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gardeningmattersti
May 11, 20233 min read
In A Bind
There are some things that can take the pleasure out of gardening, hard as that may seem to realize. Slugs, for one. Early one morning...
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gardeningmattersti
May 8, 20233 min read
Warming Up?
I am going to have to start taking my own advice. For years I have written a column each spring about the necessity of gently warming up...
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gardeningmattersti
May 1, 20232 min read
Veggies Front and Center
In many of the gardening magazines I have read lately there seems to be a trend to plant vegetables with perennial flowers. I had first...
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gardeningmattersti
Apr 24, 20234 min read
Plant Shopping Time!
It’s that time of year again when we start to think about buying plants for our gardens. Some of us will need just a few things to fill...
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gardeningmattersti
Apr 17, 20233 min read
Citizen Science
At a talk at the Garibaldi Library in late March, I was asked about a certain chapter in my new book "Four Seasons in the Pacific...
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gardeningmattersti
Apr 10, 20233 min read
Will Spring ever come?
The old wives’ adage “March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb” was certainly not the case this year. March came in like a...
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gardeningmattersti
Mar 30, 20233 min read
No Foolin'
No Foolin’ For several years I have been tempted to do an April Fools’ Day column. I remember so well the one that The Oregonian’s Dulcy...
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gardeningmattersti
Mar 27, 20233 min read
Dog Proofing a Garden
We have had a very special dog in our lives for the past 4 years. Emmy has been quite a handful as a puppy, but she has started to calm...
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gardeningmattersti
Mar 20, 20233 min read
Starting Over
At last! The first official day of spring! Sometimes it feels like spring in late January and early February and then Mother Nature says,...
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gardeningmattersti
Mar 13, 20233 min read
Winter Blues
Wind. Rain. Hail. Snow. More rain. More hail. More snow. Well, you get the picture: it has been a very unusual winter on the Oregon...
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gardeningmattersti
Mar 6, 20234 min read
After the storm...
When we compare our winter to that of friends and relatives in the eastern United States, we certainly can’t complain. They have really...
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gardeningmattersti
Feb 27, 20231 min read
Obviously....
The blog post that went out this afternoon was written before the snow we had last week! In fact, I wrote it before I saw the forecast...
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gardeningmattersti
Feb 27, 20233 min read
Random thoughts...
I am not complaining about the rain this winter, mostly because we get a nice day or two sandwiched in between rainy days. Whole weeks of...
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gardeningmattersti
Feb 24, 20231 min read
This is why...
... we don't cut back our ferns until mid-March! In the more than twenty years we have lived on the North Oregon Coast, we have never...
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gardeningmattersti
Feb 20, 20234 min read
Planning, not Planting
We have all been waiting patiently for spring so we can get out into our gardens and remove some of the debris from the winter. The next...
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gardeningmattersti
Feb 13, 20233 min read
Valentine's Day in the Garden
I know we are all getting impatient for the gardening season to begin. The days are getting longer and we have had a few days here and...
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gardeningmattersti
Feb 6, 20233 min read
Early February To-Do List
I know we are all getting impatient for the gardening season to begin. The days are getting longer and we have had a few days here and...
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gardeningmattersti
Jan 30, 20234 min read
Remembering a garden show seminar
For many years when Portland Nursery Association held its annual Yard, Garden and Patio Show, I was a regular attendee. I enjoyed...
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gardeningmattersti
Jan 23, 20234 min read
Happy Hellebores
This time of year, my gardens look bleak no matter how often I find a nice afternoon to do a few chores. Picking up downed alder branches...
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gardeningmattersti
Jan 16, 20234 min read
Good Bones
Almost every good garden planning book will talk about the importance of having good “bones” in the garden, which basically refers to...
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