaming in the sunshine that brought temperatures up to a balmy sixty degrees.

I’ve really got the gardening obsession this year, and keep buying more plants and seeds to grow my own tender annuals, exotic tomatoes, and even those gorgeous space-alien Italian cauliflowers, all lime-green spikes and swirls. Here’s my plan, though, for doing this economically and ecologically: I am planning a ‘pot garden’ (that is, plants in pots) for my deck with wonderful things like Four O’Clock and passionflower that will be happy outside in the summer. Then I’ll roll them into the house for the winter. I do this with geraniums now, but plan to figure out how to enjoy exotic plants without indulging in disposable gardening. Ideas are welcome!