Now that we have finished the first 6 months of the year, I feel compelled to report on my observations and future forecasts for the summer.  It has been an interesting season so far, to say the least...

One drawback to living in a maritime climate, like the northwest, is that all of the extra moisture in the air encourages fungus and bacterial issues with our plants.  More specifically...

This title might sound strange to you, in that we don’t usually think of these two plants in the same sentence, but both of them are on my radar screen.  Roses because they are blooming and we have a class coming up, and berries because of a new introduction I want to talk about.  First, let me introduce you to “Baby Cakes”.

Trying to decide which fabulous plant I want to pontificate about this week is as difficult as going into Baskin Robins and choosing an ice cream flavor.  I love them all!  So this week I am focusing on just two new introductions, one for sun and one for shade.  Both have outstanding qualities that make them garden worthy. 

What we do in the garden this month really depends on the weather.  If it gets hot again, you can forget re-seeding your lawn, but if we get our usual “June Gloom”, then there is no problem.  If it stays cool, we can sow carrots and peas, but if it is hot, they won’t germinate worth a darn.  No matter what the weather though, hot or cool, we can always plant shrubs, trees, perennials and annuals throughout the entire summer, as long as we water them in well.  If it weren’t so, we wouldn’t be selling them!  Here are some other chores to consider:

I am a little late on my BYB column this month due to the usual distraction of it being the busiest month of the year in the nursery business.  That being said, here are a few ideas to jazz up the yard in May, and even early June.

If gardening was a competitive sport, I am pretty sure that tomato growing would be one of the main events.  It seems like every year customers become obsessed on being the first in their neighborhood to harvest a ripe tomato.  They will go through all sorts of shenanigans to achieve this goal and so in the spirit of enablement and codependence, I offer the following tricks of the trade.

There is always so much happening in the month of May that I am never sure what to focus on for this column.  As I looked around the nursery, two items came to mind that I think you will find interesting.  One is a new vegetable from Bolivia called Yacon, while the other is a very effective fertilizer for flowers and veggies that combines the best of synthetic and natural ingredients for a complete plant food.  Here goes nothing!

Here we are in high gear with the “petal to the metal”, so to speak.  All of us are trying to cram a year’s worth of gardening into one month and it doesn’t seem to work very well, does it?  It’s important to remember that gardening is more of a marathon than a sprint and we will enjoy it a whole lot more if we spread out the work over the entire year.  Here are some things to consider this month.  

Indeed, spring has sprung about two weeks (or more) earlier than most of us are accustomed to.  Dogwoods are in full bloom, something that usually doesn’t happen until Mother’s Day.  Our roses have set buds and could be blooming as early as the first or second week of May, a full 2 to 3 weeks ahead of schedule.  I suspect the good folks at the Skagit Tulip Festival are lamenting this hot weather, which causes tulips to splay open and not be nearly as attractive (and not last as long either).  Taurus rhodies (big bright red trusses) have already finished their bloom cycle, along with flowering cherries and flowering crabapples too.  I think you get the picture.  Spring has arrived fast and furious.