Share my passion for all things gardening!
Does the photo to the left look like your place these days? Have you got plants stashed all over the place, waiting for the weather to warm up? This week’s column is about protecting seedlings from the weather, which is very important. I mean, you just went to all of the trouble to raise them, right? Well, before you move […]
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My column in today’s edition of The Spokesman-Review is all about seed-starting. That’s one of my favorite aspects of gardening. Here’s a link to it: Seed-starting basics. (or you can read my column lower in this text) For the past 3 weeks, I’ve been laying the foundation for growing a garden. There are many important things to know. These include […]
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My garden columns seem to be coming fast and furious now that my writing season is underway! Today’s is about important regional considerations when selecting plants and seeds. Here is a link to it, in today’s edition of The Spokesman-Review: Know your zone to pick the right plants. (or you can read my column lower in this post) While this […]
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Well, today’s a momentous day! It’s the start of my column-writing season with today’s being about my go-to vegetable varieties. And, what’s particularly exciting is that I’m pairing each of my columns with a video this year. The videos are part of my new series called “Everyone Can Grow A Garden!” They will allow me to expand on what I’ve […]
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I’ve been growing microgreens for the first time this winter. It’s so much fun and a great way to eat healthy greens that I’ve grown myself indoors. I wanted to give you an update to hear what I’ve learned since the last time I wrote about this. But first, in case you’re sitting there saying, “microgreens? What in the world […]
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I just learned something intriguing about planting onions and wanted to share it with you. As you know, you can grow onions from seeds, sets (little bulbs) and from plant starts. For years, I used onion sets but had mediocre results with them. The bulb size was small and their overall plant vigor was lacking. Several years ago, I was […]
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I know I’ve talked about this before but crop rotation is a big deal! It’s the best tool vegetable gardeners have to cut down on insect and disease problems. And it’s free, too. Crop rotation involves keeping records of where you grew each crop in the previous 3 to 4 years. That way, you can grow them in different locations […]
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On Dec. 9, I wrote a blog post about growing microgreens. It also included a video on how to accomplish this. As a quick recap, microgreens are young seedlings that you harvest once they’ve developed their first true leaves. I live in a Northern climate where growing salad greens like lettuce year-round is virtually impossible. So growing microgreens seemed like […]
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When you live in a climate with cold winters, it’s pretty darned tricky growing veggies year round. If you’ve been following me, you know I grow some very cold-tolerant vegetable crops in a hoop house during the winter months. But this winter, I’m also trying something for the first time: growing microgreens! You’ve probably heard of folks sprouting seeds, where […]
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It won’t be long before we plant our warm-season crops so I wanted to make sure you saw this video to help you get excellent germination rates. It’s all about proper seed orientation. What’s that, you say? Well, there are certain irregularly-shaped seeds that will germinate more successfully if they are planted in the correct direction. The types of seeds I’m […]
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