Providing we don’t get unexpected snow, hail, sleet and rain in high summer, we can put that cold not-s-real-spring far behind us. What could be better to lift the summer spirits than…

Sunflowers! 

     Sunflowers bloom in late summer and take at least 6 weeks to grow from seed. The best way to grow sunflowers is from a good sized plant. They need lots of heat…not that heat is much of a problem any more in the South Sound summer. Sunflowers are cheery and easy to grow. They bloom from mid summer through October. They need sunshine and not a lot of water. You can find dwarf sunflowers  like Elf or Teddy Bear that grow to only 16” or taller varieties like Mammoth Grey Stripe, 10 feet tall with 12 inch flowers or Starburst Sunflowers that grow to 7 feet with 11 inch flower heads. The best thing to do is just go for any sunflower that suits your space. Sunflowers are annuals. 

     Bees and butterflies are attracted to sunflowers. In autumn the birds get their chance at the seeds and if you are inclined to get the most out of a plant, you can try roasting and salting your own sunflower seeds. However,  David and Sons Sunflower Seeds in their iconic blue and red packages are a lot easier. 

     The alternatives to bright yellow sunflowers are…

Grandma’s Rudbeckias

     Rudbeckia varieties include all of those tried and true Gloriosa,Daisies and Black-Eyed Susans that are still blooming into October when not much else looks as lush. Rudbeckias are perennials with a love of sun and not much water. Rudbeckia ‘Goldsturm’ is short enough not to need staking and is one of the easiest to grow. It tolerates light shade. Rudbeckia ‘Herbstonne’ has large golden yellow blooms with reflexed petals on long stems and makes a great cut flower, Rudbeckia ‘Little Gold Star’ grows to about 16” doesn’t need staking and makes a great border or container plant.  Rudbeckias attract butterflies and other pollinating insects. All butterfly garden seed mixes contain some form of Rudbeckia. 

     It’s always helpful in any garden situation to know your gardening enemies and allies. An in depth and comprehensive look at a community of some surprising garden friends is in…

“Garden Allies” by Frederique Lavoipierre

     “Garden Allies-the Insects, Birds & Other Animals That Keep Your Garden Beautiful and Thriving” covers everything from microscopic bacteria that help break down and decompose to worms that churn the soil right through to nitrogen fixing nutrient delivering mushrooms. 

     A chapter on Roly-Polys, aka pillbug or potato bugs and the dreaded earwig explains their actual benefits. It takes some convincing. 

     Lavoipierre dives deep into the importance of and varieties of bees as allies. There are 20000 bee species, both solitary and social. 

    Butterflies and moths, wasps, mud daubers, hornets, various flies, beetles  right through birds and bats are all given their time in the spotlight. 

    If this sounds like a book for the science based gardener…it is…it’s all about balancing nature. 

Timber Press, $24.95, 300 p. illustrated

     March and April are the “foolers”. One week of above 60 degrees and we decide everything is blooming early and spring is here…and there is that urge to get a head start on this year’s garden. It’s that time of year when you look back at that carefully bullet-journaled history of last year’s vegetable garden. Just kidding…who does that? Starting a new garden or getting ready to plant an established one? Just remember…

     Don’t Dig It

     “No-dig gardening” sounds like another big lie. It sounds too easy. Funny thing…it works for vegetables. For many years we have been taught to prepare a garden bed by either turning the soil or attempting the complicated and labor intensive “double digging”. 

     Now we know. The less you dig, the better the results. A no-dig garden will be ready to plant immediately…no waiting. The garden soil gets better with time. Choose a sunny spot. Don’t dig it! Overlay and overlap pieces of cardboard on your new spot (tip: remove any tape or labels or you will be pulling up bits of plastic forever), cover the cardboard with at least 6” of good topsoil. The first year you can grow anything except deep root crops. A soil depth of 6” is adequate for most vegetables. Add more topsoil as the topsoil starts to shrink. Thereafter, just add some topsoil every year. By the second year the cardboard will have composted and you can grow more root crops.  

