Leaf Mold Easy to Make and Use!

We are blessed with a LOT of trees here in the Pacific Northwest.  We have not only evergreens which we are known for, but we also have lots of deciduous trees.  This means we have lots of leaves to use in our gardens each year. The leaves that fall at home I shred and use [...]

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Making Mulch

Leaves make the best all natural mulch for flowerbeds and your edible garden beds. The worms love it and it does a wonderful job of keeping weeds at bay and it does wonders to help retain moisture. Leaves also help improve the soil over the long term as the worms turn them into the soil. [...]

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Quick and Easy Composting

Lately I’ve been thinking about things I can do to save time in the garden and I decided trench composting would be a great way to do this. I started composting directly in the garden areas that need the most help. Now I don’t have to worry about nutrients leaching from the compost pile, which [...]

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Old Garden Book, Composting circa 1969

I love old books…the yellowed pages, the stained covers, the old book smell.  There is something about an old book with out of date writing style and pictures of people from long ago that I just adore! My favorite bookstore to hunt for old books is Powell’s Books.  If you old book obsessed then Powell’s [...]

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Making Amends with your Soil: Compost

Compost: is there any other way to get free, nutrient dense, loamy soil with minimal effort? There are many ways to compost waste, but there are three major types including aerobic, anaerobic and vermicomposting. Any way you do it, the end result is the same that you’d find in any woodland – a rich, dark, [...]

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Gardening with Children in the Winter Classroom

I friend of ours Michelle posed the question over on the message board asking for ideas to use for teaching an after school gardening class for Kindergarten through 6th grade.  The class would be for 1.5 hours once a week.  She has asked for some ideas on things they could do. So here is where [...]

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Note to Self…

I don’t know about you but at the end of the main growing season I always have all these notes in my head about what I loved and what I would do differently next spring. So instead of taking the time to go try to find some paper that isn’t wrinkled and scribbled on and [...]

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The Haves and The Have Nots…

Life is not fair…my little pumpkin plant will attest to this! Lessons learned in composting…

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Everything you always wanted to know about COMFREY but were afraid to ask.

Comfrey: super-plant or overrated weed? Have you ever wondered why useful plants are usually delicate creatures, yet weeds just thrive, without any care at all, and pondered wouldn’t it be wonderful if there was such a thing as a useful weed? Comfrey is it. A perennial herb, a member of the borage family, its deep [...]

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Low tech seedlings

   To get a jump on gardening we need to be ready, but the weather doesn’t always cooperate.  We start seedlings with the anticipation that the weather will comply, and be dry and warm enough for our tender babies.  But that usually isn’t the case in early spring.  A great low-tech way to start seeds [...]

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