Each year at the nursery we take questions from customers asking what type of soil we have--is it acidic, neutral or basic? Some people even go to the work of buying a pH test to determine for themselves just how acidic or basic their soil is. Frankly, though, it's hardly worth the money to have your soil professionally tested. Why? Our soil in the Northwest is notoriously acidic. Period. If [...]
Charles Dickens once wrote of sunny March days as “summer in the light and winter in the shade.” With the promise of sunny, warmer weather arriving in the coming days, the chilly late winter we’ve been experiencing lately may begin to shift to real spring, when even the shade isn’t so wintry. As we gardeners excitedly get outside to feel the sun on our skin and work the soil in [...]
It’s been said that March is “in like a lion, out like a lamb,” and thankfully--at least for a few days each week--the latter half of this month has proved the axiom somewhat true, with pleasant weather and sunny days. As we inch toward warmer spring gardening weather and with daylight hours rapidly lengthening, there are some key tasks to accomplish outdoors this in these first weeks of spring—all of [...]
Ben Franklin once said that “nothing is certain in life except death and taxes,” but he had obviously never visited the Pacific Northwest in autumn and experienced the rainy season that, though delayed this year, has finally arrived. As the traditional wet fall season begins to take hold in Western Washington, this month is a great time to get a head start on next year’s gardening success, so here [...]
A map I recently saw showed that the northern latitudes of the continental United States gain an average of 100 minutes of daylight over the course of the month of March. That statistic begs the question: what are you going to do with that extra hour and a half of daylight each day? Of course, if you’re reading this, chances are you’ll spend a good portion of that time [...]
With regular soaking rains, cool temperatures, and crisp sunny days marked by the slanting rays of a sun sinking further into the southern sky, there’s little doubt that autumn is here to stay. As you work at cleaning up your yard and getting your garden ready for winter, here are a few items to keep your lawn and garden healthy and thriving throughout the months to come. First, while our [...]
No matter how many times you’ve experienced it, there is something always thrilling about spring. Whether it’s the longer days, new life bursting from once-barren flowerbeds, or the smell of blooming lilacs, spring stirs the hearts of young and old, gardeners or not. As you take advantage of sunny, brisk early spring days, here are some suggestions to start a new season of gardening on the right foot. First, early [...]
I love gardening, and chances are if you’re reading this, you do too. Unique among many hobbies is gardening’s accessibility—just about anyone of any age with any amount of skill living in any sort of home can exercise their green thumb and discover the joy of growing something. Along with successes come challenges, though, and I’m not immune to the failures we all experience in the garden. With hopes that [...]
Rudyard Kipling once wrote, “Gardens are not made by singing ‘Oh, how beautiful,’ and sitting in the shade.” To be fair, this hobby we call gardening can be downright hard work sometimes, but what joy to see a garden flourish and know that you played some small part in refining its beauty. With spring officially here, it's time to enjoy working the soil once again. As you start gardening [...]
Whoever ordered the weather for September deserves a refund. Early autumn in the Pacific Northwest is usually just about perfect: cool, crisp mornings, warm sunny days, and flowers resurging with their last best show of color after a warm summer. This year felt like we went straight from glorious summer to spiders and drizzle—not what anyone ordered, for sure! But, as we settle into autumn in earnest, it’s time to [...]
