A Gardener’s Notes is a journal for gardeners in the Pacific Northwest, available at this link: HTTPS://www.amazon.com/Gardeners-Notes-Journal-Pacific-Gardener/dp/B0DJLSS4F1/ref=

The book is now also available at Squak Mountain Nursery in Issaquah and Village Books in Bellingham.

June 7th,

I am pleased to say that this has been a FIGHT but right now I am winning. The deer, raccoons, rabbits, mice, rats, squirrels, and birds have left my plants and seeds alone. Somewhat. I planted peas and radishes under netting as I know the Juncos have eaten the pea seeds in the past. I planted the radishes next to the peas because they like each other. I planted beets, dill, and cucumbers with no netting. I also planted six cucumber starts. Only three cucumber seeds have germinated. I believe the rest were eaten. Someone has messed with the beet patch. I still have tiny seedlings coming up. We’ll see. The handfuls of marigold seeds I have thrown everywhere have germinated. They also are a scent that the deer don’t like.

June 2nd, 2025

I planted my veggies (tomatoes, peppers and some lettuce starts) and seeds for marigolds, zinnias, peas, cucumbers, radishes, beets and dill. I put strings and wire up along the space where the deer and other critters come into my vegetable patch. I also put down Irish Spring soap and a deterrent that has coyote urine in it. I put up a solar-powered unit that makes a noise when triggered. The brochure said the critters might come in for a minute, but they would leave soon as they don’t tolerate the noise, which is not audible to humans. Apparently that worked. As they did come in long enough to bite off the only tomato flowers I had and the top of a pepper plant. The hoof prints show them leaving. They left the rest and it has been several days. I am hopeful. I don’t mind sharing but the last few years have been ridiculous. Deer, raccoon, rabbits, rats, mice and birds ate everything but a few tomatoes and some lettuce. The marigolds and the seeds that I planted under netting have germinated. I think the birds may have cleaned up the rest.

May 22nd, 2025

The Blue Star Creeper that I replaced has come back strong. So I’m pleased about that. I bought a flat of it at Squak Mountain Nursery last year. This year I just have to fill in some holes that developed over winter. Last year I had to replace it in ALL the walks and patios around here. However, it lasted twenty years!

May 16th, 2025

I was wrong. Many of the rose bushes stripped of their leaves had chives or garlic growing nearby. Now I’m looking at sonar devices. That’s hard because I have a cat who loves the garden. But, I think I can place the devices so the cat won’t be bothered.

May 13th, 2025

I’ve been gone for a few days around Mother’s Day. Came back to find the deer have been busy. They ate the buds and most of the leaves off of my rose bushes. I am so sad. Looks like I have to do something about this. Not sure what. They consistently leave plants alone if there are chives or garlic sprouts around. So……

May 1st, 2025

Happy May Day!!! Back when I taught writing classes, I had a student who brought me a little crocheted basket full of flowers. It was a lovely gesture.

Yesterday, I dug up strawberry starts for my neighbors. I’ve never had so many strawberry plants. They have come up everywhere!!! I share the strawberries with the birds and they leave seeds all over.

April 30th, 2025

Well, I had my computer worked on and got locked out of this site!!! I was worried there for a while. Been very busy here weeding, raking and putting down chicken manure and mulch. I deliberately did not rake the leaves in a couple of beds last fall. So, I’m doing that now and noticing that those beds do not have any weeds. So that’s a bonus. I can go straight to the spring top-dressing step!!!

March 30th, 2025

I mowed the lawn as it really needed it and seemed a bit drier than it has been. I scraped the moss out of a tulip bed and laid down a 2″ layer of compost. Trying to keep the weeds out of there!!

March 26th, 2025

Noticed that the deer have been munching on my emerging tulips!!! They left tracks and poops so I know who the culprit is. I bought some repellent last year that worked pretty well so I put it down around all the tulips or any plant they’ve chewed on before. Wildlife is not interested in my daffodils. Thank goodness!!! They are so bright and cheerful!

March 23rd, 2025

The nice thing about this much rain: even the weeds are floating. So all you have to do is give a gentle tug and they come out fully rooted!!!! I’m trying hard to do a pass for moss. If you have it somewhere you don’t want it, like all of my north facing flower beds, you can pick it up. It comes off the ground like a blanket right now. If you wait till it dries up a little, it will take a lot more of your good dirt with it. So, put on a rain coat and go do it . It’s easy!

March 20th, 2025

The primroses have made it fine. They’re on the edge of a covered porch. I have been running out between raindrops and doing as many things as I can. I haven’t been very successful. The rule is that once I get sopped, muddy, and cold I have to go in. It took me several days, but I DID manage to make a pass around the whole yard for snap weed. I filled most of a yard waste bin with them!!! This is hard to do because I ignore the weeds that need to be dug out. I try to concentrate on the snap weed only because I want to make a quick pass around the whole yard before it goes to seed. This task makes such a huge difference in weeding the rest of the year. You DO have to be careful about not stepping in your dirt too much.

March 13th, 2025

Oh yeah, I get caught every year. I planted primroses yesterday!!!! Today, it has snowed and hailed. It isn’t very cold, however. It blew in sideways and melted. I will put blankets on the primroses for the night. I haven’t deadheaded the hydrangeas yet. That was next on my list!!! Maybe I’ll wait on that a bit.

