Archive for the 'books' Category

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Sharing Crops with Neighbors — A Community of Suburban Foragers

September is the season of harvest. Today is the date of our harvest moon. It’s hard to believe summer is nearly gone, but so it is. A week from today is the autumnal equinox! During the harvest season I find myself sharing my garden coaching skills with neighbors. In return, I have the pleasure of [...]

Another Reason to Grow Your Own

Today’s headlines were pretty depressing…local trees have been poisoned with herbicide, mostly likely by a human who thinks s/he deserves to see some water in a lake more than the trees deserve to have life. Then I read that the FDA has okayed irradiating spinach and lettuce to reduce bacterial outbreaks.
I’ve got to wonder if [...]

Listening to Plants Continues to Teach

Today I read that researchers are listening to the noises plants make to determine what kind of pollution they’re putting up with. Basically, the type of soundwave the plant puts out tells the scientists if there is a pollution issue going on and what kind of pollution is at hand.
Is this a surprise to anyone [...]

Real Life Tree Adventures - The Wild Trees, Read it!

As my regular readers know, I spent part of my childhood running around in the wild hills of Northern California. I spent a lot of time exploring redwoods near my home. I even had one tree that my sister and I called a horse. The poor thing had to endure the both of us bouncing [...]

Sorrel — My New Favorite Leafy Green Herb

Recently my pre-teen niece came to visit. She’s always been a picky eater, and as she approaches her teen years she’s at least tasting some new things. She never likes the new things, but at least she’s giving into my pleas to, “Come on…just one little bite. You don’t have to eat it if you [...]

Growing Vegetables West of the Cascades - a Must-Read!

Recently, a friend recommended Growing Vegetables West of the Cascades by Steve Solomon to me. How I haven’t read this book before baffles me. I mean, its been in print since 1981 for goodness sakes! Still, I’ve got a copy of the 6th edition sitting on my desk, and I’m finding it a wonderful read. Not [...]

Garden Coach on Patio Water Garden In A Weekend

Read on for the tale of how shopping for vegie starts in the summer of 2007 resulted in the installation of a new waterfeature for our patio .
Day 1, Act 1: The Morning Nursery Visit: I ask Bob if he’d like to go to a local nursery with me to spend some coupons & pick [...]

Watering, Peach Brown Rot, Garden Phlox, and Squash Viruses - my daily journal.

After all the rain we had in Seattle last week, I was lulled into thinking summer was over. Today’s sunny warmth reminded me that its only the last of July! We still need to get through the rest of our drought cycle. I went out & realized my container gardens were dry, so I watered [...]