Garden Design
Dan Gilchrist
Designing Your Garden for Shade

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.

Designing Your Garden for Shade
Edible Gardening
Aimée Damman
The Best Tomatoes to Grow in the PNW

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.

The Best Tomatoes to Grow in the PNW
Container Gardening
Charlo W.
DIY Spring Container Gardens

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.

DIY Spring Container Gardens
Edible Gardening, Container Gardening
Aimée Damman
How to Garden in Planter Boxes

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!

How to Garden in Planter Boxes
Edible Gardening
Aimée Damman
Vegetables to Plant in Spring

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.

Vegetables to Plant in Spring
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Using Netting For Better Fruit Harvests

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Using Netting For Better Fruit Harvests

Fruit tree netting is something I had never used or considered using until this year. I had experimented with nylon apple maggot barriers before with moderate success, but their application is quite laborious and time-intensive. Now that I have tried tree netting I will never go back. Here’s how to use netting to protect your fruit.

The Truth About "Drought-Tolerant" Plants

The Truth About "Drought-Tolerant" Plants

Drought tolerant* or low water use* are terms we use often in Northwest gardening. You see them on many of our plant signs and information sheets at Swansons. More so each year, as we recognize the importance of saving water in the face of our region's growing population and potential effects of climate change. Also, we see ever more examples of how beautiful a well-designed, drought-tolerant garden can be! However, this doesn’t mean these plants don’t need water. Read on to learn the truth about helping these plants thrive.

 
 

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