Share my passion for all things gardening!
Even though I recently wrote a column about the top 5 damaging insects and how to deal with them organically, I decided to write today’s column about the importance of insect ID. Here’s a link to it in The Spokesman-Review: Season’s pests may surprise you. If you want to successfully deal with problems in your garden, it is critical that […]
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As you know, one of my favorite gardening topics is attracting beneficial insects. My husband Bill and I recently discovered a whole bunch of ladybugs on our hops vines, and they were busily dispatching aphids. It brought an important point to mind: In Jessica Walliser’s excellent book, Attracting Beneficial Bugs to Your Garden, she mentioned how she used to be […]
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I love learning new things, but I’m not so happy to learn this little tidbit: pillbugs aren’t quite as benevolent as they’d like us to believe. Darn. For years, I’ve known that pillbugs are benign critters that primarily feed on decomposing organic matter. So they play a useful role in building soil fertility. However, I now know there’s a Dr. […]
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I recently wrote a post on Growing apples organically, but wanted to do a follow-up today. I get a lot of questions from readers about how to do this, so I wanted to clarify a few things. Last week, we decided it was high time we thinned and covered our young apples to protect them from the apple codling moth, […]
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What’s bugging you? Chances are, there are a few insect pests in your garden that are getting the better of you. In today’s column, I discuss my top 5 insect pests and organic insect control. Here’s a link to it, in today’s edition of The Spokesman-Review: Pests can be thwarted naturally. If you’re like me, you’d like to deal with […]
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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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As gardeners, we aim to thwart insects and plant diseases, right? Well, one of the best tools we have is vegetable crop rotation. I know, crop rotation sounds like something farmers do, not small-time gardeners. And yet it makes a huge difference no matter what size your garden is. Why is it so important? Certain insects and diseases are common […]
Read moreThis is what floating row cover looks like. It’s terrific! Here is a link to my column in today’s edition of The Spokesman-Review: Products boost plant health organically. This one’s about how I garden organically through the use of some very helpful, environmentally-friendly products. I hope you’ll find it interesting and useful. I also wanted to mention that due to […]
Read moreOrganic gardening: Adding organic amendments to your soil is a great way to grow beautiful, productive plants. Here is a link to my column in today’s edition of The Spokesman-Review: When going organic, it helps to know your surroundings. This one is the first of two parts on organic gardening. I’ve been gardening organically for several years now. It’s easier […]
Read moreOver the years, I’ve written about my battles with leaf miners, which are the larvae that tunnel in between the cells in the leaves of spinach, beets and Swiss chard. How do they get there in the first place? Well, the adult is a fly that lays eggs on the leaves. Once the eggs hatch, the maggots do their damage […]
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