Gardening in the PNW with lots of shade: we mostly love living among the trees. We recognize the importance of preserving and restoring our diminishing urban canopy. But trying to grow colorful flowers, fruits or vegetables under trees can be a challenge. And increasing urbanization brings taller buildings and more shade at ground level. This blog post will help illuminate the types of shade you may be dealing with, discuss other design considerations, and offer sample shade garden designs and plant lists.
For many of us, the choice of which tomatoes to grow can be daunting. We've boiled down the tomato decision process into a few helpful questions and our suggestions: a secret (tomato) sauce, if you will, of how to make the right choice for your individual tomato needs. At the end of this post are a handy infographic and a link to our tomato variety list.
Colorful spring containers celebrate the start of the gardening season and creating them is fun and easy if you know which plants to choose. Look for these great gems to create a new spring container or refresh an existing pot.
Spring gardening is in full swing and we’ve teamed up with our friends at Dunn Lumber to bring you a great DIY building and gardening project you can do at home - no backyard needed! Kirsten will teach you how to make two wooden planter boxes. I’ll help you decide what to plant in them and show you how, step by step!
One of the first activities I want to do outside in early spring is to plant my early spring vegetable garden. There’s nothing like the smooth, clean surface of prepped garden beds, the soil still pristine and just waiting to nurture rows of bright green spring vegetables, carefully planted in perfect rows. It’s like a fresh school notebook - full of promise. But what to plant? Here are a few of my favorite vegetables to plant in spring, with tips on when and how to plant them.
What a glorious and beautiful time of year. The leaves are turning vibrant colors and this year the tomatoes were still ripening well into October! Besides the traditional autumnal activities like decorating with corn stalks and gourds, carving pumpkins and exploring hay mazes, with the shorter days comes a gentle slowing down of the garden and time to think about how to handle the abundance of produce that this long, hot summer has provided.
Indoor plants are beautiful to look at and they can have a significant, positive impact on our health. Houseplants improve indoor air quality by adding oxygen and humidity to the air in our homes and offices. NASA scientists have found that many also remove harmful gases such as benzene, formaldehyde and trichloroethylene from indoor air.
In part 1, we reviewed the basics of planning a large planting project, from checking the availability of light and water (Step One: Evaluate Your Space) to determining your gardening style and how much you can accomplish with your budget (Step Two: Make a Plan). This week it's time for Step Three! Let's look at what we did here at Swansons to advance our Autumn Project: planting our parking strip.
24 farmers, 24 chefs, 1 winery, 2 breweries, and 275 ravenous guests: this year's Incredible Feast was quite a party. We're still dreaming of the fabulous food and entertaining company (we met so many great people) so we thought we'd share some of the highlights - including a recipe from the feast itself!
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