A lot of walking and strolling is going on just to get out of the house. If you’re a walker, you have probably noticed exceptionally nice gardens and yards and other walkers who cross the street and give a friendly wave. There is a kind of closeness that is happening among people who have to stay away from one another. Challenging times indeed.

The South Sound is filled with new vegetable gardens. A lot of raised beds have popped up in front gardens. Seed companies have had a hard time keeping up with vegetable seeds orders and many have sold out for the first time. There isn’t a shortage of seed, just a temporary slow down to restock. So there is plenty of time for…

 Summer Seed Sowing

     Bush Beans can be planted until late July. Beets can be planted until August. You can direct seed Broccoli until mid-July. It may sound counterintuitive but summer is the time to sow vegetable seeds for fall and winter vegetables. You can sow seeds of carrot, kale (some people actually like it) and green onions. Even parsley seeds can be planted and harvested through next spring. Brussels sprouts take a little longer until harvesting but if you like them, why not try? Watering is imperative but it’s well worth the time it takes to have your own fresh vegetables into fall and winter.

     We’re lucky to be in a region that can grow a year round vegetable garden. While you’re out there planting you can listen…

    Garden Podcasts for Everybody

Garden podcasts have become welcome respites for gardeners who want to learn or just be entertained. Here are a few of the best

 “A Way to Garden” Margaret Roach’s interview show, organic gardening and landscaping

“Cultivating Place” Jennifer Jewell conversations about natural history and the impulse to garden

“On the Ledge” Jane Perrone talks about indoor plants

“Let’s Argue About Plants” funny Fine Gardening duo

“In Defense of Plants” dedicated to botany

“Gardener’s Corner” from Northern Ireland, they visit gardens and take calls. Everything is discussed and it can only be described as “charming”. (my favorite)

Garden podcasts are regional or theme specific. There is one out there for every gardener, experienced or new. Follow your favorite podcast with the other exploding hobby…

“Recipes From a Kitchen Garden” by Renee Shepherd and Fran Raboff

Both cooking and gardening have taken up a lot of our “free” time. With all of the vegetables to harvest it’s always great to have some tried and true delicious ways to use them.

     Chances are you bought some of Renee’s Seeds. She sells flower and vegetable seeds that nobody else sells. The cookbook, first published in 1993, has been updated and republished. It’s all about the vegetables you have been growing. A family favorite is the Fire and Ice Tomato Salad. It’s a compact cookbook filled with great veggie recipes. Order it from www.reneesgarden.com, $14.95, Shepherd Publishing, 164 p.

Some of us think being told what to do and when to do it sounds too much like another job (hand flies up). So, let’s just say cleaning and winterizing the garden “sometime” in November is close enough. What to do…what to do…

      Gardening during the holiday season is nearly at a standstill except for harvesting late vegetables and enjoying late fall color. But there is more…add to that appreciating those cold hardy herbs that keep going straight through the winter. Herbs like…

‘Tuscan Blue’ Rosemary

Location, location, location…that’s all you need to grow enough Rosemary to supply the neighborhood. Rosemary officianalis ‘Tuscan Blue’ is an evergreen shrub that blooms winter through spring. It only requires a sunny, infertile spot with occasional deep watering. It grows best in the ground but can also be grown in a container. And it only fails when it’s too wet in winter; not because it’s too cold in winter. It survives temperatures as low as ten degrees. “Tuscan Blue” is particularly cold hardy. Plant it in soil that doesn’t retain water. Once it takes off you can forget about it until: it’s getting in your way, or you need it for cooking or making hair rinse (really).  And you can put Rosemary branches on a baking sheet and bake on low for about an hour just to fool people into thinking you cooked, a trick you can apply year round. Soooo many uses for Rosemary and its Mediterranean friend…

