It pains me to see customers spending hundreds of dollars on new plants and simultaneously refusing to spend a few more on a bag or two of compost and a box of starter fertilizer. These two items are not unnecessary “add-ons” that the retailer is just trying to add to the sale, they are critical components of a successful transplanting process - or as I like to refer to them as “plant insurance”. Unless you have phenomenal soil, you should always add compost and starter fertilizers when you are planting new plants. Here is why…
June has officially arrived, and as we head toward the Summer Solstice it means gardeners have some extra daylight for frivolities in the garden. More importantly, we celebrate Pollinator Month (with National Pollinator Week June 17th-23rd as a highlight), a campaign created by the Pollinator Partnership to create harmony between us humans and nature. We all need to pause and give thanks to…
Unless you have been living under a rock, you should be aware by now of the importance of bees (and insects in general for that matter) on our ecosystem. They are our chief pollinators, along with wasps and flies, some moths and butterflies, and even hummingbirds and bats. In the early season, one can observe our native mason bees and bumble bees working over early blooming shrubs, bulbs and perennial and later in the year, the honey bees are the dominate species in the garden. There are several things that home gardeners can do to encourage bees and other insects to come into their yard. Here are some things to consider…
As we near the end of June, the summer season has begun and I am hoping that the sun is here to stay. I, as I’m sure many of you, have always chuckled at the notion that summer in Western Washington starts after July 4th - some years this rings more true than others. It has been…