Share my passion for all things gardening!
Did you know that spring is a great time for pruning? In this week’s video, I share all sorts of pruning tips for trees (esp. fruit trees), flowering shrubs, roses and blueberry plants. You’ll learn how to prune properly and avoid common mistakes. Pruning can seem daunting at times but once you know the basics, you’ll do great. Main pruning […]
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I get a lot of questions about how to prune raspberries so that’s the topic of this week’s video. And I included blackberries as well, since their pruning method is very similar. You will learn some very interesting things about the two main types of raspberries, which are summer-bearing and fall-bearing. Once you know which type you’re growing, you will […]
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I suppose the title to today’s post might shock you because you probably know I’m an avid birdwatcher. But I take issue when birds think it’s perfectly fine to take bites out of our cherries, raspberries, and blueberries. How can Bill and I thwart the birds but still be on a friendly basis with them? Well, that’s exactly what you’ll […]
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It’s easy to feel overwhelmed by our harvests this time of year, isn’t it? Everything is coming quickly and it’s hard to keep up with it all. I decided to focus this week’s video on tips for preserving beans, zucchini and berries. The best part of all is that you won’t need any special equipment to do this! For example, […]
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For today’s garden column, I chose a topic that I’ve never written about before: beneficial nematodes. If you’ve never heard of them, they are microscopic roundworms that help you deal with soil-dwelling insect pests. I will apologize in advance for the lower photo because I realize it is rather disgusting! But you definitely will want to read my column below […]
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I love this time of year! Our gardens are coming back to life and plant sales are back on our calendars. On Saturday (June 4), The Friends of Manito spring plant sale will take place from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. If you live in the Inland Northwest, you will NOT want to miss this sale because it always awesome! […]
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I love being able to report on fun garden events such as plant sales. The Friends of Manito will hold their spring plant sale on June 3-5 and June 10-12 from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. each day. You can learn all about it, including some of my plant picks, within my garden column in today’s edition of The Spokesman-Review: […]
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Eating fresh blueberries from our garden is one of my favorite summertime treats. Did you know they’re quite easy to grow? In this week’s column, I go over the cultural needs of blueberries. Here’s a link to it in today’s edition of The Spokesman-Review: Growing blueberries is a treat for yourself. (you can also read the text of my column […]
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It’s time for my next video and this one was designed to help you prune raspberries with confidence! In it, you’ll learn the difference between primocanes and floricanes. Even more importantly, the difference between summer-bearing and ever-bearing raspberries. Once you understand all of that, you should be able to prune any type of raspberry. Every now and then, readers tell […]
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For this week’s garden column, I wrote about our adventures in growing figs. Yes, figs in our zone 5b garden! You can read it in today’s edition of The Spokesman-Review: With figs, it’s best to contain your excitement. (or you can read my column at the bottom of this post) Mind you, it’s not like we’ve had a whole lot […]
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