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 [...]

M. Stark of Seattle, WA writes in:
“I bought plants named winter squash at Seattle Tilth sale. It now is bearing a yellow fruit that twists and looks like a snake. One fruit is 2 feet long and twisted like a snake. What kind of squash is this? When do I harvest this squash? Is it [...]

What in the world does that mean, right? Well, it means that a University of Washington team of biologists who study peppers has shown that the spiciness in peppers (from capsaicinoid chemicals) gives peppers the ability to fight off fusarium, which is a nasty and quite prevalent plant fungus.
Apparently, these chemicals also help ward off [...]

This year I repeated growing potatoes in tree growing pots as I’ve done in years past. Last year I mostly grew small red potatoes and yellow finn potatoes. This year I’m growing russets, red fingerlings, white potatoes and yellow finns. Each variety is growing in its own tree pot.
This year it seems the crops are coming [...]

Anyone who gardens in Seattle knows that tomatoes can be difficult to cultivate successfully. I’ve lived in the South East and the South West of the US, and in those long, hot summers there’s no stopping the bounty of ripening tomatoes all summer long. As I’ve come to understand that Seattle summers are late to [...]

J. Mack of Olympia, Washington asks:
“I have a question on growing winter vegetables. All of the web sites I have looked at don’t mention squash and yet I have planted a package of winter squash in my greenhouse, hoping to grow it this winter. Will it survive the winter if I put it out in [...]

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 [...]

The flower seed and bare root catalogs are starting to flood into my mailbox. This is a good reminder that now is the time to sort through any existing seed packets you already have, start ordering any new seeds you want, and plan your spring planting schedule.
It may be cold, even snowy, in your winter [...]

As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, I like to keep several rotating tubs of potatoes growing through most of the year. I rotate the planting so I’m able to harvest a new batch as I run out of the old, especially during the spring & summer. I have learned to plant potatoes in containers rather [...]