Share my passion for all things gardening!
Diane and Bruce Moriarty in their productive straw bale garden. I think you are going to love today’s column from The Spokesman-Review! Remember how I wrote a feature story in May about a Spokane Valley couple who were trying straw-bale gardening? Well, that was Bruce and Diane Moriarty. They had 40 straw bales and grew all sorts of veggies in […]
Read moreNow that you’ve watched the video about my pole bean trellis, I wanted to better show you how it’s set up in my garden. As you can see by the above photo, I have 4 arbors that span a 3-foot-wide path between two of my raised beds. Each arbor has spikes that you push down into the soil for stability. […]
Read moreJoe uses cattle panels to support his tomato plants in his salsa garden. In my column in today’s Spokesman-Review, I’ve written a profile of another local gardener. His name is Joe Hutchinson and he is crazy about tomato salsa. Each year, he grows a lot of tomatoes, onions, peppers and herbs so he and his wife, Donna, can bottle up […]
Read moreLook at these gorgeous Victoria lily pads at Longwood Gardens! Wow. It’s two-fer Sunday! First I wrote my garden column for today’s edition of The Spokesman-Review (see post). Then I wrote a travel article about our trip to see the amazing Pennsylvania gardens. Here’s a link to it: A gardener’s vacation. Hope you’ll enjoy the photos that accompany it as […]
Read moreThese blackberries have been frozen individually. Are you growing berries in your garden? We grow strawberries, blueberries, raspberries and blackberries. While I enjoy making jams and jellies, it’s nice to freeze some of the berries for those winter fruit cobblers and crisps, too. Freezing blueberries is a piece of cake: you just pick them, wash them lightly, pop them into […]
Read moreI recently planted cover crops in some of my vegetable garden beds that are done producing for the year. So, what are cover crops anyway? They are usually members of the legume or grass families that are planted in idle soil to suppress weeds, maybe to protect soil from erosion, or to add nutrients into the soil. That last reason […]
Read moreEvery year I grow a lot of green beans. I usually only grow pole beans (‘Italian Snap’) but am also growing bush beans (‘French filet’ style beans) which have been really productive. I have to admit that I’m a bit of a chicken when it comes to canning low-acid vegetables, which beans are. That’s because of the risk of botulism […]
Read moreThe veggies are ready to go into the oven for tomato sauce! Boy, are we in the middle of tomato-harvesting season and I’ll bet you are, too. We primarily grow paste tomatoes for making sauces and catsup. However, we don’t always have the time or inclination to break out all of the canning gear. Today, I picked our first big […]
Read moreAre you’re wondering how my vegetable garden is coming along? You’ll be pleased to know that my column in The Spokesman-Review today is an update on that very topic. Most everything is growing and producing well, but I’ve had a few frustrating setbacks. Take a look: Good summer for vegetables. Or you can read my column below. The photo above […]
Read moreCan you believe it’s the middle of August already? It’s time for another of my columns in The Spokesman-Review: Ornamental grasses add winter interest. Today’s topic was a request from one of my Master Gardener friends and colleagues: ornamental grasses that provide some interest in the landscape during the colder months of the year. If you live in the Inland […]
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