     Charles Dowding (www.charlesdowding.co.uk) is an Englishman who has been “no-dig” gardening since 1982. He lives in the South of England which has a similar climate to the South Sound. He has been doing trials on his no-dig gardens and shares his results. 

      It’s a waste of time and money to rush the vegetable season so back away from the tomato plants and take advantage of the short season of cool weather, fast-growing plants like…

Cherry Belles, Spring Greens and Sugar Snaps

     Radishes, Spinach and Sugar Snap Peas can be direct seeded in March/April. They are easy and only grow well at this time of the year. Heat is the enemy. Lettuces, arugula and cilantro can be direct seeded now. And if you must, now is also the time to plant Kale. 

     If slugs are under control, pests are almost nonexistent in March and April. Rain is abundant. When the radish plants start to flower, it’s over… time for those tomato plants. 

    You have a good start on the rewards of a year round vegetable garden. Everything you need to know to have fresh home grown vegetables year round is explained in….

“Plant, Grow, Harvest, Repeat: Growing a Bounty of Vegetables. Fruits and Flowers by Mastering the Art of Succession Planting” by Meg McAndrews Cowden

     Succession planting seems intuitive. One plant comes out and another one goes in. Simple…just a few questions…is it better to plant a single crop and stagger planting times or is it better to plant one crop and replace it with something different?  How do you go about planning?  Most importantly,  what are the benefits of succession planting?

     “Plant, Grow…” has the answers. Timing is everything. The overlapping of harvest times insures you will always have something in the garden either growing or ready to harvest. Plant a perennial vegetable like a globe artichoke. While it’s growing in its 3 square foot area, you have plenty of time to plant shorter season plants around it. There is no wasted space with succession planting. Harvest some lettuce and replace with a determinate tomato. As the tomato grows, you can harvest and replant more lettuce or switch to some of the more unusual basils. 

     Succession planting solves a big problem. When you replant  in smaller quantities, you can experiment with more varieties and eliminate that 3 week stretch in summer when everything is ready all at once. Timber Press,, March, 2022, 288 p., $24.95

     Early winter in the South Sound is always a crapshoot. We can have snow and ice storms, incessant rain or occasional shots of sweater weather. Plants shoot out unexpected blooms at crazy “off” times. A favorite comment among November/December South Sound gardeners is, “this (insert plant name here) is blooming way too early, I sure hope we don’t have a hard frost”. In other words, early winter gardening is verbal guesswork here in the land of…

     Wait and Watch

    No matter what the weather, some satisfying gardening trends can get you through the rest of winter with an eye to spring rewards. 

     Unless the ground is frozen (which rarely happens here), it’s perfectly acceptable to plant trees and shrubs. Try one of the more delicate “made-for-small-spaces” Hydrangea serrata varieties like ‘Miranda’, ‘Miyama Yea Murasaki’ or ‘Blue Deckle’, all good container plants too.  The South Sound has perfect growing conditions for the ever expanding forms and varieties of 
Acer palmatum (Japanese maples). The bright coral leaves of ‘Shindeshojo’, the coral bark of ‘Sango-kaku’ or the cream, green and pink leaves of ‘Butterfly’ are all showstoppers. 

      Vegetable gardeners who planted seeds of broccoli, cabbage, Brussel sprouts, Swiss chard and (gulp) Kale in July and August for winter gardening are harvesting now. Root crops like carrots, parsnips and leeks are sweeter as it gets colder as are rutabagas (ever had a rutabaga?) Shallots and chives can be divided and harvested year round. The vegetable garden goes on as does the…

     1970’s Houseplant Craze 

 Every grocery store used to carry house plants galore. Apartments were turned into jungles and every office had a Ficus or a Palm. It must have been a law. Well, they’re baaaaaakkkk…now we’re encouraged to grow houseplants for good health. They are supposed to improve concentration and productivity, reduce stress levels and boost your mood. Oh, yeah…and look pretty. Unless you have already begun this jungle journey, start with something simple that doesn’t require your constant attention. The tried and true ones are Pothos, Peace Lily, Snake Plant, Cast Iron Plant (this one has to be no care), Spider Plant and Chinese Evergreen. These are low light plants that don’t require a lot of humidity, i.e., supposedly foolproof. Orchids are the next step and they are surprisingly easy. 

