As an journeyman carpenter I will guarantee you that if your deck isn't made from preserved wood, and this is still no guarantee, your deck will rot. Not a matter of if but when. Waterproofing will help tremendously but just one tiny missed spot will give the water access. If your somewhat handy I can help you design it to prevent this from happening. I highly suggest you read the link on container soils at the end of this post and following one of the recipes. Here is a link that might be useful: container soils

Al has posted some fabulous info on container soils. I would suggest you look at more than gritty mix posts by looking over his posts on "container soils - water movement and retention". Lots of good info there, building on and doing a better job explaining the physics involved than what I learned 30 years ago from some potted citrus experts here. They were using fir bark, coarse sand or fine gravel, pumice, and fired clay pellets. You should note that my suggestion for using Turface Pro League instead of screening Turface AVP will give you a smaller average size of the Turface component. Virtually none of the Turface Pro League goes through an insect screen. After screening one bag of AVP, I realized it would be a shocking amount of work and I would need to start with 30 bags. My testing in clear cylinders gives you a small, but some, perched water table after draining for an hour. Inserting a toothpick will get you 10-15 drops of water out of a 14 oz container so the perched water table IS there. I'm using terracotta pots or a wick in plastic/fiberglass to remove that tiny bit of perched water table. It is almost certain that Al's Gritty Mix would be better than my gritty-ish mix in damp parts of the country. I would suggest you consider your requirements and then do a trial to see what works for your conditions. This post was edited by GregBradley on Wed, Sep 11, 13 at 12:05

Bush beans, okra, a couple of dwarf tomato plants, Brussel Sprouts, plus any of the Fall vegetable crops can be planted in a couple of weeks - leafy greens, etc. Check out all the other 'what can I plant now' discussions running here right now for more ideas. Dave

@lbooras54 I would point out that you have a lot of large trees in the view of your deck. So to plant another tall tree in your planter creates a somewhat boring repetition of the same vertical shape. One of the things I like about the Mugo Pine suggestion is that the bush form of pine will offer a contrasting shape and texture to the trees in the backyard. At the same time, the plant can easily survive your winters and will stay evergreen. The shape of the Mugo Pine is quite attractive and will be a focal point for the deck, particularly if you plant two of them in different locations. From the list @gardengal48 provided, I think the Sherwood Compact variety. looks interesting.