The Pacific Northwest in July is a real gem: lush trees, plants, and fields; flowers burgeoning with color; juicy, sweet berries ripening; and a gentle breeze in the evening to cool off the warmth of the day. At long last summer has arrived, and with it our focus in the garden shifts from spring planting to mid-season growing and maintaining. Here are a few things to keep on your gardening [...]
Ask any native Washingtonian and they’ll tell you that “June Gloom” is a very real thing in our corner of the world. Unfortunately, this year’s June Gloom comes on the heels of Abundant April Showers and a Mostly Moist May, leaving weather forecasters with few friends. With summer just around the corner (one can hope!), June is a great time to work outside, ensuring a colorful, productive, and healthy garden [...]
It may not feel much like spring yet, with near-zero temperatures and multiple winter snowstorms blowing through our area in the last few weeks. And while we’re not yet out of the woods yet—don’t shoot the messenger but the bulk of our winter weather often arrives between late January and early March—now is the time to begin preparing for and dreaming of a new season of gardening. This month, here [...]
Late summer in the garden can be both a challenging and rewarding time, with increased insect and disease issues at a time when plants are their most productive or beautiful. You’ve cared for your garden this many months, watering, fertilizing, and carefully tending to your plants’ needs—so let’s finish the summer strong. Here are a few tips to keep your garden healthy and looking its best as fall looms just [...]
In gardening, timing is everything. Whether getting your vegetable seeds or starts in the ground at the proper time, feeding your lawn and garden when needed, and spraying or treating for insects before an infestation ruins your fruit or flowers—the success of your endeavors hinges largely on doing things at the right time. As you wrap up planting your vegetable garden for summer and begin to focus on maintaining your [...]
I love gardening, and chances are if you’re reading this, you do too. Unique among many hobbies is gardening’s accessibility—just about anyone of any age with any amount of skill living in any sort of home can exercise their green thumb and discover the joy of growing something. Along with successes come challenges, though, and I’m not immune to the failures we all experience in the garden. With hopes that [...]
Puffy white clouds in a bright blue sky, tassled sweet corn beginning to mature, and dahlias in full bloom—this is summer in the Pacific Northwest. After a delayed start to the warm weather this year, we’ve finally enjoyed some real summer temperatures and sunny days in the last month. As your garden offers the best of its summer glory before the decline into autumn, here are some tips to [...]
I don’t mean to be a complainer, but is it too much to ask for just something about 2020 to be normal? After the coolest start to summer since 2002, we’ve finally turned a corner into a good stretch of sunny, warm weather. But with so much cool, damp weather to start the season, some aspects of gardening have proven challenging and may require extra attention on your part. As [...]
To say that this year has been unusual is in so many areas of life an understatement. And although the cool, damp weather we’ve had the last several weeks seems unusual, it’s not unprecedented—after all, Washingtonians are the ones who coined terms like “June gloom” and my favorite, “June-uary.” While the last few years have brought us beautiful weather in June, it’s not uncommon for gloomy weather to hang [...]
Given all the seismic shifts to our way of life in March, it feels like far longer than a month ago I last sat down to write about gardening. And while much has changed over the last month, spring flowers continue to bloom, grass is still growing, and gardens are bursting back to life right on schedule. Gardening, unlike many events in our world today, is not cancelled—and for multiple [...]
