It pains me to see customers spending hundreds of dollars on new plants and simultaneously refusing to spend a few more on a bag or two of compost and a box of starter fertilizer. These two items are not unnecessary “add-ons” that the retailer is just trying to add to the sale, they are critical components of a successful transplanting process - or as I like to refer to them as “plant insurance”. Unless you have phenomenal soil, you should always add compost and starter fertilizers when you are planting new plants. Here is why…
After this last hard freeze, I am hoping that the worst is behind us and we can confidently get out into the garden and whip things back into shape. While I realize February is still technically winter, it is also the beginning of spring for north westerners, and there is much to do before the actual spring season arrives. Here are some timely tasks to consider…
Over the last two years, during this gawd-awful pandemic, garden centers have seen a huge increase in sales of vegetable growing supplies. A lot of people either got into veggie gardening for the first time or simply upped their game due to the extra time they had on their hands, with nowhere to go. For me personally…
This little northwest mist we just experienced reminds me that this is the time of year when all those little weed seeds that have been lying dormant in our soils suddenly get a notice from Mother Nature that it is time to wake up and start growing. There are 3 environmental signals that cause this response…
The Golfing Gardener
Trevor Cameron
Rhododendrons are not only the state flower for our Washingtonian homeland, but they are perhaps the most widely planted shrub in our region. Now that we are in the heart of springtime in the PNW, Rhododendrons (and their cousins the Azaleas) are…