What To Do With Empty Winter Beds (Besides Feel Guilty About Them)
Empty winter beds aren’t a waste of time, they’re an opportunity. Here’s how to build serious soil health through the wet Redmond winter without spending more than a few bucks.
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Leek and Let Grow: Starting Onions and Leeks Indoors for Almost Nothing
Onions and leeks need 10 to 12 weeks of indoor growing time before transplant, which means December is exactly when you should start. Here’s a cheap setup that actually works, learned the hard way after killing a few batches.
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Seed Catalog Season: What to Order
Seed catalogs show up in December and I’ve been dog-earing pages ever since. Here’s how I actually plan what to order for a zone 8b backyard in Redmond without spending money on things that won’t work or won’t get eaten.
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Starting Peppers Indoors: Cheap Grow Light Setup
Peppers need 10 to 12 weeks of indoor growing before transplant, which means January in Redmond is the time to start. Here’s how to set up a cheap grow light system that actually works without a sad windowsill and without spending serious money.
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Planning Your 2026 Vegetable Garden
Every December I tell myself I’m going to plan the garden properly this year. This time I’m actually doing it. Here’s how I map out the 2026 vegetable garden for zone 8b Redmond, WA, including real timing numbers and a seed budget I will almost certainly blow.
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Garlic Goes In the Ground This Month
Planted garlic in spring my first year and harvested marbles. Turns out it goes in the ground in October and spends the winter doing its thing. Here’s how to do it right in the Pacific Northwest.
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What to Plant in October (Yes, Really)
Most people shut their garden down in October. In Redmond, that’s leaving a lot of free food on the table. Here’s what’s still worth planting this week and what to leave in the ground.
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What to Plant Right Now: PNW September Garden
September in Redmond still has 10 to 12 weeks of growing time if you know what to plant. Here’s what’s actually worth putting in the ground right now, what to skip, and why garlic planning can’t wait.
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Dirt Cheap: Cover Crops That Actually Do Something While Your Garden Sleeps
Bare soil in a PNW winter is a slow disaster. Cover crops like winter rye and crimson clover keep your beds productive, fix nitrogen, and cost almost nothing. Here’s what I actually use and what I got wrong the first time.
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Beat the Frost: Planting Beets and Beans in August for a Fall Harvest
August feels late to be planting, but beets and beans still have a solid window here in zone 8b. Here’s what to put in the ground now for a real fall harvest before the frost shows up.
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Keep ‘Em Coming: Succession Planting Cucumbers and Beans So You’re Not Drowning in July and Starving in August
One planting of cucumbers or beans gives you a three-week sprint and then nothing. Here’s how I fixed that with three simple sowings and a paper calendar my daughter draws cucumbers on.
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Sucker Punch: Why I Finally Started Pruning My Tomatoes (And What Happened)
I grew tomatoes for four years without ever pruning a sucker. Turns out I was growing a lot of plant and not a lot of tomatoes. Here’s what changed and why it matters right now in July.
