It pains me to see customers spending hundreds of dollars on new plants and simultaneously refusing to spend a few more on a bag or two of compost and a box of starter fertilizer. These two items are not unnecessary “add-ons” that the retailer is just trying to add to the sale, they are critical components of a successful transplanting process - or as I like to refer to them as “plant insurance”. Unless you have phenomenal soil, you should always add compost and starter fertilizers when you are planting new plants. Here is why…
Let me be transparent and state that, without a doubt, fall is my favorite time of the year. As a local native, I like my weather partly cloudy with temperatures in the 65 to 70 degree range and hopefully some rain, but only from 10pm to 6am or so. Is that too much to ask from Mother Nature? Sounds perfect for outdoor projects in the fall - not too hot, not too cold, but just right for us gardeners...
I am not sure what happened to “Fall”. It seems like in September we went from summer to winter in a matter of just a few days. The current cool and rainy days feel more like November than September and I can only wonder what the month of October will be like. I am hoping for a few more balmy, sunny days with some spectacular fall color. Whatever we get, it is important to…
I would never have dreamt that I would be talking about such a “dry” subject (pun intended of course) as watering in the middle of October, but here we are, dealing with one of the longest stretches of no rain that I can remember in the 30 plus years that I have lived in the Pacific Northwest. Not only is it dry, but it is also…
Fall is in the air! The days are getting shorter, the nights are getting cooler and the sun is moving farther south, creating longer shadows on the north side of the garden. These climatological events are triggers for the garden, to let it know that winter is coming and seasoned gardeners will respond accordingly. Here are some things they will be doing this month, that you should do as well…
It’s been a while since I have given you a concise, all-in-one-place list of chores for the month, so I thought it would be timely to do just that. There is always something to do in the garden, even if it is just walking around and observing what Mother Nature is up to. As stewards of the green spaces we call our gardens, here are some things to consider as we move into winter…
The Golfing Gardener
Trevor Cameron
I often tell gardeners in our region to rediscover their “Evergreen State”, which (in a play on words) simply means to show some gardening style with the structure, texture and color of conifers. Around here nature has the many shades of green covered, but how about some bold blues and bright yellows? When all of the deciduous shrubs and trees have…