March 10th, 2025

Well, the weather certainly has me confused. I waited all winter for the temperature here to drop down to around 30 degrees during the day so I could prune things like the roses. That never happened. Then we had a number of days of spring-like weather and I decided I’d better get those roses pruned. I usually take care of that initial pruning in December. And then do it again in the spring. So, I’m almost done pruning 30 roses and now they’re saying it could snow!!! You could still plant peas!!!!!

February 13th, 2025

It’s too cold for me. I tried to do some raking yesterday but my hands got very cold, very fast!!!! I hope you all have protected the plants that are sensitive!! And I hope you’ve drained all the hoses and put nipples on the faucets. I’ve lived in this area since 1972 and I don’t remember it being this cold at night.

Hope you all have a Happy Valentine’s Day. I got a bouquet of roses from my neighbor!!!!!! She celebrated a birthday recently and shared some of the bounty with me!!!!

January 23rd, 2025

I’ve had a bad cold for the last few weeks, so I haven’t gotten as much done as I’d like. I’m still raking leaves and branches. Looks like I’ll be doing that for some time. I had some Bacopa blooming furiously in an outside pot. I decided to dig it up and bring it in. I’ve never done that before, so that’s an experiment.

Also, I have a little evergreen shrub in the front yard that I really like. I planted three of them but the neighborhood dogs killed two of them. So, raking yesterday, I accidentally broke a couple of small pieces off. I brought those in, too. I’m trying to root them. It’s the wrong time of the year, but I have time to do this now!!!! I’d love to replace the shrubs I’ve lost. I’ll keep you posted.

January 10th, 2025

It’s been surprisingly sunny the last couple of days. Remember to water any plants under the eaves or in places that are dry. I watered the pots on the porch and cut down the Japanese grass that grows along the edge of the porch. That grass turns a beautiful golden color in January, but it also lets go of the earth about then. It makes a mess if you don’t cut it back first.

January 6th, 2025

Have had a cold, so haven’t been doing much outside. Now is the time to plant seeds indoors if you’re into that. I have friends who like to start tomatoes in particular. That’s quite important if you are particular about what kind you like. I’m fond of Sweet 100’s and Early Girls. They’re easy to buy in the nursery when I’m ready for them. I have been having trouble finding Heirloom Brandywine plants, so I may plant some seeds.

December 27th, 2024

We had high winds here again yesterday. I’m never going to get this place cleaned up!!! I keep trying.

The big windstorm earlier broke the trellis holding up my Evergreen Clematis. My son built me a new one out of cedar and installed it for me for Christmas. I am thrilled. It repeats trim elements in the structure of the house. It is sturdy and looks good. We had to cut back the vine severely. But I think it will recover.

Remember the rule: when trimming plants back, only remove a third. It’s been so warm and I’m so far behind, it looks like pruning won’t happen here until January.

December 18th, 2024

So, it’s been entertaining here for the last few weeks. I have been raking leaves and cleaning fallen debris. I had no major damage from the wind storm, just lost a lot of branches from the 100′ cedar in the back yard!!! I pulled some small cedar branches from the mess and added them to the bare dirt in the pots on the porch. That’s just to give the pots the look of something green there. I will plant primroses in February if the weather cooperates. It’s 50 degrees today. My camellia bloomed profusely. Who knows what February could look like?

November 11th., 2024

It’s time to take care of the falling leaves. I have a giant oak, and 8 maples, so this is a project. I like to keep as many of the maple leaves as possible. I have a sucker that shreds the leaves and deposits them in a sack. The leaves then go into the compost bin with a sack of chicken manure. Sometimes I mulch the vegetable beds with the leaves. That keeps weeds from growing during the winter. I put the oak leaves in the yard waste bin because they are very hard to compost. You must keep leaves off your lawn. They will kill the grass over the winter.

October 31st, 2024

I have problem areas that I like to take care of at this time in the fall. One issue is the Queen Anne’s Lace growing in my strawberry patch. I let it go once but that was a huge mistake. Even if you don’t let the plant bloom (and the flowers are so lacy and pretty), they cause issues. They grow in the same way as strawberries, reaching out to anchor new clumps and eventually choking out the strawberries. I had to dig out the entire strawberry bed at one point. The roots of Queen Anne’s Lace are brown. Strawberry roots are white. I have one small area where the Queen Anne’s Lace is stubbornly growing. The foliage dies back for the winter, so I dig it out furiously one last time. And then I will hit it again in the spring when I see the first shoots. I’m hoping to win this war!

October 26th, 2024

After you gather your seeds, spread them out on cookie sheets to dry for a couple of weeks. I store the dried seeds in zip locks and the begonia corms in paper bags. Don’t forget to label everything.

This time of year, there are a lot of mushrooms growing in the yard. I patrol for puffer mushrooms because if they release their spores, you will have them everywhere. I have one part of the yard prone to growing these. They smell delicious, but I’ve never been brave enough to try eating one. You’d have to meticulously clean out the spores first. That doesn’t look particularly appetizing.

October 20th, 2024

If you haven’t already done it, it’s time to pick seeds. I harvest all kinds of them. I like to pick gallon-sized plastic bags of marigolds and nasturtium seeds because I plant a lot of them and give away seeds to anyone who asks. Also, seeds can last up to six years and I like having a cup full or so left. The germination rate does go down every year. I have also picked holly hock, echinacea and other seeds. Some of them need to be planted in the fall and will need a hard freeze to germinate. The ones I’m not sure of, I plant in long trays where I can keep them damp and know exactly what grew and what didn’t.