The Noble Sweet Bay

Laurus nobilis “Sweet Bay” is a trickier herb to grow but it’s definitely worth the effort. Further south it’s a tree but in the South Sound Sweet Bay is a darkest green shiny leaved shrub. Like all of the Mediterranean plants that grow well here, its needs are simple: as much sun as possible and excellent drainage. Bay is slow growing and thrives particularly well in a moveable container, one that can be placed in a sheltered spot if we get the dreaded “Arctic Blast.” Freshly dried bay leaves add a slightly floral or herbal fragrance to soups, stews and spaghetti sauce. Fresh-from-the-tree bay adds a menthol, minty or clove-like fragrance to meats and stews. Bay is evergreen and deer resistant. Cook with it or mix it in a holiday wreath. It’s the fragrance that makes Bay the most used herb. Rosemary and Bay are both culinary and ornamental marvels and loom large in…

“A Taste for Herbs” by  Sue Goetz

The second book by Sue Goetz, Tacoma’s local herb expert is a companion book to her first book, “ The Herb Lover’s Spa Book” Sue is a designer (www.thecreativegardener.com) and popular speaker, both locally and nationally. She knows herbs and their uses inside and out. This companion to her spa herb book focuses on herbs as seasonings, mixes and blends. 

     “A Taste for Herbs” is filled with unique ways to mix and use herbs you probably already grow. Sweet mixes like Basic Herb Sugar for baking or Rosemary Infused Agave are explained along with savory herb flavored oils and vinegars and mixes for flavorful tea infusions. Page 120 has a good Mojito recipe.

     Add to this some timely explanations about the various crazy sugars and salts available now and you have a recipe for another fun and informative herb book by Sue Goetz. St. Lynn’s Press,

$23.95

     Stomping through the woods on a summer evening (sorry Robert Frost) can send a South Sound gardener into a “tizzy” over a whole new world of plant possibilities for the home garden. Whether you call them natives, wild things or indigenous plants they are a tempting alternative to cookie cutter landscapes.

Native plant gardening is trendy but effective.

As with most garden trends a little education goes a long way. To begin with, keep a good ID book with you. “Native Plants of the Pacific Northwest Coast” by Pojar and McKinnon is a pocket sized and complete native plant identification book with 1100 color photographs, habitat maps and tidbits about how the native plants have been used. After identifying what you like the real fun starts…trying to find what you like. Local mainstream nurseries usually have a few natives among the marigolds…familiar plants like…

Salal and Kinnickinnick

In the forest they’re understory plants but in a home garden, they’re tough, fresh looking year round evergreen groundcovers with leathery glossy leaves (unsluggable), flowers (for the bees) and berries (for the birds). They grow in sun, shade, wet, dry…you name it. These show up in local nurseries along with cultivated and mass propagated groundcovers because both Salal and Kinnickinnick grow anywhere and require zero care once they’re established. Reclamation projects often have plenty of salvageable “you dig” Salal and Kinnickinnick but local nurseries can easily get full flats of them for planting large areas. Mainstream nurseries also carry more common native shrubs and trees like…

Mahonia and Vine Leaf Maple

Once again, mainstream nurseries carry these natives because they are reliable, easy to grow and have year round interest. Mahonia aquifolium (Oregon Grape) attracts hummingbirds, bees and other pollinators and with enough sugar, the berries can be turned into jam.  Acer Circinatum (Vine Leaf Maple) is the native maple that blasts out the bright red leaves in autumn, a foil to all of the native Doug firs and Western Red Cedars in nearby forests.

Salal, Kinnickinnick, Oregon Grape and Vine Leaf Maple are a small peek into a world of new plant opportunities. Native plants are already adapted to our wet winters and dry summer so you know they’ll grow. The trick is giving them what they want and putting them in the right place. Questions about how to incorporate natives in your garden are answered in the third edition of…

 “Gardening with Native Plants of the Pacific Northwest”  by Arthur A. Kruckeberg and Linda Chalker-Scott (3^rdedition)

Go native!