     Every gardener starts with either a genetic predisposition to gardening or some form of inspiration. Many of today’s avid gardeners blame it all on “The Secret Garden” by Frances Hodgson Burnett. The book has spawned movies, musicals, artists and even a Japanese anime’. Not much has been written about the author until now…

“Unearthing the Secret Garden” The Plants and Places That Inspired Frances Hodgson Burnett by Marta McDowell

    “Gateway drug” and “horticultural trigger” describe what Burnett unleashed on an unsuspecting generation of 12 year olds. Burnett wasn’t even a serious gardener until she was in her 50’s. Bits and pieces of her life trickled into the book. She wasn’t always the sweet English lady who lived in “the Garden of England”, Kent. 

     She was a world traveler who lived in New York, Bermuda and a log cabin in Tennessee. She wrote more than 40 novels and plays and dozens of short stories. Both Britain and America claims her as theirs. Some of her short stories are included. 

     If you fell under the spell of “The Secret Garden”, finding out about its author will surprise you in many ways. Timber Press, fully illustrated, 284 p. $25.95

      What a relief! It’s finally time to go outside, get away from cable news and practice the art of gardening. Like anything else, the more you practice the better you get.

     Seeds should be more plentiful this year but it’s not too early to stock up. Last year the seed companies were inundated with new gardeners who decided to grow their own vegetables. This year the major seed sources are ready for us.  

     Choose Maritime Northwest seed sources first. They sell seeds for our area. Reliable locals like Ed Hume Seeds (vegetables, flowers herbs), Territorial Seeds, (vegetables, flowers, herbs), Nichols Garden Nursery, (herb seeds), Irish Eyes Seeds (specialize in seed potatoes, vegetables), Uprising Organics, (organic vegetable, flower, herb seeds and grains) and Northwest Meadowscapes (meadow wildflowers).  

     Other favorite and reliable seed sources outside of our area are Renee’s Seeds (heirloom vegetables, flowers and herbs), Seed Saver’s Exchange Heirloom Seeds (rare and organic vegetables, flowers and herbs) and American Meadows (wildflower seeds). All of these seed companies have a section devoted in part to organic seeds. So, what’s the difference between “regular” seeds and…

Organic Seeds?

It’s not that organic seeds produce organic vegetables and flowers. Organic seeds come from a certified organic farm. They only produce organic plants if you don’t spray them with non organic chemicals.  Contrary to popular opinion, plants that produce organic seeds may be sprayed with chemicals but they are organic chemicals.   Organic seeds fend for themselves and “may” be sturdier. The seeds harvested at an organic farm depend on the health of the mother plant. Buying organic seed supports organic farmers. That’s a good enough reason to grow from organic seeds.

     So is it better to grow from seed or…

Time Saving Transplants

    Growing from seed is cheaper and highly satisfying. There are more opportunities to grow oddball vegetables and flowers that nurseries don’t tend to sell.

     Since not everyone has a greenhouse, heat mat or bright enough spot in a window to grow everything from seed, it’s a good idea to do a little of both…seeds and transplants.

     Grow those plants that can be “direct seeded”. This limits us since the South Sound soil doesn’t really warm up until July.

     Easy and reliable vegetables to “direct seed” are leaf lettuces, flat leaved spinach (basically any greens), Danvers and Nantes carrots and bunching green onions. Broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage and especially tomatoes are better from transplants from your local nursery. They take longer to germinate from seed and you don’t generally need large crops of these. Grow annual herbs like Italian basil, parsley and cilantro from seed. Rosemary, English thyme and garden sage are better grown from transplants.

