Share my passion for all things gardening!
For this week’s column, I wrote about how to grow cabbage family crops. This includes broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, kale, kohlrabi, radishes and rutabagas, just for starters. Here is link to it in today’s edition of The Spokesman-Review: Netting helps keep pests away from cabbage family crops. My current favorite to grow is broccoli. I mean, you just can’t […]
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Well, today is a milestone because it marks the beginning of my weekly garden columns for the 2020 growing season! This first column is a season introduction. Here is a link to it in today’s edition of The Spokesman-Review: Dig into learning. In it, I mentioned how dreadful earwigs were in Inland Northwest gardens last year. If you live in […]
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This post might seem a bit premature but it could affect your seed-starting or seedling-purchasing plans so I wanted to mention it now. This has to do with squash bugs. They are horribly destructive insects that attack members of the Cucurbit family (cucumbers, melons, summer and winter squash). While I’ve never had them in my garden, I know a few […]
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The Pollinator Victory Garden: Win the War on Pollinator Decline with Ecological Gardening by Kim Eierman (Quarto Publishing, 2020, 160 pp., $26.99) As soon as I heard about Kim Eierman’s brand-new book, The Pollinator Victory Garden, I was anxious to learn what I can be doing to help pollinators within my own garden. According to the book’s subtitle, it is […]
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Do you bring in plants that were outdoors during the spring and summer months? And do suddenly end up with tiny flies indoors that drive you insane? Well, those are fungus gnats. And yes, they used to drive us nuts… that is, until I discovered a simple, organic solution to the problem. Last winter, I had brought my hanging baskets […]
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For this week’s garden column, I wrote about tomato care. I felt it was important to discuss what we gardeners need to be doing for our tomato plants this time of year, so they grow their very best. You can read it in today’s edition of The Spokesman-Review: Proper staking, consistent watering key to best tomatoes. How are your plants […]
Read moreAs you probably know, we get plenty of critters in our garden — many of which are certain the garden was planted specifically for them. Sometimes, dealing with them means you need to get creative. This year, Bill and I have found some new methods that are working pretty well. That’s the topic of my column today, which you can […]
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I hereby declare the garden tour season officially open! Or at least, it will be on Saturday (June 15) when the Spokane in Bloom garden tour takes place. Learn all about it in my garden column in today’s edition of The Spokesman-Review: Spokane in Bloom kicks off garden tour season. This wonderful tour provides folks with the opportunity to wander […]
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For my first garden column in June, I’ve focused on something that we probably all know, but tend to forget about. And that is observing good cultural practices in the garden so our plants thrive. Here’s a link to it in today’s edition of The Spokesman-Review: Follow best practices to keep plants thriving. When I went through Master Gardener training […]
Read moreYes, that’s a long title for this blog post, but it really sums things up! I’ve been meaning to write about this topic for a few weeks but just haven’t had the time. But now that I’ve seen TV and newspaper accounts of the return of black flies to the Inland Northwest, it’s definitely important to address this subject. I’ve […]
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