Final organic cherry production report
I thought you might be interested to hear how things went in our quest to grow cherries organically this year:
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Protecting corn plants from wind
My veggie garden is in an area that can occasionally get pretty windy. Most of the crops do just fine but corn is particularly susceptible to the wind. I have to say that there is nothing quite so depressing as having a really great-looking patch of corn one day, then have it all snapped off at ground level and lying […]
Read moreUpdate on growing cherries organically
I wanted to do a follow-up to my July 13 post (“Keeping the birds out of the cherries“). That way, you’ll know how things are going. You’ll recall I recently purchased some 2″-wide holographic bird scare ribbon. They’re my attempt to keep birds away from the ripening cherries. Well, it has worked great! It hasn’t completely kept the robins out of […]
Read moreKeeping the birds out of the cherries
Don’t you just love fresh cherries this time of year? I’m crazy about them but, unfortunately, so are the robins, magpies, starlings and sparrows. We have 5 cherry trees and it’s a battle to get any amount of fruit off of them. A couple of years ago, we tried an experiment of covering the trees with huge sheets of floating […]
Read moreJune 8 column: Containers
Calibrachoa ‘Watermelon’ Here is a link to my column in today’s edition of The Spokesman-Review: For pots with impact, go for thrill, fill and spill. (or you can read my column lower in this post.) As you can probably guess by the headline, it’s about containers and choosing some wonderful annuals to use in them. Even though I have a […]
Read moreApril 20 column: Winter squash
Happy Easter! Here is a link to my column in today’s edition of The Spokesman-Review: With proper care, winter squash thrive. It’s all about growing winter squash and pumpkins. (you can also read my column below) Last year, I really got ours off to a great start by starting them early indoors. Then I covered the soil in their bed […]
Read moreDrip irrigation project, part one
Photo #1: Getting ready to swap out the old T Tape for Aqua Traxx Last year, my husband and I installed a new drip irrigation system on our raised beds. We’ve used soaker hoses on each bed for years but they frequently clogged with minerals. That in turn reduced the amount of water coming out of them. We felt it […]
Read moreDrip irrigation project, part two
Photo #1: drip irrigation This is a continuation of our discussion (see previous post) about the new drip irrigation system we recently installed. I wanted to show you what we did on one of our 3′ x 8′ raised beds. Drip irrigation supplies: Photo #1 shows the supplies we needed: 1/2″ tubing to make the manifold, 1/2″ figure-8 ends to […]
Read moreApril 13 column: Attracting birds to the garden
This young Chickadee mugged for the camera in my garden last summer. Here is a link to my column in today’s edition of The Spokesman-Review: Bringing in the birds. (you can also read my column lower in this post.) It’s about one of my favorite subjects, which is attracting birds to the garden. If you regularly follow this blog and/or […]
Read moreGrowing leeks
Fear not: those wimpy seedlings will grow into these big leeks! (Note: I think this post needs a subtitle of “How to torture your leeks.” That is exactly what I’m going to tell you how to do!) If you are growing leeks for the first time this year, congratulations! I’ve grown them off and on for years and just love […]
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