October 12th, 2024

The leaves are falling and it gets busy around here. I pruned the oregano. It occupies a corner of one vegetable bed and it has gotten huge. I divided it in half last spring and potted up chunks of it to put out on the curb. I wanted to prune it back then, but the bees were so busy in it, that I left them. I just don’t want all that oregano seed sowing itself in the garden!!!

And the bees never stopped all summer! Mostly masons but also some honey bees and bumbles!!! I’ve been wondering what oregano flavored honey might taste like. There must be a beekeeper nearby!

October 6th, 2024

It’s time to plant bulbs: daffodils, tulips, alliums, and garlic. I like to use an old drill for digging the holes. I drill all the holes at once at the spacing suggested. I put a tablespoon of bone meal in each hole and then put the bulb in, and cover with dirt. Water well so animals don’t dig up your bulbs to get at the bone meal.

Deer love tulips and hate daffodils. If you want to plant tulips in a place where deer are likely to find them, you can cover the bulbs with chicken-wire or netting and then cover with dirt.

September 29, 2024

We picked grapes yesterday. Well, I held the ladder while my daughter picked. For many years, we’ve harvested about 12 gallons of Concord grapes. The last few years, the deer, the raccoons, and the birds have decimated the crop. I don’t mind sharing, but this is sad. Yesterday we picked about 3 gallons of grapes (9 lbs): one large Tupperware bowl. We have videos of the deer standing up alongside the grape arbor pulling bunches down. The racoons use the arbor like a ladder to get up in the middle of the vines. And this year the birds ate grapes while they were still green. I have enough for eating and probably one batch of jelly. Have to have a better plan for next year. Maybe netting? Maybe one of those Hallowe’en decorations that has a motion detector and says, “Boo!” as it is approached?

September 24, 2024

I surprised a trio of young deer in my vegetable garden today. I’ve been using a product called Plantskyyd along the edge of the garden where I know they come in. I’ve been pretty faithful about renewing it every couple of weeks. Until now….. haven’t done it for about a month. Yesterday I noticed some tomatoes were missing and one of my plants had been trampled. I suspected raccoons. But today the culprits showed up. I thought deer didn’t eat tomatoes, but there they were. Caught in the act. They have eaten all but two of my Heirloom Brandywine Tomatoes.

September 16, 2024

Beautiful cool day, today. I’m still planting Blue Star Creeper in the stone walkways. Last winter, they all died after 20 years of having to replant an occasional few inches of it somewhere. Eventually, I will get these patches of little blue flowers back. They make the paths look watery. I have one small section left to plant. I want it to get rooted before it gets too cold. Hope to finish the last of the plantings tomorrow.

September 11, 2024

It rained last night. So refreshing. The sun came out this afternoon but I had already started another project, so I didn’t make it outside.

September 10, 2024

I harvested a giant bowl full of tomatoes and peppers. I was late planting the garden, so I’m pleased to get this many at once. I’ve been getting one or two at a time up to now. I’m sad to say I only have one cucumber. Someone came along and ate all the flowers off my cucumber vine. I suspect a deer. The birds have decimated my grape harvest. There are hardly any left. And they ate the grapes green!!!! I’ve been threatening to put up netting and I think next year that will be a top priority. I don’t mind sharing, but this is the third year that wildlife has eaten most of my crop. So next year netting goes on the cukes and the grapes, for sure.

September 2, 2024

I deadheaded the phlox, dahlias, coreopsis, and anything else that needed it. I especially deadheaded the roses. I keep an eye out for black spot and any dead canes and cut them out ruthlessly. I never cut out canes in the past and it was a mistake. You don’t want black spot. If you have it on a cane, you’ll have it on your flowers and then they are not pretty at all.

September 1, 2024

I harvested mint today. I have three pots of mint that make enough tea for our three families. I also put it in fancy jars to give away at Christmas. It makes a lovely non-caffeinated drink.

Do not plant mint in the ground. It is extremely invasive. I clip my mint before it goes to seed, tie it in a bundle with a piece of yarn and hang it upside down for a week to ten days. When the leaves are crispy, I pull the off the stems and put them in quart jars.

August 23, 2024

The Blue Star Creeper I planted between stones and pavers has done very well. It’s happy and spreading and I’m so pleased to have it back. The store-bought plugs I bought have tripled in size and the odd little pieces that I picked the moss out of and covered with dirt have all rooted and they look happy. I was worried because it was hot when I did that. I just watered them whenever they looked dry.

August 18, 2024

It rained hard last night. So wonderful. Going to fertilize the roses, vegetables and pots today. Will deadhead as I go. Today is Sunday so I will not attempt anything challenging!!!! I just want to get my daily garden meditation!!!!

August 15, 2024

I slug baited today. I use Sluggo sparingly in the flower beds and beer in the vegetable and strawberry beds. I don’t like to put chemicals of any kind in the beds that hold the things we eat. Sluggo seems bird and animal friendly. But it IS not natural so I only use it where I know I have a problem and away from the food we eat.

I have giant yellow and black snails. I know they adore the evergreen clematis, so I put Sluggo down there. I never had these snails before 5 years ago. I think they came in compost or a plant.

I have few slugs. Is that a result of climate change? I have ALWAYS had slugs. I sink small, clean tuna fish cans into the soil in the vegetable beds and fill the cans with beer. Slugs love beer. They fall in and die. I bury them in the garden and reuse the cans. It is quite disgusting, but so is finding a slug between lettuce leaves!!!

