Isn’t it annoying when birds eat things we’re growing for ourselves? Would you like to know how to outsmart robins so they don’t eat your […]
A Note from Susan
ATTENTION! If you’re on my Blog page and see this “Note from Susan,” scroll below it for access to all my posts… and there are LOTS! (Technical difficulties.)
May 25, 2026 _ Hi, everybody. It’s lupine and iris season and I am one very happy gardener! We’ve been enjoying gorgeous sunny days and the veggie garden is completely planted. Now I can enjoy the beauty of this season. I hope your garden is making you smile, too.
If you watched my bean-growing videos, you know I promised to combine the two videos so everything’s in one place. Here’s a link to it on my YouTube channel, just in case you missed it: Grow Pole Beans & Bush Beans Complete. And if you didn’t get a chance to watch my recent video on important garden tips, here’s a link to that as well: 10 Vegetable Garden Tips for Great Success. I hope there are some new things you’ll learn and perhaps some “Aha moments” in it.
If you’re puzzling over which fertilizer to use on different vegetable crops, be sure to visit my guide, Fertilizer Guide For Veggie Crops. It will take the mystery out it for you!
Remember to visit the Grow Vegetables section that I created for my website. It is absolutely packed with useful information and tips. You can get to my guide by clicking on the link, or look for it in the menu bar on any page.
Be sure to check out my Amazon store for the gardening products I use and recommend so you’ll be ready for the new garden season. I receive a small commission but that won’t impact the price you pay.
Outsmart Robins in Your Strawberry Patch
Isn’t it annoying when birds eat things we’re growing for ourselves? Would you like to know how to outsmart robins so they don’t eat your strawberries? Well, we can all thank my husband Bill for this ingenious idea! He never ceases to amaze me because he comes up with interesting ways to solve garden problems. We’ve been watching our strawberry […]
Read moreVideo: 10 Vegetable Garden Tips for Great Success
My passion is to get folks interested in growing their own food. To help with that, I’ve put together 10 vegetable garden tips that make all the difference. What prompted me to choose that topic for this week’s video? Well, there are little things specific to growing veggies that are so important. You will be well on your way to […]
Read moreVideo: Grow Pole Beans & Bush Beans (Part 2)
This is a nice surprise for you and me both! I thought I’d have to wait 2 weeks before I could finish part 2 on how to grow pole beans. Apparently, the bean seeds I planted had other plans! They really hit the ground running so they apparently were anxious to get out in the garden. Here’s what happened: By […]
Read moreVideo: Grow Pole Beans & Bush Beans (Part 1)
Many of you are aware that I love to grow pole beans. They are so incredibly productive and easier to grow than you might think. And since I haven’t done a video on this topic for a while, I felt it was time for a new one! As I explain in the video, I also enjoy growing bush beans but […]
Read moreVideo: Water Conservation: Gardening in a Drought
For this week’s video, I felt water conservation would be a useful topic. After all, so many regions — within the United States and around the world — are dealing with severe drought conditions. While this is a depressing subject, my video is filled with positive, actionable items we can address in our gardens. Some might seem obvious while others […]
Read morePotato Growing Method: Experiment
Are you growing potatoes in your veggie garden this season? We’ve grown them off and on but thought it’d be fun to try a different potato growing method this year. We actually haven’t grown potatoes for the past couple of years. Bill and I started growing potatoes in raised beds quite a few years ago. More recently, we grew them […]
Read moreVideo: Grow Organic Bug-free Broccoli
This video on how to grow organic bug-free broccoli is what I’d intended to shoot last week. That is, until our weather forecast started looking ominous! We had rain, high-winds, a bit of snow, and below freezing temperatures. While I realize broccoli is a pretty tough crop, I just didn’t want to subject my lovingly-grown seedlings to that. I’m so […]
Read moreVideo: Your Gardening Questions Answered
For this week’s video, I will be answering your gardening questions. But that wasn’t originally the plan! I fully expected to be out in the garden, planting my broccoli seedlings and sharing a ton of tips. Apparently Mother Nature had other plans! After hearing about the high winds, rain, snow and below-freezing temperatures coming our way, I needed a “Plan […]
Read moreVideo: Let’s Plant Cool Season Vegetable Crops!
It’s finally time to plant cool season vegetable crops in our zone 5b/6a garden! This is always such a delightful milestone in any garden season, right? And if you’re like me, you probably thought this day would never come. But we’re here and let’s get down to business! Our weather here in Spokane, Wash. has been relatively mild lately. That […]
Read moreVideo: Soil Care First, Then Plant Your Veggies!
If you’re like me, you are anxious to hit the ground running in your vegetable garden. While we all want to plant our crops, it’s important to focus on soil care first. While that might sound tedious, I can assure you it doesn’t take much time at all. And your vegetable crops will reward you with abundant harvests as a […]
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