Back in my hippy-dippy days of the late 60’s and early 70’s I was a devotee of the organic gardening movement with subscriptions to Rodale’s Organic Gardening Magazine along with Prevention and Mother Earth News.  My favorite cook book was Diet for a Small Planet and Adelle Davis’s Let’s Eat Right to Keep Fit.  I had a fabulous organic garden and a very large compost pile but my passion was far from mainstream.  Fast forward 40 years and I am pleased to say that organic gardening and eating healthy have indeed become the norm and it is very gratifying to see this happening.  Here is a quick overview of the essence of what organic gardening is all about.  Sign up for our class this coming Saturday at 10am and learn all the ins and outs of this gardening style.

April is a grand month to plant a tree and it is no coincidence that most states and our federal government celebrate Arbor Day during the month of April.  This week I would like to talk about three different groups of trees starting with Japanese Maples....

Last week we touched on roses, lawns, pruning and assessing winter damage and if you happened to miss it you can go to my website at www.sunnysidenursery.net where all of my columns are archived and searchable by various topics.   Now on to the rest of the list...

Yes, this month it will take two weeks to dispense all my gardening wisdom for the month of April.  There’s just too darn much to do to fit it into one column...

For all you hard core veggie gardeners out there you probably already know that March is a good time to get started on the veggie garden.  But first timers may not realize that there are really two seasons to plant veggies (and I suppose a third in the fall) and that we can’t just plant everything all at one time.

Let’s face it, for the most part the lawn is the man’s domain.  It is literally his “turf” and when left alone he can spend endless hours mowing, edging, aerating, dethatching, feeding, reseeding, watering and weeding not to mention the time it takes to keep his trusty John Deere steed in good running condition.  If this man is also a golfer then his passion for his lawn is even more intense.  Some would say it is obsessive but I would submit that the lawn is probably the safest place in the garden for the man to be (and all the wives say Amen)!  

Life can be stressful and the more we can do to relieve that stress the happier and healthy we can be.  Nothing causes me more stress than trying to adjust to Daylight Saving Time and while I would dearly love to use this space to rant about how much I loath it the fact is that this is a gardening column so I am going to instead tell you about how stress-relieving Bonsai can be for our sleep deprived souls.

SORRY.  I couldn’t resist jumping on the “50 Shades Bandwagon”.  But it is true that even within the world of needle-leafed evergreens (what we nursery types call conifers) there is a wide variety of choice in foliar color from bright or dull green to bluish or chartreuse or to reddish and even variegated.  Truth be known, there are a heck of a lot more than 50 shades!

Just in case you forgot, the first week of every month I will give you a list of chores for the month.  Be forewarned.  I expect you to get out and accomplish these things.  Trust me, in the end you will be glad you did.  Here we go…………

Well, I have good news and bad news.  The bad news is that there is a pollination crisis going on in the world due to a serious decline in honey bee populations, the cause of which is still not clearly understood.  The good news is that home gardeners like you and myself can help out by encouraging native populations of mason bees (also known as blue orchard bees) into our gardens where they will happily pollinate our fruit trees and berries even when the weather is lousy.  In fact, one little furry mason bee can do the work of 60 honey bees.  Here are some tips from Missy Anderson, King County Master Gardener and owner of www.rentmasonbees.com