August 12, 2024

Another good use for borage is to use it for fertilizer. Put borage leaves in the bottom of a five gallon bucket, cover with water, put the lid on the bucket and set it somewhere out of the way. (This concoction can stink.) In two or three weeks, you can use the water to fertilize your veggies.

August 7, 2024

So cold here this morning. 58 degrees. Sunny this afternoon so I went out and re-weeded the strawberry patch. My borage went to seed in there so I’m pulling out all but one. I use borage to make a poultice for putting on excema. I boil the leaves and mash them to make the poultice. You can cool the water you used to boil the leaves and put that on the excema as well. The leaves are a little prickly so the water can be soothing.

Queen Anne’s Lace actually killed a patch of strawberries, so, I’m fighting back. Queen Anne’s Lace leaves look very similar to strawberry plant leaves. I dig the Queen Anne’s Lace every couple of weeks. This is war!!

August 6, 2024

So far I have harvested a delicious green pepper and tons of lettuce. No tomatoes, though I have lots of green ones. I am still trying to get caught up around here as things got seriously overgrown. Yesterday I pulled vines out of places they are NOT supposed to be: Evergreen Clematis out of a Maple, Wisteria out of Rose of Sharon, and Grape out of a Chestnut. I also removed suckers from a Dappled Willow. I cleaned the stone steps in the garden and put down rock salt to keep the weeds from coming back. Still need to plant more ground covers where they died back last winter. Cold today. 60 degrees here at 7:00 a.m.

July 28, 2024

I deadheaded coreopsis, bluebells, some of the roses, sweet william, and some groundcovers. Just generally gave everybody a haircut! Looks so much better and promises to bring more blooms. Fertilized the vegetables with a yeast and sugar mixture that I found the recipe for online. Never done that before. Interested in the outcome. My tomatoes and peppers are flowering and putting on fruit. The lettuce starts are gigantic and I’ve been picking and eating for weeks. Missing the peas I didn’t get planted this year. Marigolds were planted very late. Some of them are so tiny. I’m wondering if they will bloom this year. Cold out this morning. Spiders everywhere. Fall is in the air!

July 27, 2024

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Hello all, I am so sorry I haven’t been able to keep up with this blog. I had a death in the family and was away from home for months. So now I have been frantically trying to get caught up!!! I’m proud to say that I’ve completed the first pass of weeding and winter clean up on most of the yard. I still have the large waterfall to deal with, but that’s about it!!!! So, looking through past years, that isn’t bad!!!! There’ve been times when I was home and didn’t get this done until August!!!!

February 25th., 2024

I went through the garden pulling shot weed before it goes to seed. It is EVERYWHERE!!!! I’m hoping to head it off!!! I trimmed down the dead peony stems.

February 24th., 2024

After some consternation over when to prune the roses, I pruned them back today. The weather here has generally been too warm. I always thought the temperature needed to be below 40 degrees so the roses would be dormant. But, we had that cold spell when it was 17 degrees here and too cold for me to do it, and then the temperature went straight to 50.

It was 48 degrees today, so not ideal but it needed to be done. I pruned the tea roses back to about a foot. I pruned the floribundas and climbers back to a pleasing shape and kept long branches shorter so they can’t whip in the wind. I cut out any black spot affected stems. I cleaned the ground around the plants thoroughly, leaving no dead leaves nearby. Then I laid an inch or two of compost around each plant. This treatment keeps black spot to a low level.

February 23rd., 2024

Oh my I see I haven’t posted here in a while. I’ve had a lot of family issues to deal with and haven’t been gardening. We did get our leaves raked in December. That’s a big job. And I still have stragglers in all parts of the yard. It’s important to keep leaves off the lawn as they will kill the grass.

November 1st., 2023

The begonia corms I dug a few weeks ago have been drying on the workbench in the garage. Today I put them in three paper bags (one for red, one for orange and one for yellow), rolled the tops up and set them on the shelf in the middle of the garage. Not too hot there, not too cold. I saved the dirt in the begonia pots. Later on, I’ll use it to fill in holes and scatter it wherever a little dirt might be needed.

October 31st, 2023

Some of my blog posts have disappeared. I’ll try to restore them. Around here, we are knee deep in oak leaves. In the past, the oak lost its first leaves in the week of Hallowe’en and continued to lose leaves until Thanksgiving. This year, the oak is 75% done losing leaves. A couple of the maples are still green. So, that’s different. Because we had a dry summer?

September 12, 2023

It has gotten chilly at night here. The trail cams have caught the culprits eating the garden: two bucks and a family of five raccoons have decimated the vegetables and the grapes. Going to have to do something next year. The raccoons actually climb the grape arbor to reach down and pick the best grapes. The deer have hoovered up every planting of lettuce and spinach. So far they haven’t touched kale and broccoli. The Irish Spring soap and deer repellant have stopped working. Been gardening here since 1990 and never had this much trouble.

September 15, 2023

I’ve been working on my neglected hydrangeas. They don’t absolutely need to be pruned, so I haven’t been doing that for a couple of springs now. They bloom beautifully as long as you keep them watered. However, the underbellies of the shrubs are now unattractive dead wood. I’m pruning that out now because I can see which branches support the blossoms.

September 9, 2023

The Coreopsis seeds I planted in the spring are large enough for their own pots now. I give the starts to friends, neighbors, and family. If you want seeds or starts, please let me know at elliejanderson@live.com .

