The Shape of Winter

Peter HeffelfingerPhoto: Evelyn Adams by Peter Heffelfinger As predicted by climate change models for the Northwest, our recent winter season arrived later in the autumn, and was highlighted by heavier, more sustained rainfall. We had relatively mild temperatures overall and only one serious snowfall, which melted after a [Read More...]

By |2022-03-11T07:57:26-08:00April 3, 2020|Northwest Gardening|

Gardening in Autumn

Peter HeffelfingerPhoto: Evelyn Adams by Peter Heffelfinger Garlic and Shallots Just before Halloween, the early fall rains finally ceased and the clay soil in my garlic and shallot patch on the Skagit Flats dried out enough to be worked into raised beds. The dikes on the nearby Samish [Read More...]

By |2022-03-11T14:20:45-08:00December 9, 2019|Northwest Gardening|

Fall and Winter Plantings

Peter HeffelfingerPhoto: Evelyn Adams by Peter Heffelfinger By now, the late August plantings for the next three seasons should be established. The goal is an initial level of plant maturity, established before the first frost, which allows continued slow growth through our relatively mild winter. The lettuces should [Read More...]

By |2022-03-11T15:17:41-08:00October 20, 2019|Northwest Gardening|

A Garden Visitor

Peter HeffelfingerPhoto: Evelyn Adams by Peter Heffelfinger I recently invited a retired entomolgy professor, Bob Gara, from whom I had recently taken several courses at the Anacortes Senior College, to tour my garden. He had previously identified from a photo the flying beetles on a Russian thistle plant [Read More...]

By |2022-03-11T16:43:20-08:00September 9, 2019|Northwest Gardening|

Field Days

Peter HeffelfingerPhoto: Evelyn Adams by Peter Heffelfinger During the past month I attended two field days at the WSU Agricultural Research Station in Mount Vernon. The first was hosted by the Bread Lab for a tour of their extensive wheat, rye, barley and buckwheat test plots. The second [Read More...]

By |2022-03-11T18:57:11-08:00August 5, 2019|Northwest Gardening|

Garden Visitors

Peter HeffelfingerPhoto: Evelyn Adams by Peter Heffelfinger Over the years I have been fortunate to have the advice and frequent garden visits of a local retired nurseryman, who stays active doing multiple vegetable gardens to supply fresh produce to local churches and nonprofits. We compare notes: his tomatoes [Read More...]

By |2022-03-12T07:21:10-08:00July 8, 2019|Northwest Gardening|

Fire Season, Again

Peter HeffelfingerPhoto: Evelyn Adams by Peter Heffelfinger Earlier this year, I attended a lecture by a fire ecology professor from WWU. on the upcoming fire season in the Pacific Northwest. The talk was presented by the Friends of the Forest, the local environmental group that originally helped save [Read More...]

By |2022-03-12T13:03:48-08:00May 6, 2019|Northwest Gardening|

Surviving a Winter Storm

Peter HeffelfingerPhoto: Evelyn Adams by Peter Heffelfinger During the two weeks of snow cover in February, it was a welcome sight to find winter-hardy flowers and frost-resistant vegetables surviving our mild martime version of a “polar vortex.” The saving grace for the plants was the absence of wind, [Read More...]

By |2022-03-12T15:28:55-08:00April 8, 2019|Northwest Gardening|

The Other Half of Gardening

Peter HeffelfingerPhoto: Evelyn Adams by Peter Heffelfinger Appropriate to the fall season, the squirrels are rushing about the tops of the Douglas firs, sending a bumper fall crop of cones to the ground, where the bushy-tailed rodents will harvest and hide the seeds before the rains return. When [Read More...]

By |2022-03-14T13:20:09-07:00October 21, 2018|Northwest Gardening|

The Autumn Turn of the Year

Peter HeffelfingerPhoto: Evelyn Adams by Peter Heffelfinger With the coming of fall, the garden enters its third major seasonal shift. After the plantings of early and late spring, and the harvest of summer, autumn is the time of final plantings before the onset of winter. In late August [Read More...]

By |2022-03-14T15:08:55-07:00September 8, 2018|Northwest Gardening|
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