Share my passion for all things gardening!
Every year, we grow a nice patch of Swiss chard. We love how tasty it is and how it doesn’t bolt to seed in the heat like spinach can. But there’s always more than we can eat at any given time. Bill and I have come up with a great method for preserving it. I wanted to show you how […]
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Even though I recently wrote a column about the top 5 damaging insects and how to deal with them organically, I decided to write today’s column about the importance of insect ID. Here’s a link to it in The Spokesman-Review: Season’s pests may surprise you. (or you can read my column lower in this post) If you want to successfully […]
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If it’s Sunday, it’s time for my next garden column! This one is timely because it delves into some of the most heat-tolerant plants around. Here’s a link to it in today’s edition of The Spokesman-Review: Choose flowers that can take the heat. (or you can read my column lower in this post) In it, I discuss both annuals and […]
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Do you ever get tired of the amount of water and time it takes to maintain your lawn? Consider growing a vegetable garden there instead! Front yard vegetable gardens are the topic of my garden column in today’s edition of The Spokesman-Review. Here’s a link to it: Forget lush lawns — fruits and veggies are this gardener’s growing passion. (or you […]
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One of my favorite shrubs is the Viburnum. They are such great, all-around plants in my garden with so many wonderful attributes: beautiful flowers, some have a lovely fragrance, most produce berries, and they have awesome fall foliage. I mean, what’s not to like about Viburnums? Here is a link to my column in today’s edition of The Spokesman-Review: Vibrant, […]
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Hi, everyone. This year, I’ve been filming a vegetable garden tour about every 3 weeks so you can see how things are growing. I hope you’ve been enjoying these videos. I’m always amazed by the transformation that takes place in a garden each growing season. Plants that were puny in early spring are suddenly thriving and bearing fruit. Little problems […]
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As you know, one of my favorite gardening topics is attracting beneficial insects. My husband Bill and I recently discovered a whole bunch of ladybugs on our hops vines. And boy, were they busily dispatching aphids. It brought an important point to mind: I love Jessica Walliser’s excellent book, Attracting Beneficial Bugs to Your Garden. She mentioned how she used […]
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Being the avid birdwatcher that I am, you probably can imagine I’m excited to share today’s column with you. It’s all about attracting birds to your garden. Here’s a link to it in today’s edition of The Spokesman-Review: When caring for birds, think shelter first. (or you can read my column lower in this post) You will learn what we’ve […]
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Lately, my husband and I have been enjoying watching the antics of our local hummingbird families. It’s gotten me to thinking about what it takes to attract hummingbirds to a garden in the first place. Primarily, it is the flowers you plant that will bring those little cuties in. But it certainly doesn’t hurt to hang up some of those […]
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My Sunday column was an update on how my vegetable garden is doing. In it, I mentioned how I’ve learned firsthand just how important sunlight is for plant growth. (If you missed my column, here’s a link to it: Wacky weather confusing to vegetable crops.) On the south end of our garden, we have (3) 4′ wide by 16′ long […]
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