Share my passion for all things gardening!
Susan Mulvihill is co-author with fellow columnist, Pat Munts, of Northwest Gardener’s Handbook. Published by Cool Springs Press in Jan. 2015, NGH contains a wealth of knowledge for gardening in the beautiful Northwest. What’s really special about this book is that it covers the Inland Northwest region, an area that has in the past been given little attention in garden […]
Read moreI’m sure all of you are anxious to begin seed-starting and plant your veggie seeds so you can get the 2015 garden season under way! I completely understand, but correct timing is critical so you don’t end up with leggy, root-bound seedlings. I live in Spokane, Wash., which is in USDA zone 5 (or 6, depending on which microclimate you […]
Read moreThis is part two in a series on some of the easiest-care, most rewarding houseplants you can grow. One of the houseplants I have the most success with is Dracaena deremensis (druh-SEE-nuh dair-rem-MEN-sis). Perhaps you’ve heard of references to corn plants and rainbow plants which are the common names of some types of Dracaenas. As you can see, the leaves […]
Read moreI have some exciting news for you: my dear friend and colleague Pat Munts and I have written a book! It is called The Northwest Gardener’s Handbook and will be in bookstores as of Jan. 15, 2015. It will be published by Cool Springs Press and covers all of Washington and Oregon, southern British Columbia and a bit of northern California. […]
Read moreI have to admit I’ve killed a fern or two, mostly notably Boston ferns. Our house is just too dry for them and I seem to have difficulty getting the hang of providing them with the correct amount of water. I almost gave up on growing ferns altogether. That is, until one day when I was wandering around a home […]
Read moreI wanted to let you know about a few modifications we’ve made to our hoop house in the past few days. My husband, Bill, and I felt it needed to be a bit more “buttoned-up” for the winter. Here’s what we’ve done: 1) We purchased a 4-inch-wide roll of greenhouse repair tape from FarmTek. You’ll recall from my original post […]
Read moreMy husband, Bill, and I just finished building a hoop house in our vegetable garden so we can grow veggies through the fall and winter months. A hoop house is a greenhouse that is covered with plastic rather than glass or polycarbonate panels. The goal was to create a structure that would cover two of our 3’ x 8’ raised […]
Read more‘Peppermint Stick’ chard (read about it and other vegetable varieties below) As promised, here is a report card on how the vegetable varieties I grew in my garden this year performed. Their grades are in parentheses. Artichoke: Green Globe – (A) This variety has more rounded heads and greener foliage. It was less productive and seemed more prone to aphids […]
Read moreIt’s hard to believe that my column in today’s edition of The Spokesman-Review is my last one for this season. Time flies, eh? But not to worry, I’ll be back to writing them again in February. In the meantime, today’s column is a wrap-up of the season so I wanted to provide you with a link to it: Tomatoes, squash gave […]
Read moreIf you’re like me, you’ve probably been scurrying around in your garden lately, trying to pick and preserve as much of the harvest as possible. After all, it’s hard to know how much longer our weather will hold, right? Today, I’ve picked most of our sweet peppers. Preserving peppers can be tricky because, unlike tomatoes that you can turn into […]
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