I trimmed back the Oregano. It got HUGE and I let it go because the bees loved the blooms. I know I will have Oregano everywhere next spring. It comes up easily. I know the bees need help, so I let them enjoy that Oregano.

September 6, 2023

Been dead heading flowers to keep them blooming. Also, gathering seeds. Today, I picked nasturtium and marigold seed heads. I spread them, single-layer, on cookie sheets to dry. They sit on the dining room table for a couple of weeks. I like to save a gallon bag of each of them. That way, I have a lot of seeds to give away. I like to wear pants with pockets at this time of year. I also wash out plastic containers. I take a couple of them with me where ever I travel in the yard.

September 1, 2023

It’s been a hard year for gardening this year. It has rained here and cleared out the smoke. I am just now harvesting tomatoes. This is the first time since 1990 that I have been unable to pick a ripe tomato in July. Something ate my cucumbers. I have to keep reminding myself that we DID have a fabulous crop of peas, radishes, strawberries, and broccoli. Carrots are getting bigger. And there is no sign of worms. So putting down coffee grounds worked. I put them down about once a week.

August 22, 2023

Ahh lazy, hazy days of summer. Except the haze is wild fire smoke and I’ve been trapped inside. The smoke bothers my eyes. I DID get the ground covers weeded, however. It’s a hard job that requires knee pads. Pulled out the small stranded moss that takes over in our Blue Star Creeper. Hoping it will rain!!!!!

August 15, 2023

Picked another batch of peppermint today because it’s going to seed and I can’t have that. Mint is invasive. We use it to make herbal tea that we drink all winter. I grow it in pots against the garage wall. Try to get 3 pickings a year. Sunday we ate broccoli out of the garden. Also a pepper and some tomatoes. The raccoons, rabbits and deer have eaten all my spinach, lettuce and cucumbers. Going to plant again under netting. Sigh.

August 12, 2023

Started summer maintenance: watering, dead heading, fertilizing. Easy stuff.

August 10, 2023

Deadhead dahlias, roses, all blooming plants. Most of the time, the plants will reward you with more flowers. I’m all done with the hard work of cleaning, weeding and mulching. But it feels like fall. The weather is cool and spiders are everywhere. I planted Morning Glory seeds. I have three plants against the kitchen wall and would like more. I deadheaded a week ago and dried the pods.

August 7, 2023

It’s raining today!!!! Really love that smell of wet dirt. On Friday, the 4th. of August, I finished my winter/spring clean up of the yard. So that felt good. Now I get to start over again for the summer clean up. The strawberry bed was the worst so I weeded that on Saturday. I dug up the borage that had gone to seed in there. Cleaned up some to make a tincture to drink, and put some out to dry on cookie sheets. Will make tea out of that. Borage is good for excema and relieving stress. I’ve used poultices for excema before, but I’ve never dried it for tea. I’ll post the verdict on here.

July 26, 2023

I’m still trying to get my winter/spring clean-up done and here it is the end of July. That’s okay, at least I’m still going to get there. I have a few small areas that need to be tended to. I planted spinach and lettuce in the space left by the now pulled pea vines. And I have thoroughly weeded the vegetable beds. We’re eating a lot of beet greens because we have them. They make great, crunchy salads and tacos.

July 21, 2023

Yesterday I pulled out my pea vines. It was so sad as we have had a huge harvest, the whole family and neighbors eating peas for a couple of months. The pea greens are also edible. We ate them in salads a few times. I ate a lot of peas everyday as I stopped by the veg beds as I worked in the yard. There’s nothing quite as tasty as a fresh pea!!! Missing them.

July 19, 2023

I’ll have to post more often and get you all caught up. We went camping (5 days) and then to Idaho (3 days). Watering is always a challenge when we leave as it is a big job. I’ve been experimenting with watering spikes and bottles. You don’t really need clay watering spikes. They are nice to have, but if you don’t have enough (a problem here), just use a wine bottle. I’ve discovered I can water as usual and place a full wine bottle of water upside down in a pot and my baskets and large pots will stay moist for 5 days if the termperature stays under 83.

July 5, 2023

So sorry. I meant to post here during the month of June!!!! Of course, this is the busy time of the year. I have been tending and eating my vegetables. I tried a lot of new things this year. I hung Irish Spring soap in a mesh bag on a tree near where I think the deer and rabbits and raccoons come in to raid the veggies. Haven’t seen a sign of them, so maybe that worked??

May 26, 2023

The Marigolds I planted on Monday were sprouted two days later. I discovered something about cucumber seeds. I usually put larger seeds to soak in water the night before I’m planning to plant them. This year we had company and my plans went awry and the cukes didn’t get planted for several days, long enough for them to sprout. So…. I planted the sprouts and got the best crop of seedlings EVER. I have 30 cucumber sprouts. I’ll be able to give some small plants away!!!

May 19, 2023

So, I planted seeds on Monday and noticed yesterday that a lot of them have sprouted!!!! In 4 days!!!! I planted tomato and pepper plants. But I have sprouts for radishes, cukes, and marigolds. Love seeing that.

May 15, 2023

Look up companion planting for vegetables.  Paying attention to this makes a huge difference.  It doesn’t have to be overwhelming.  I always plant basil, tomatoes, lettuce and peppers together.  Plant broccoli and kale with beets, dill, and sage. Plant onions with carrots and peas. 

