On a whim, I bought some corn starts at a local nursery for a few clients. Most went to the clients, but a few were on the verge of going to waste, so when we cleaned out and renovated our parking strip disaster earlier this year, my husband and I put in the corn in the intermittent [...]

Here I am in Seattle at the end of August — a month noted for being dry and sunny in Seattle. From about July 5th until early September you can usually rely on having warm lovely weather here. This year? Well, as my brother-in-law warned me years ago when I asked him what the weather [...]

R. Hawkins of Olive, IL writes in with two questions:
“have red twig dog wood bushes, starting in august a blackspot covers the beautiful leaves, what caqn this be and how can i prevent it? also i hear that there is a boor(or bore?) coming my way and will kill my ash trees, help!”
Let’s start with [...]

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 [...]

J. Laframboise (what a great name!) writes in from Rhode Island to ask:
“We have tomato blossom end rot and I would like to know if it is safe to eat the tomatoes not affected even though they’ve been sprayed with Bonide rot stop”
I’ll start by saying that this isn’t a problem I end up dealing [...]

W. Maalouf of Marshall, VA asks:
“We have a two year old fruit cherry tree orchard. I had business out of the country, so asked my 19 year son to be sure to spray the trees when I was gone because there were worms and the start of the Japanese Beatles. Anyway..I just got home and [...]

The holes have started appearing on my just-budding purple brussel sprouts and my cabbage. The green loopers are starting to emerge. I’ve seen their white fluffy butterfly parents flitting about the garden; they’re out there every year and near possible to chase away. I cheer when a sparrow snatches one in mid-flight or the cat [...]

I’ve had an ongoing problem over the last couple of years with aphids eating the tender summer growth on my Acer triflorum. Summer growth is the second surge that the tree puts on, and each year the aphids have distorted the leaves and made the last new growth of the season look pretty sad. The [...]

Usually I see the tents much earlier in the season, but then again a lot of things usually happen earlier in the season than has happened this year. Today I saw my first tent caterpiller tent. They were engulfing tiny apples on a nearby apple espalier. Hmmm…I don’t think I’ve seen them tent around actual [...]

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 [...]