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.
It’s April and tomatoes are here! We know you’re ready to get them planted since it’s sunny (wait… now it’s cold and raining…. wait! It’s sunny again! Wait…) ;) but your tomato plants won’t grow into incredibly prolific tomato producers if you don’t protect them until the night temperatures remain consistently above 50 degrees. Most of us at Swansons swear by protection tools so we can plant our warm-season vegetables earlier and encourage larger, stronger plants and better harvests. Here’s what we use and how to use them.
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.
You can feel fall in the air, but don't worry, our gardens are far from slowing down. In fact, September is one of the loveliest times in the Pacific Northwest garden, as foliage shows spectacular color, new flowers pop-up, and certain summer plants just keep right on performing until frost. Here are a few of our favorites for September.
One of the perks of working at Swansons is being able to visit PNW gardens. While the majority of gardens we visit are public, it’s always a treat to visit personal gardens and explore what local gardeners are doing in their private spaces. Nestled in an ordinary block north of Seattle, there is a floriferous wonderland called Fishtail Cottage. Complete with a white picket fence, romantic cottage garden flowers, and a bevy of animal greeters, you might feel like you have wandered out of the suburbs and into a modern fairy tale land.
August is the quintessential summer month here in the Pacific Northwest. Consistently dry, sunny, and warm, but with a slight tinge of fall in the air by the second half of the month. The sun is starting to set a little earlier, but we still have pleasantly warm summer evenings to enjoy in the garden. Flowers abound and we can enjoy sizzling colors under the sun as well as find comfort in the coolness of the shade garden. Here are some of our favorite plants for August.
There are a multitude of summer flowers, but one particular shrub always wows us with beautiful, show-stopping flowers: the hydrangea. With long-lasting pink, red, white, chartreuse, blue, and violet flower colors, hydrangeas will look right at home in any garden. I would like to feature a few most often seen growing in PNW gardens.
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