Today I spread compost mulch over the vegetable beds and then planted basil, tomatoes, lettuce, peppers, carrots, onions, radishes, cucumbers, dill, and spinach. I planted marigolds all around the beds. And put down little dishes of beer to catch the slugs and snails.

May 12, 2023

The weather has been beautiful. So gorgeous. Supposed to be 90 degrees on Sunday!!! I weeded my three vegetable beds. They are 30′ long and 8′, 6′, and 5′ wide. I cover them with cloth for the winter so the weeds aren’t terrible. Peas are 8″ tall right now. I’m letting our crop of kale go to seed. We have beet greens and chard left over from winter. I put down a dose of lime and 1-2″ layer of chicken manure. Then, watered. Chicken manure stinks, but that only lasts for about a day. I use it because my grandmother did!!!!

The lime is new. I’ve never done that before. Soil testing I did in the winter pushed me in that direction.

May 9, 2023

Been pouring left-over boiling water from my morning coffee-making onto the weeds growing in the sidewalk cracks. This is a corner lot, so this could take me a while. Still haven’t finished pulling out the moss and shot weed.

Need to plant the rest of the vegetables.

May 3, 2023

Two sunny days in a row!!!!! I pulled out 5 bags of banana peels I saved in the freezer all winter. We have 28 roses, so they each get three peels. I dig in fertilizer and bury the peels in the mulch I put down in November/December. Roses love banana peels. Now the freezer looks empty. I planted a box of lettuce starts, removed the netting from my peas and set the pea fences in place. Looks like the netting kept the birds out for the most part. I have a few empty spots. I don’t mind sharing, but that was ridiculous.

April 28, 2023

Wow, the sun came out. We don’t know how to behave!!! I pulled weeds yesterday and did some spring cleaning in the beds. I dig up my begonia corms in the fall and store them in paper bags in the garage. I plant them in their pots around the first of March but store them in the garage until it warms up outside. This year, it didn’t warm up and we were still getting frosts. The corms rot if touched by frost so they stayed in the garage. Yesterday, I pulled the pots all out and put them where they belong outside. A whole month later than usual. It’s been two weeks since our last frost, so I think they will be okay now. I usually add bacopa to those pots before I put them out, but I haven’t been able to find any. I also pulled my primroses away from the cover of the house!!! Seems like it’s been a long, cold, gray winter.

April 24, 2023

We’ve had the coldest April on record. I haven’t been out taking care of ANYthing. The peas are up a few inches and it looks like I can remove the netting and install the pea fences. The sprouts are large enough to have used up the energy of the seed and I’m hoping the birds won’t be pulling them up. They HAVE managed to get a few. I don’t mind sharing SOME, but there have to be peas in the garden for me to snack on!!!

April 19, 2023

It is definitely spring. It SNOWED here yesterday. It didn’t stick, but it was cold, rainy, and windy. I didn’t get to go out and finish pulling shotweed and raking up moss.

April 17, 2023

I plan to go out today and cruise through the yard pulling up shot weed. It has gotten terrible the last few years. Now is the time to pull it as the ground is wet and these guys will pull up easily. Best to get them pulled before they go to seed.

April 10, 2023

I ran out between rain drops and fertilized all the rhodendrons and azaleas.

My peas have sprouted. The netting has helped keep the birds out. Last year we got a video of a junko pulling up a sprout, throwing down the green part, chewing up the seed, and feeding another junko. We never did understand this because the one being fed did not look like a baby. The pair kept the pea crop down hard. I don’t mind sharing but that was ridiculous. I like to snack on peas in the garden!!!! I plan to remove the netting when the sprouts are taller and have used up the energy in the seed, whenever that is.

I have lowered the price on A Gardener’s Notes: A Journal for the Pacific Northwest Gardener. It’s only $9.99 and available on Amazon. Be sure to include my name (Ellie J. Anderson) when you order. This site won’t let me post the address.

April 3, 2023

Still doing winter clean-up. It snowed here, yesterday and it’s cold and rainy today!!! Guess winter isn’t actually over yet. I DID buy some rose spray in the last week, so I’ll talk about that. Roses get immune to sprays so if you’ve been using a kind that seems to be working and then suddenly you have black spot, it’s because your rose bushes have developed an immunity. Black spot has been an issue in my garden the last couple of years. I think it’s because we’ve had cold springs. Anyway, there are a number of ways to spray your roses. Some folks swear by 1 TBSP of soda per gallon of water and there are lots of home remedies posted on the internet. I like the ones that don’t do harm to the bees or the environment. And I always start there. If you see an issue, spray once a week and alternate your spray choices. Other good organic choices are Bordeaux mix and Neem oil. It’s good to start looking for problems early in the year. I plan to do a black spot inspection between rain drops this week. I’ll clip off any signs that I see and spray on the first day I’m guaranteed a couple of dry hours.

March 31, 2023

It’s that time of year: crazy busy and trying to prioritize. I’m still cleaning moss out of our flower beds. It’s really wet right now and comes up easily. This is also a good time to make a pass through the yard for shot weed and dandelions. I trimmed back the hardy fuschias.

March 27, 2023

Yesterday I re-planted all the house plants: orchids, Christmas cactus and succulents, and others. Took some time. I haven’t done it in a while. At the end of the day, they all looked happy!!!!

The peas are sprouting under the netting!!!!! I counted six sprouts. I’m hoping the netting keeps the birds out.

