Bring Color and Natural Fragrance to Your Home When the bees take over my lavender plants, I know the blossoms are ready to harvest for drying. I wait as long as I can, so the bees can have their fill of pollen. My lavender attracts a variety of pollinators: honeybees, three different bumbles, sweat bees, and a… Continue reading →

Repurpose old T-shirts for cool, summer chore comfort! I’m not one for spending money on special gardening clothes—old jeans, shorts and shirts are fine for working in the dirt. I have plenty of T-shirts with stains or small holes, but the unseasonal heat this year calls for sleeveless shirts. I knew it would be easy… Continue reading →

An easy and delicious way to process Summer’s bounty! Almost every backyard gardener grows tomatoes. Their plump red-orange globes are one of the signs that summer is in full swing. In Seattle, with our typically cool nights and short growing season, we were lucky if we had tomatoes to harvest by August. The last few… Continue reading →

Part 1: Bursts of Color on the Drive to Paradise The week found me on Mt. Rainier—what we Seattleites like to call “The Mountain.” I see it daily rising from behind Lake Washington on my walk through Seward Park, but I only get the chance to visit once every few years. We took our tiny trailer… Continue reading →

Spring Flowers Fade as Summer Dawns With the passing of the Summer Solstice, my garden marks the transition of my spring flowers from blossom to seed. Though I am always sad to see many of my favorite blooms disappear for the next nine months, I know that it is just part of the cycle of… Continue reading →

June 15–21, 2015 Eight years ago, the U.S. Senate proclaimed the third week in June as National Pollinator Week to help publicize the decline of pollinator populations and to promote gardening and agriculture practices that nurture these essential species. The Pollinator Partnership was formed as a resource for accurate information and to spread the word. From… Continue reading →

Block or trap those pesky insects. My previous post on beneficial insects showed how you can keep your garden relatively free of crawly plant destroyers like aphids and cabbage moth larvae. This post gives you tips to deal with flying insects that like to bore into your apples and other fruits and veggies. It wasn’t… Continue reading →

Another Reason to Say No to Chemicals in Your Garden After four years of research, Rachel Carson brought the devastating side effects of wholesale use of the pesticide DDT to light with the 1962 publication of her environmental science book, Silent Spring. Because of challenges by U.S. chemical companies, it took nearly 10 years to… Continue reading →