With gradually-improving weather and daylight hours getting longer, spring is in the air. Look outside and you’ll be sure to find your bulbs growing, trees and shrubs starting to bud and life bursting forth throughout the garden. As you start your spring clean-up around the yard and make the first gardening to-do lists, here are some early-season jobs you’ll want to accomplish. First, it’s time for spring pruning. Keep [...]
A year ago, we ended a warm, dry summer with a splash of sorts—October’s arrival brought a drastic change in the weather that began one of the wettest winters on record in our area. This year, we’ve once again experienced a dry summer and pleasant early fall, and while rainy weather is arriving, it's now the perfect for getting some extra lawn and garden projects done. Here are a [...]
Spring is a time of renewal in the yard and garden, and that’s never been truer than this year. Whether you’re looking for a shrub to replace one damaged or killed this winter, want to plant something new and exciting to lift your spirits, or need help continuing to repair your lawn, here are some of my top suggestions for this month. Each spring brings about the introductions of [...]
With the month of May now well underway, planting season is in full swing. Whether you’re planting a vegetable garden, flower beds or a couple of containers on your deck, nothing is quite as rewarding as watching a garden grow and thrive. Here are my favorite plants and gardening secrets to try this month as you work in the garden. First, no garden is complete without at least some [...]
There’s something about this time of year that I find particularly invigorating. Maybe it’s the bright colors of spring-blooming shrubs and perennials, maybe it’s the longer, warmer days, or maybe it’s the smell of fresh-cut grass; whatever it is, you might feel it too. As you get inspired to plant something in your yard this spring, here are a few of my favorite plants for unique color, texture, and flavor. [...]
As a gardener, I’ve come to appreciate that gardening is never really finished. Sure, we mark the Last Mowing of the Year with pride and admire the look of a freshly-raked yard free of leaves for the (hopefully) final time, but if you’re anything like me, the satisfaction of a season finished is all too quickly replaced by the longing for spring upon the arrival of the first seed catalog [...]
With this year’s mild winter, our gardening season in the Pacific Northwest has gotten off to a much earlier start than normal. From lawns that needed a good mowing weeks ago to fields of tulips in bloom well before the height of the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival, signs of an early spring have been plentiful. As you prepare to plant your vegetable garden this year, here are four tips for [...]
Just a month ago, I offered a word of caution in getting too excited about spring’s arrival—barely a month into winter, it hardly seemed appropriate to offer tips for spring work around the yard. As February is now more than half over, however, and with nary a sign of real winter weather in the forecast, you’re likely starting to look around the yard for things to do. Here’s my list [...]