March 24, 2023

I pruned a couple of hydrangeas. They had gotten big around a maple that the wind took out last winter. So the hydrangeas got more sun and were mis-shapen. I trimmed them up in the hope that they will come back looking cared-for and loved!!! I’ll keep you posted.

March 22, 2023

We worked on moss last weekend. My husband hoed and I picked up. We have SO much moss in the lawn and the flower beds. It did come up easily as the ground is so wet. Now is the time to do this, if that’s on your list!

March 20, 2023

Aha, it’s the first day of spring!!!! We have crocuses and daffodils blooming. So nice to see, even though I am fighting for the last ski days. I planted peas on Saturday. Raccoons and birds have been raiding my plantings. They pull out the sprout and eat the seed. Last year I planted peas several times and still only ended up with enough for snacking. So I planted 5 rows 28 feet long and netted them off. I don’t mind sharing, but enough is enough!!!! I’ll let you know if this works.

March 17, 2023

Yesterday was a beautiful, sunny day in the Pacific Northwest. I decided to fertilize the daffodils and tulips in the front yard. I sprinkle bone meal around, scratch it in with a hoe, and then water it in. I have to water it in because we have critters around here who think bone meal is tasty.

March 15, 2023

Once planted, I leave the begonias in their pots on the floor of the garage. It’s too cold to put them out now. The primroses I planted a few weeks ago have survived. I pushed the pots against the house and covered them with towels to keep them warm in the snow and frost we got after a couple of 50 degree days!!! I have stopped putting the towels on and taking them off!!!! Silly me. I thought spring was here!!!

March 13, 2023

Yesterday I planted the begonia corms I had stored in the garage. They had sprouted little pink nubs, so it was time to get that done. They are all I usually winter over.  But if you store fuschias, geraniums, or other plants it might be a good idea to check them all to see what might need to be done.  

March 1, 2023

A few weeks ago I got online and downloaded King County’s directions for taking soil samples for testing. The testing is free and easy to do. I got my results for the vegetable beds and the perennial beds this morning. I’ve only tested using the hardware store type of test, so this will be interesting.

February 27, 2023

Still snowing here. Primroses are still covered with towels!!!! Oh well. I wish the stores wouldn’t put those out until it’s safe to plant them.

Read a piece on the internet about using banana peels to give tomato plants a boost. I save banana peels in the freezer all winter to give to the roses in the spring. Now, I’m excited to give them to my tomato plants, too. If you don’t have room in your freezer to store banana peels, you can dry them in the oven and grind them.

February 22, 2023

I succumbed to buying primroses a couple of weeks ago. They look so cheerful planted in pots on the front porch. Yeah, well now it’s SNOWING!! I’ve been covering the primroses with towels at night. Oh, well. I know better.

January 18, 2023

Nothing much is going on in the garden. I continue to clean up leaves and trim down perennials. I leave Sedum flower heads for the birds. Something large, like a deer, bit off the top of my last large head of chard. Took a tour of the rose plants looking for black spot and removing dead leaves from the ground around the roses.

December 7, 2022

The snow melted. I just walked through the garden. We eat chard and kale year round here. I let it go to seed. Snow doesn’t seem to bother it. I picked a whole plant of chard. The leaves are still somewhat tender. I like to wash it, dry it and saute it with diced garlic. I also chop 6 big leaves into a blender with 2 bananas, a cup or more of berries and a cup of lowfat milk or yogurt. It’s a great way to get servings of fruit and veggies for breakfast.

December 5, 2022 Floribunda and Climbing Roses

Before the snowfall I pruned back our tea roses and promised I would come back to talk about floribundas and climbers. I usually prune these roses back so the canes don’t get broken in the wind. I also take a close look for black spot and cut any affected canes and leaves out. I also clip all the leaves off the floribundas and all the leaves in reach on the climbers. I clean the ground around the plants. Not sure I can do this today, as we still have snow on the ground.

December 3, 2022 Begonias Put to Rest

I put my begonias into their bags yesterday, rolled the tops down loosely, and set them on the shelf. They’ve been “drying” on the workbench in the garage since the first of November. Here are some pix.

Orchid begonia just before I dug it up!

Orchid begonia corm:

It’s huge. I guess it liked it’s exposure to sun this year. I will divide it in the spring when I replant.

Here’s a view of more “normal” corms. When you buy them, they’re about two inches across.

The ones on the left are a few years old.

November 30, 2022 Snow

I love the snow. It covers up everything I still haven’t done!!! And it’s too cold to do anything outside. Actually, you really damage lawns by walking on them when they’re frozen. So, you should sit by the fire, drink tea, and read. Look at seed catalogs and gardening magazines. I’ve been decorating the Christmas tree.

November 28, 2022 Trimming Tea Roses

Yesterday I spent some time on the roses. We have 30 of them. Last year we had a lot of issues with black spot. I blamed it on our long, cold, wet spring. So I inspected the tea roses for black spotted canes. I cut them out and rinsed my pruners with a paper towel soaked in alcohol after each cut. I cut the remaining canes back to 18 inches right above a growth ring and at a slant (so rainwater can slide off}. I cut off all remaining leaves, and thoroughly cleaned the ground around the bushes, removing leaves and debris. Next post will cover floribundas and climbers.

November 21, 2022 Falling Leaves

We love our maples and one giant oak tree but the leaves are overwhelming us right now. I’ve been doing fall clean-up — trimming back perennials, pulling out annuals and straightening up. I don’t usually get this done but we’ve had a stretch of two weeks without rain! In November? That’s unheard of.

