Category: Uncategorized
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Keystone Native Plant Finder
While watching this excellent video, Garden For Wildlife – Episode 7: Nature’s Best Hope with Dr. Doug Tallamy, he points us gardeners to a resource we can use to find out which native plants give us the best bang for our buck. Most resources simply tell you that an individual plant is a “host plant…
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July Garden Guide: Summer Garden Goodies & Fall Crop Planning
🌞 Good bye cool season crops, (lettuces, I’ll miss you!😩), hello garlic harvest, tiny tomatoes, and peppers! The July Calendar has tons of tips for getting the most out of your summer garden as well as mulching, water wise tips, and summer lawn care. It’s also time to plan for fall crops. See what can…
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Aphids Attack!
Aphids! I didn’t take this photo in my garden, but if I did, what would I do? Nothing! Why? Great question! When aphids attack, the plant responds by releasing chemical signatures that advertise to beneficial insects, “Free! All you can eat buffet!” Birds and spiders show up to the party too. Neighboring plants also pick…
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March Guide to Get You Sowing and Growing
March awakens with the promise of longer days, warmer temperatures, and lush growth. None of that is happening…yet. But it will—March crosses her heart and promises. This month, there are warm season seeds to sow indoors, and cool season crops to plant outdoors. Garden beds to prep and your lawn to prepare. It’s also a…
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Pruning Guidelines Refresher
Before heading out the door to do the long-put-off task of pruning our fruit trees, I decided to give myself a quick refresher. Pruning Primer Tool Rules I’m guilty of using the wrong tool for the branch diameter. Do you have any pruning tips to share? Let’s go! We’ve only got a few sunny days…
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September Guide to Garden Opportunities
September rivals April in opportunities. It’s time to harvest and store, get those fall veggie starts and garlic cloves in the ground, and begin thinking about winterizing strategies. September Garden Calendar Please share your favorite fall garden activities in the comments!
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Free Seeds! A Primer for Saving Seeds from/ Your Garden
As I was puttering in my garden today, picking some grapes, eating some blackberries and strawberries, I noticed the seeds heads all over. Oh yeah! It’s time to share some seed saving info with you, my friends. This primer will get you collecting and saving with confidence. Stay cool out there and be sure to…
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It’s a Cooker! How to Help Your Garden and Landscape Plants Survive the Heat
With temperatures soaring into the 100’s this holiday weekend, you’re probably not thinking about working out in the garden. Great! Now is not the time to plant, transplant, prune, or otherwise disturb your plants. Whew! There are a few things you can do to help them come through this intense heat, though. Shade ⛱ Providing…
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July Garden Tips: Maximizing Your Summer Garden and Fall Crop Planning
🌞 The July Calendar has tons of tips for getting the most out of your summer garden as well as mulching, water wise tips, and summer lawn care. It’s also time to plan for fall crops. See what can be direct-sowed as space opens up and what can be started indoors for later transplanting. Grab…
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Growing Greener Grass & Feeling Great About It
My Turfgrass Growing Guide details a holiday fertilization schedule to help you remember when (as well as how much) fertilizer to use, irrigation metrics, seasonal tasks, and mowing tips. It will take out the guesswork, and save you time, energy, and money. For example, it is a great time to aerate and dethatch, but wait…
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🍂Fall Dreaming on a Summer Day🌞
First thing in the morning, pre-shower, pre-coffee, I dash (OK shuffle) outside to beat the heat. I have been harvesting summer crops, blackberries, strawberries, onions, beets, Makah ozette potatoes, carrots, as well as seeds. I have been removing played-out vegetables as well. What do I find myself with? Space! What ever shall I do? Fill…
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Time to Harvest Garlic and Potatoes
Garlic 🧄 Are your garlic stalks mostly golden? This means your garlic is summer-dormant, which is ideal for harvesting. Go ahead and lift one or two out of the soil and see if the bulbs are well formed. If they are good-to-go, turn off any irrigation and let them cure in the bed for a…
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Tea Time! What It Is & How to Grow Your Own
🫖 /tē/ Noun: 1. A soothing preparation of hot water infused with herbs. Tea may consist of tea plant (Camellia sinensis) or any number of herbs for flavor or medicinal purposes that provides comfort and warmth to Amy year round. 2. Early afternoon respite including tea and light fare such as biscuits and cake. Usually…
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Hello Sunshine! What To Do and Not To Do on this Nearly Ninety Degree Day
This warm, sunny morning must have triggered my gardener instincts, because I am fighting the urge to transplant out my warm season crops. The cucumbers, melons, peppers are all leaning towards the sun saying, “Please, please can we go outside?”🌞 But I’ve been around the sun enough times to not be tricked. Today is about…
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Growing Greener Grass & Feeling Great About It
New! Turfgrass Growing Guide I am a reformed anti-lawn snob. Not understanding effective lawn care, I firmly bought into the idea that lawn was a status symbol of the old aristocracy that we imported to the new world to the detriment of our naturally diverse ecosystem. To me, perfect grass meant toxic chemicals, excessive irrigation,…
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April is the Perfect Time for…Just About Everything in the Garden
April Calendar for Willamette Valley, USDA Zone 8 During the sun breaks🌤, work on bed prep and clean-up. When it’s showering🌧, do indoor sowing of warm season crops. (Cucumber, squash, tomatoes, peppers, etc.) It’s still chilly, so don’t worry if you haven’t gotten your cool season outdoor sowing done yet. There’s still time to get…
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March Tasks to Get you Sowing and Growing
March is an awakening with a promise. A promise of longer days, warmer temperatures, and lush growth. None of that is happening…yet. But it will—March promises. This month, there are warm season seeds to sow indoors, and cool season crops to plant outdoors. Garden beds to prep and your lawn to prepare. It’s also a…
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How Long are My Seeds Good For?