     Since its first edition in 1989 “Gardening with Native Plants” has been the go-to book for demystifying exactly how to use and take care of plants that grow and thrive naturally in and around the South Sound.

     In this new third edition (March 2019) the authors have managed to explain both the science behind and practical applications used to successfully grow native plants in our cultivated gardens.

     The first section deals with the all-important basics, why grow native plants and how do I choose and maintain native plants for a home garden environment? The rest of this 30 year best seller is a complete list of native ornamental shrubs, conifers, deciduous trees, perennials and a few annuals that are worth growing in the home garden. The authors are quick to point out that not all native plants are garden worthy and not all “wild” plants are considered native. Nettles, for instance…not native.

“Gardening with Native Plants” is a science based reference book that deserves a special spot on your South Sound bookshelf.

University of Washington Press, 374 p, 948 color photographs with habitat icons, $39.95

Sidebar?

Local chapter of Washington Native Plant Society

http://www.southsoundchapterwnps.org

Native Plant Nurseries

Sound Native Plants, Olympia

http://soundnativeplants.com

Black Lake Organic Nursery, Olympia

http://www.blacklakeorganic.com

Woodbrook Native Plant Nursery, Gig Harbor

http://www.woodbrooknativeplantnursery.com

Spring Ephemerals (Catch ‘em while you can)

South Sound Spring ephemerals begin blooming the minute the temperature starts warming up, i.e. right now. Spring ephemeral plants are just as the name implies. They bloom for a short time and then disappear (go dormant) until next spring. They disappear above but their roots continue to grow like mad. Their appearance may be fleeting but nothing is more appreciated after a cold rainy winter than a few pops of color no matter how long it lasts. One our very favorite ephemerals is the…

Pacific Trillium

Whatever you call it, Wake Robin, Toadshade or Western Trillium, our native Trilium ovatum is one early spring bloom that everyone knows. It’s the one with three pure white petals above three dark green leaves. Coming upon a drift of them in a woodland setting is an unforgettable experience. Some myths surround the home cultivation of our native Trillium. Some true, some not.

1. Don’t pick Trillium flowers! True. All of their energy for next year is tied up in the flower…doing this sets it way back.
2. Don’t dig Trillium plants in the wild. True unless you are reclaiming them before another strip mall is built.
3. You can’t move or divide them. False. If you get a big enough clump of soil, they transplant fine. Wait until June to do it though.
4. It takes 7 years to get a bloom from seed. False. It only takes 4. Only 4.
5. Trilliums are endangered. False. You need permission to dig them though.
6. They are very difficult to grow. False. Give them what they want, a woodland setting. It’s pretty simple. They like shade, moisture and rich native soil. And luckily they’re easier to find than ever before because of the interest in native plant gardening. A good partner plant for the earliest Trilium is the sweet….

Wood Anemone

Wood anemone flowers (Anemone nemorosa) look as delicate as lace but they’re as tough as nails. They make a beautiful spring groundcover at only 4” tall and pack a powerful color punch when massed. The flowers are white (single and double), lavender, pink or “almost” blue with dark green foliage. They are extremely easy to grow and have the same needs as Trillium: shade, moisture and rich native soil. Wood anemones are easier to get into drifts. You can divide and replant. These are also much easier to find now. But just like the Trillium, you have to be early to get them. Getting good information about these old fashioned ephemerals is a pleasure when you find a classic garden book like…

The English Flower Garden by William Robinson

Isn’t it comforting to know that there are garden classics that don’t get dismissed or forgotten? “The English Flower Garden” is such a classic. It was originally published in 1883. The reprints are in the 15^thand final edition, the last one approved by the author. It should be on every perennial gardeners shelf for its charm and its “never goes out of style” advice. It has black and white line drawings and photographs, which already sets it apart from today’s gloss. It has over 700 pages and covers everything a self-respecting 19^th century English flower gardener should know and it informs 21^st century gardeners just as well. The Amaryllis Press, $35