November 18, 2022 Planting a Chrysanthemum

I like to buy a mum for the front porch in the fall. The beautiful one I have had for a few months has started to die. So I clipped off the top, which was now spent blooms and planted it in a sunny spot in one of the flower beds. I usually get a few more years of bloom out of these that way. Chrysanthemums need a lot of water so plant in a spot where you know that will happen during the heat of summer. Seriously cold here last night – 20 degrees.

November 17, 2022 Addressing Comments

Thanks to all who’ve been coming to this blog. I’ve gotten a couple of comments. In response to the blog about gathering seeds, one person said you could also just let the seeds scatter over the winter!! Oh yes, I hope everyone leaves seed pods to scatter in the wind. Also for the birds and other critters who eat seeds. I DO like to gather seeds so I can be SURE I have some plants exactly where I want them!! And I like to give seeds away!
Another person mentioned that there is no scientific proof that roses like banana peels. Maybe not. I believe I can see my roses perk up when I’ve given them their banana peels. But nope, no scientific proof!! No scientific proof for marigolds keeping mosquitos away either, except that I have NO bites and that’s enough to keep me planting a nice thick border of marigolds around the patio!!

Keep your comments coming. I love them and have been shocked at the number of readers this blog has generated!!!! Thanks againl!!

November 14, 2022 Saving Banana Peels

It’s time to let our roses go dormant. I don’t fertilize them now until spring. That also means I don’t give them banana peels now. I still save them, however. I keep a zip-lock for banana peels in the freezer from now until spring arrives. Then, when the roses wake up, they get a little treat. Roses adore banana peels!!!

November 11, 2022 Frosty Nights

We live at the top of a hill in our own little microcosm of weather. When it’s hot in our general area, we’re a little hotter and when it’s cold, we’re a little colder. It’s frosted here the last few nights. I got my begonias dug up a couple of weeks ago because the night temperature dropped below 40 degrees. Hope you all got your’s inside.

November 8, 2022 Fall Begonia Care

The temperatures are falling here in Zone 8. If you haven’t dug your begonias, you need to do it now! You CANNOT let frost touch your begonias. If you dig and store your corms after a frost, they will just rot.

Here’s how to dig your corms: Break off all greenery and flowers (very hard to do). Try to break the stems as close to the corm as possible. Carefully loosen the dirt around the corm. You don’t want to nick the corm or damage it in any way. It’s best to leave more dirt around the corm than you need so you don’t “bruise” the corm. If you do this every year, your corms will get very large and you’ll be able to make more corms. I’ll blog about that in the spring so you’ll know what to do.

When you can feel the edges of your corm, push your trowel under it to pry it out of the dirt. Brush as much of the dirt off the corm as you can. Set the corms on paper bags in a cooler room like a garage. Write the color of the corm on the bag.

Leave them on their bags until they feel dry. I usually leave mine for three weeks. You should be able to brush more dirt off of them. Then put them in the bags that they’ve been sitting on being careful to get the right ones in the bags with the right color written on the outside. I keep all corms of the same color in one bag. Roll the tops of the bags closed and put them in a cool, dry place until March.

October 19, 2002 Gather Seeds

I like to gather seeds for planting next spring. Nasturtiums, marigolds, and zinnias are my favorites. They’re so easy to grow and they’re so beneficial in the garden.

Nasturtiums attract aphids, keeping them off my roses. Also the leaves and flowers are edible and so beautiful in a salad.

I believe marigolds and zinnias keep the mosquitos off my patio when I plant them thick all around the edges. I have no scientific proof of this. I also noticed that the deer have stopped coming into the vegetable patch since I planted marigolds in the entrance.

Pick your seeds and spread them on a cookie sheet to dry. I leave them in pods if that’s how they come. It’s easier to tell when they’re dry if they come in a pod. I set my cookie sheets on the dining room table until the seeds seem dry. Any dry place inside will do

October 10th, 2022

It’s been too smoky here to work in the yard so I’ve been frustrated! There’s a lot to do in the fall. I DID go out yesterday to pick tomatoes. These are Heirloom Black Criminis with a few Sweet 100’s. I usually buy tomato and pepper plants in the spring. I don’t plant seed. I’ve always loved Heirloom Brandwines, but haven’t been able to find them the last couple of years. My neighbor started these Criminis from seed and gave them to me. I wasn’t sure about these tomatoes but we love the taste and they don’t have the irregular shape that the Brandywines have. So I may be changing my mind!

October 9th, 2022

This has been an odd gardening year for me, starting in early March when I had a skiing accident and injured my knee. That set me back, and then we had a rainy cold spring and I didn’t get things done.

I planted the peas only to find that a critter of some kind was pulling the sprouts out and eating the seed, leaving the sprout on the ground. We set up the trail cam to see who was doing that. Turned out to be a pair of junkos, both about the same size but a mother and baby. Mama would pull up a pea, pull the seed off, chew it a bit and feed the baby. She pretty much decimated four 25′ rows of peas. So, I planted a second batch and covered them with netting. They came up, but by then it was too hot and I didn’t get a good crop.

The broccoli set tiny little heads that I thought would grow larger, but they went to seed. The radishes got tough and hard. The lettuce went to seed very quickly. We did get a small crop of tomatoes, for which we are grateful. The Heirloom Black Criminis are new to us. They are deliciious!! and the kale went to seed. Looks like we’ll have that all winter. We like to bake it with a touch of oil and minced garlic.