Share my passion for all things gardening!
This is your friendly reminder about the importance of hardening-off plants before setting them out in your garden. It only applies to plants you started indoors from seed or any plants that have never been exposed to “real” sunlight. Why is hardening-off plants so important? Well, if you think about it, the amount of light you provided your newly-started seedlings […]
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What is your idea of a dream garden event? Mine is a huge gathering of vendors selling oodles of lovely plants, attractive garden art and handy tools. I would educational activities to help me increase my gardening skills and food to keep my energy level up. And, best of all, free admission and parking. Yes indeed! Well, Garden Expo will […]
Read moreThis week is a two-fer in the video department! First, there was my video on the secrets to melon-growing success. And I just shot a video on planting and supporting peas. While my tips for each might seem a little unconventional, both definitely have a “cool” factor. I could have delayed the release of the pea video until next weekend. […]
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I could be wrong, but it sure seems like there aren’t many folks who grow melons in their home gardens. And particularly in our northern, zone 5 climate. I’m happy to report it’s very doable. In this week’s column, I share how to do just that. You can read it below. Column: Melons need TLC to grow in the Inland […]
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For this week’s garden column, I decided to write about growing cool-season crops. Here is a link to it in today’s edition of The Spokesman-Review: Mind your peas and onions, and other tips for starting cool-season crops. Or you can read my column below. Column: Mind your peas and onions It won’t be long before we can plant cool-season vegetable […]
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If you’ve followed me for long, you know I am absolutely crazy about raised bed gardening! There are so many great attributes of this method of gardening, that I just had to share them in my column. You can read it in today’s edition of The Spokesman-Review: Raised beds offer bountiful benefits. Or you can read my column below. Column: […]
Read moreLast year, for the very first time, I started growing cucamelons. If you’ve never heard of them, they are related to cucumbers. They look like teeny-tiny watermelons and have a delightful citrusy crunch. They are also known as Mexican sour gherkins and mouse melons. I bought my seeds from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds and you can also find them at […]
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For my garden column today, I wrote about why it’s important to get kids in the garden. It gives them the chance to learn where our food comes from and how to grow all kinds of vegetables and fruits. It gives you and the young gardener(s) in your life the opportunity to learn about gardening together. You can read my […]
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Today’s an exciting day because my first garden column of the season is in today’s edition of The Spokesman-Review newspaper, here in Spokane, Wash. It is a season introduction that includes a list of what we’re growing this year. Here’s a link: The weather outside may be frightful, but spring will come. Eventually. (or you can read my column lower […]
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To borrow a line from Joan Rivers, can we talk? I’m sure many of you are thinking about starting your tomato plants in the next week or so. Let’s see a show of hands. Yup, a lot of you are getting ready to plunk tomato seeds into flats or pots. Well, if you live in a colder climate (i.e., zone […]
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