Strawberries Are Going Nuts Right Now
June is peak strawberry season in the Pacific Northwest and it goes fast. Here’s what to actually do right now to get the most fruit, avoid the common mistakes, and set your bed up for next year.
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What to Grow in Your PNW Garden in June
June is the sweet spot for PNW gardeners. Warm-season transplants can finally go in, there’s a long list of stuff to direct sow, and a short list of things you should just stop trying. Here’s what’s actually worth planting right now in Redmond.
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Growing Tips That Actually Depend on Your Climate
A lot of standard gardening advice was written for somewhere warmer and sunnier than the Pacific Northwest. Here’s how growing potatoes, onions, tomatoes, brassicas, garlic, and mulch timing actually changes depending on your climate.
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Feed Your Raspberries Cheap This Spring my
May is the feeding window for raspberries in the Pacific Northwest, and you don’t need expensive specialty fertilizers to get a real harvest. Balanced granular fertilizer, compost, coffee grounds, and fish emulsion are all cheap options that work. Feed them now while new growth is pushing and they’ll pay you back in July.
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Feed Me Seymour: When to Fertilize Fruiting Plants
Fertilizing fruiting plants isn’t just about feeding them, it’s about feeding the right thing at the right time. Get the timing wrong and you’ll grow a beautiful plant with nothing on it. Ask me how I know.
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Melons and Squash: Start Inside or Just Direct Sow?
Starting cucurbits indoors sounds smart but it can backfire fast. Here’s when the head start actually matters (melons, long-season squash) and when direct sowing in late May just works better in zone 8b.
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Pumpkins vs. Powdery Mildew: A Grudge Match
Powdery mildew on pumpkins is basically a September tradition in the Pacific Northwest. Here’s how to push it back far enough that your pumpkins actually finish, using stuff you already have in your kitchen.
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Planting Sweet Potato Slips in the Pacific Northwest
Sweet potatoes aren’t just a warm-weather potato. They’re a tropical vine that needs warm soil, full sun, and a proper curing stage to taste like anything. Here’s how to pull it off in the Pacific Northwest without overthinking it.
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Grow Sweet Potato Slips from a Grocery Store Spud
One grocery store sweet potato, a jar, and some toothpicks. That’s the whole budget for growing your own sweet potato slips at home. Here’s how to do it, why it works, and when to get them in the ground in the Pacific Northwest.
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Growing Potatoes in Small Spaces: What Actually Works
I gave up on traditional potato rows after watching six square feet of backyard produce two pounds of fingerlings. Here’s an honest comparison of grow bags, 5-gallon buckets, wire towers, and laundry baskets for growing potatoes in small spaces, plus how the layering trick actually works.
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Chit and Cut Seed Potatoes for a 2-Week Head Start
Planting seed potatoes in cold May soil without chitting them first is how you end up staring at bare ground for six weeks. Here’s how to wake them up on a windowsill, cut larger ones into chunks, cure the cut pieces so they don’t rot, and optionally dust them in wood ash before planting.
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Microgreens on a Windowsill: Tiny Plants, Tiny Budget
Microgreens are one of the cheapest, fastest things you can grow indoors, and a south-facing windowsill in May is all you need to get started. From takeout containers to bulk seeds, here’s how to do it without spending much.
