Bush beans give you a quick harvest burst, pole beans give you months of production in a tiny footprint. Here’s how to decide which to plant, what cheap varieties to grab, how to trellis for almost nothing, and why you might want both in a small PNW garden this June.
June is when the direct-sow window finally opens wide in the Pacific Northwest. Here’s what to plant now, what to skip, and why timing matters more than enthusiasm.
June is peak strawberry season in the Pacific Northwest and it goes fast. Here’s what to actually do right now to get the most fruit, avoid the common mistakes, and set your bed up for next year.
June is the sweet spot for PNW gardeners. Warm-season transplants can finally go in, there’s a long list of stuff to direct sow, and a short list of things you should just stop trying. Here’s what’s actually worth planting right now in Redmond.
A lot of standard gardening advice was written for somewhere warmer and sunnier than the Pacific Northwest. Here’s how growing potatoes, onions, tomatoes, brassicas, garlic, and mulch timing actually changes depending on your climate.
May is the feeding window for raspberries in the Pacific Northwest, and you don’t need expensive specialty fertilizers to get a real harvest. Balanced granular fertilizer, compost, coffee grounds, and fish emulsion are all cheap options that work. Feed them now while new growth is pushing and they’ll pay you back in July.
Fertilizing fruiting plants isn’t just about feeding them, it’s about feeding the right thing at the right time. Get the timing wrong and you’ll grow a beautiful plant with nothing on it. Ask me how I know.
Starting cucurbits indoors sounds smart but it can backfire fast. Here’s when the head start actually matters (melons, long-season squash) and when direct sowing in late May just works better in zone 8b.
Powdery mildew on pumpkins is basically a September tradition in the Pacific Northwest. Here’s how to push it back far enough that your pumpkins actually finish, using stuff you already have in your kitchen.
Sweet potatoes aren’t just a warm-weather potato. They’re a tropical vine that needs warm soil, full sun, and a proper curing stage to taste like anything. Here’s how to pull it off in the Pacific Northwest without overthinking it.
One grocery store sweet potato, a jar, and some toothpicks. That’s the whole budget for growing your own sweet potato slips at home. Here’s how to do it, why it works, and when to get them in the ground in the Pacific Northwest.
I gave up on traditional potato rows after watching six square feet of backyard produce two pounds of fingerlings. Here’s an honest comparison of grow bags, 5-gallon buckets, wire towers, and laundry baskets for growing potatoes in small spaces, plus how the layering trick actually works.