Share my passion for all things gardening!
I’ve been watching our weather forecast closely and am very concerned. Here in Spokane, a heat wave begins this Saturday, with a high of 101 degrees F. On Sunday, the forecast shows 105 degrees, and on Monday and Tuesday, the National Weather Service believes we’ll be up at 110 degrees. That is scary. I just received an email from a […]
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For this week’s column, I wrote about water conservation in the garden. You can read it in today’s edition of The Spokesman-Review: Practice water conservation in your landscape. (or you can read the text of my column at the bottom of this post) Here in Spokane, Wash., we’ve been experiencing a very dry spring which is unusual for us. That […]
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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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For the past year, the events calendar on this website has been looking pretty pathetic. That’s because nearly every event has had to be canceled, courtesy of the pandemic. Well, things are looking up because there’s a great line-up of Spring Gardening Classes that will be put on by the Spokane County Master Gardeners! Hooray! Each class will be held […]
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The one bright spot in this COVID-19 mess is that there are so many new vegetable gardeners. How cool is that?! I remember when I was a new gardener, it was difficult to know when to harvest vegetables. That seemed like a perfect topic for today’s garden column. You can read it in The Spokesman-Review: The perfect time to pick […]
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Do you bring in plants that were outdoors during the spring and summer months? And do suddenly end up with tiny flies indoors that drive you insane? Well, those are fungus gnats. And yes, they used to drive us nuts… that is, until I discovered a simple, organic solution to the problem. Last winter, I had brought my hanging baskets […]
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If there’s something I hate to see in my garden, it’s an idle bed. If there isn’t a crop growing and producing in it, something should be improving the soil fertility in that bed. Cover crops will do exactly that. Each time a crop is finished, I like to replace it with one of them. What are cover crops? They […]
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With the garden season getting underway, I decided a column on compost and composting would be in order. After all, if we take care of the soil in our gardens, it in turn will take care of our plants and — in the case of veggies — provide us with higher yields. Sounds good to me! Here is a link […]
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I posted some photos on Facebook showing the bulk compost delivery I received yesterday from Home Fires Nursery in Spokane. That has prompted several concerned comments from readers about the safety of the compost. I decided to write a blog post to address those concerns. If you live in another area of the country, this information should prove helpful to […]
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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, so you can grow them in different locations. Each […]
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