Now that my new seed orders or rolling in, I’m feeling the need to go through my seed storage box. How Long do Seeds Last? Seeds lose vigor with age, some faster than others. According to the Sustainable Gardening Handbook here are some averages on how long seeds remain viable. Caveats: Fluctuation in temperature and moisture stimulate seeds…
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Weekend Tip: Prune Your Trees, Shrubs, & Canes like a Pro
Willamette Valley, Zone 8b Perhaps you can work around the showers🌧, but if you prefer, stay in today with some ☕ and 📚 and get a plan in place for tomorrow. Sunday is looking dry and cold; perfect pruning weather. Skip to the pruning guide. What to Prune December through January February Need some confidence…
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Front Yard Makeover — Native Plant Edition: How to Choose Perennials that will Thrive in Your Space
I accepted the challenge of using Oregon native plants, (Willamette Valley specific) for several reasons. First I wanted to generate some good PR for our Oregon natives and showcase their beauty, resilience, and their innate ability to thrive in our climate. I also like taking the opportunity to slip in a few ecosystem value points…
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Front Yard Makeover — Native Plant Edition: 9 Steps to Planting a Tree
The focal point for our small front yard will be our Vine Maple (Acer circinatum). I wanted a small deciduous native tree; that way we get summer shade and winter light. Vine maples top out about 20 feet tall and about 15 feet wide. (Depending on what source you check.) They have pretty little red…
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Five Tips to Help Hungry Hummingbirds Survive Winter
Yesterday morning I brought out the hummingbird feeder and there was a little female Anna’s Hummingbird hovering near the ant-moat. She flew right up to me and hovered a few feet from my face. “Hungry?” I asked as I offered her the feeder. She went right to work, and even perched while I held it…
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Peppermint Lip Balm
Making your own body products is an excellent way to reduce exposure to toxins, and, TBH, I like them better. I whipped up a batch of lip balm yesterday morning and as my daughters eagerly took a couple tubes, I thought I would share my recipe and tips with you, my friend.
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Six Ways to Water Your Garden & Landscape
Although it sure doesn’t seem like it in the midst of the wettest spring on record, it will stop raining. Now is a great time to get prepared for a lush summer garden and landscape.
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It’s May?
Yeah, really. Despite the exceptionally wet, chilly weather, it really is May. See my May calendar for things to do this month. My cool weather crops are happy—this weather is their jam. Lettuces are giving and giving, herbs are going crazy, peas are reaching upward, carrots are pushing up, beets are a little more hesitant.…
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What to do in April
Wondering what to do in the garden in April? All the things! Well almost. Check out my April calendar to help you get organized. Happy growing, my friends!
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4 Easy Steps for Growing Potatoes🥔
When I asked my oldest daughter what she wanted to grow in her garden this year, she replied, “Potatoes.” She paused or a moment, “And some strawberries, I guess, and catnip for Ollie.”😺 “That’s it?” “Yep.” The one thing I grow that we all love—potatoes. The buttery soft potatoes are wonderful roasted, mashed, steamed or…
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A Dozen Plants for the Lazy Gardener
I am coming to understand what kind of gardener I am. There are the types that lovingly sow seeds in February then care for them until August and in a single week reap a large harvest of tomatoes, basil, onions, egg plant, cucumbers, in one big exciting bonanza. These gardeners will invite friends over for…
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Bed Prep Guide Ready!
Willamette Valley Oregon, Zone 8b Wondering when to get started on your beds? Soon, but we need to wait for a some specific conditions. 🌧 If working outside in the pouring rain doesn’t sound good to you, listen to that! Your garden soil doesn’t want to be worked on when it’s saturated either. It needs…
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Welcome March
Oh March, how happy we are to see you. Thank you so much for coming. Oh, and thank you for bringing the warmer weather and our bird friends back. Are you as ready as I am for spring? Ok, that’s fair… Check out our March calendar to help you prepare for an awesome growing season.
Second Breakfast Gardens 