Summer is packed with so many fun activities that it is sometimes a challenge to find the time to keep up with the ornamental garden, harvest the edibles and keep the blog fresh. However, that said, I attended another fun activity last Sunday that took me out of my own garden (again) but gave me 'a look' …
Category: Summer Gardens
Tasty, Ripe, Homegrown Tomatoes… A Force To Be Dealt With?
It's that time of year when the tomato plants (or seeds) you carefully selected, planted, supported and watered are coming into their FULL bounty - sharing their glorious fruits bowl after bowl day after day! It's amazing that as long as we wait for home-grown ripe tomatoes, they can quickly become an overwhelming force to …
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A Pickin’ and A Grinin’ Pacific Northwest Style
During our recent visit to the greater Portland, Oregon area we had the opportunity to go blueberry picking. It was in our favor that the Western states experienced a very cool spring and late start to the growing season because typically Northwest blueberries would be on strong in July but this year early/mid August was …
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Returning To The Garden
As I noted earlier in August, it is hard to leave the garden in late summer during the prime harvest season if you are growing food. A type of garden anxiety disorder can be ignited while you are busy running around getting everything to a point where it will be o.k. to leave if for …
Getting Vacation-Ready May Cause Temporary Gardener Insanity
Taking a 10 day trip in the middle of the summer harvest season can be cause for a little craziness in a gardener. Now, I know it's a privilege to go on vacation so I don't mean to sound ungrateful for the opportunity but as I was out getting the garden vacation-ready I became a …
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Are You Coneflower Cool?
During the hot summer months here in the Intermountain West there are few plants that can take the hours of high heat and dry air and still look absolutely cool! In my garden I find one of the best summer coolers to be coneflowers (Echinacea). Whether old or new they pump out beautiful daisy-form flowers …
Handful of This, Handful of That
The warm season harvest has begun! Actually, it began last week right at the end of July and now I am so distracted by my crops that every time I go out to the garden to do some maintenance I end up harvesting a 'handful of this and a handful of that'. See what I …
Friday Favorite: An Inspirational Garden in the Rugged Owyhee Mountains
The Owyhee Mountains are located in high altitude Intermountain desert where sagebrush and lava rock are aplenty. It is a rugged area and you can tell this by taking a quick visual scan of the landscape. The fortitude of the region gives a big clue as to rigor of the climate and the lifestyle. You …
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Back to school? Naw, just the Garden!
No, it's not time to start thinking about "Back to School" but it is time to get a look at a newly sprouted school garden. This spring my daughter's 2nd grade teacher (Mrs. Kwid) proposed creating a school garden as a community service project for all second graders attending our elementary school. The proposal was …
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