Share my passion for all things gardening!
Today’s column is a preview of the Spokane Orchid Society’s annual Orchid Show & Sale. I don’t know about you, but I am entranced with these exotic plants! The orchid show and sale will be held next weekend at Vickie’s Garden Center, 2100 S. Inland Empire Way. On Sat., Apr. 2nd, the hours will be from noon to 6 p.m., […]
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Happy Spring, everyone! Are you familiar with anthocyanins or am I making you scratch your head? They are pigments that give purple, red and blue hues to different species or varieties of plants — whether it’s in their leaves or flowers. And they’re very healthful, although scientists haven’t completely figured that part out just yet! It just so happens that […]
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When planting vegetable seeds, there are some that should be sown directly into the garden and others that do better when started indoors first. But which is which? In my column in today’s edition of The Spokesman-Review, I take the mystery out of sowing seeds and am hoping you’ll find it really helpful. Here is a link to it: Different […]
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Early last fall, I decided to take the plunge and learn how to overwinter Canna lily bulbs. I’d never done it before but am crazy about Cannas and hate tossing them in the compost pile once the frosts hit. It turns out, it’s not all that hard. Here’s a video I filmed on the initial process: I stored the Canna […]
Read moreIf you enjoy starting your own plants from seed as much as I do, you’ll be excited to hear about a wonderful new seed-starting kit. It’s the GrowEase Seed-Starter kit from Gardener’s Supply. Here’s a short video on the kit’s features: Why do I like this seed-starting kit so much? All of the components are very durable. The seed-starting tray, […]
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If you live in the Inland Northwest — or in the Pacific Northwest, for that matter — you know that on Nov. 17, 2015, we had a horrific windstorm. There were peak wind gusts of 71 mph, four people lost their lives, there were power outages everywhere, and an incredible amount of damage left in its wake. Now that spring […]
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Now that we’re into the month of March, this seems like the perfect time to do a wrap-up on growing vegetables through the winter. This was my 3rd winter of attempting to grow salad greens through our chilly zone 4b/5a winters and I’m happy to report it was my best ever! Hooray! As a quick recap, my husband and I […]
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The soil in our gardens is one of the most easily overlooked components, yet it’s so very important to the success of our gardens. We tend to take it for granted and just assume all is well with it. That’s not necessarily the case! On the flip side, sometimes we do a bit too much to our soil, without realizing […]
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While checking out the marketplace at the Northwest Flower & Garden Show last week, I came across these eye-catching row markers. Aren’t they cute as can be? These are Plant Picket decorative garden markers from PlantPicket.com and they were designed by owner Jed Darland. He’s created markers for vegetables, herbs, flowers, fruits and berries. In addition, there are markers sporting bugs, […]
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If you live in a northern climate, I hope you haven’t planted your tomatoes from seed yet! Yes, it’s easy to get excited but it’s still too early. I used to start my tomato seeds indoors in early February. I figured the plants need to be large and robust before planting them out into the garden in mid-May. I quickly […]
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