     Herb growing, whether seeds or transplants can fill a…

“Complete Container Herb Gardening” by Sue Goetz

     Sue Goetz, our local author, speaker and herb expert released her third book in December.  “A Complete Container Herb Gardening: Design and Grow Beautiful, Bountiful Herb-Filled Pots” about her favorite subject, the cultivation and use of herbs.

     Sue details how to plant herbs in terra cotta, stone, metal and ceramic containers and even grow bags. She explains where to put the containers and how to maintain them right down to aging a too-new-looking terra cotta pot.

     Displays and designs for mixing herbs in both window boxes and hanging baskets are given the full treatment. Indoor herbs are discussed too. Sue includes easy projects for growing herbs in pots with culinary, personal beauty and home keeping recipes in mind. You can cook, cream and clean with a variety of easy to grow herbs. Fun!

Cool Springs Press, 192 p., $26.99

“Normally”, (remember “normally”?), we’re talking about and looking forward to the annual Northwest Flower and Garden Festival in Seattle which takes place at the end of February. Sad to say it was Covid canceled   One of the most popular components of the show was the well attended seminars focusing on authors and their new books. This year’s show may have been canceled but determined garden writers haven’t stopped turning out wonderful antidotes to isolation. Never has armchair gardening been more important. Begin some armchair garden traveling with…

“Adventures in Eden, An Intimate Tour of the Private Gardens of Europe” by Carolyn Mullet

Private gardens are personal gardens. Visit some of the most beautiful ones in England, Wales, Ireland, Scotland, Scandinavia, Germany, The Netherlands, Belgium, France, Spain and Italy through the eyes of Carolyn Mullet. These aren’t gardens you have read about over and over, they are gardens whose owners have created their own versions of paradise.  No two gardens are alike.

     Each garden comes with a readable description and a passel of beautiful pictures that typify each country. The gardens tend to be grand gardens, not backyard ones, but all of the photographed plants are ones we can grow here in the South Sound. One thing you might notice…lawns are almost non-existent.

     It’s not surprising that gardens in England are well represented.

      English gardens are favorite destinations for South Sound gardeners because of our similar climates and a great example of that is….

“The Modern Cottage Garden, A Fresh Approach to a Classic Style” by Greg Loades

Cottage gardens tend to have a reputation of being old fashioned. Throw a combination of heirloom annuals and perennials together and you have a cottage garden. 

     “Modern Cottage Garden” maintains that it’s ok to mix things up. Along with the cottage garden plants that have been grown and regrown for decades…mix in some of the newer, more trendy plants and see what happens.

     Prairie style gardening has been trending for many years, filled with swathes of ornamental grasses. Even if that’s not your style the author suggests adding some graceful grasses to update a traditional cottage garden. Experiment. Both annuals and perennials disappear for part of the year but adding ornamental grasses fills in the gaps when the garden is usually naked. Include more shrubs. Embrace change.

     The author encourages the use of containers and presents plenty of recipes for extending the seasons. Once again, all of the plants recommended can be grown in the South Sound.

     Return from touring well-established European gardens and go to a bittersweet story about a New England gardener who is…

“Uprooted” by Page Dickey

When circumstances cause you to leave a house and garden you have nurtured and loved for more than 34 years, how do you cope? One-way is to record as much as you can about it…sweet memories.

    Anyone who has made such a move will recognize the angst and the nostalgia of what you have left behind followed by the anticipation and excitement of where you you’re going.  

     Heartfelt and personal, “Uprooted” is a nostalgic memoir, an adventure and a lesson in enthusiasm all wound up in one well written book. Page Dickey is a garden writer who manages to infuse spirit into a very American story about moving and starting over. This one is also an audiobook.

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“Adventures in Eden” by Carolyn Mullet Timber Press, Dec.2020, 319 p., $40

“Modern Cottage Garden” by Greg Loades, Timber Press, Sept. 2020, 212 p., $24.95

“Uprooted” by Page Dickey, Timber Press, Sept. 2020, 248 p. $27.95,