Peter HeffelfingerPhoto: Evelyn Adams by Peter Heffelfinger The sun has finally kicked in, with midday temperatures in the 90s in the outside air, not to mention escalating readings inside a tall grow tunnel, where I struggle to keep crops cool by opening all the side vents and end [Read More...]
Peter HeffelfingerPhoto: Evelyn Adams by Peter Heffelfinger It’s July. You think your garden is all set for the summer: the tomatoes are blossoming and setting fruit, first potatoes are about to be dug, broccoli is heading up, and the pea vines are reaching the top of the trellis [Read More...]
Peter HeffelfingerPhoto: Evelyn Adams by Peter Heffelfinger One of the first chores of spring is to let a few winter-hardened brassicas, such as kales or collards, go to seed. The early flowers attract native bees and the cultivated honey bees, as well as the now commonly over-wintering Anna’s [Read More...]
Peter HeffelfingerPhoto: Evelyn Adams by Peter Heffelfinger The fertile flats of the valleys west of the Cascades were formed over geological time by river flows and frequent floods. The clay soils and cool climate of the Skagit Valley, situated at the same latitude as Northern Europe, are eminently [Read More...]
Peter HeffelfingerPhoto: Evelyn Adams by Peter Heffelfinger With the arrival of fall it is time to harvest the last of the summer vegetables in the garden, set up protection for the fall greens recently planted, and put in over-wintering cover crops. And finally, sow garlic by the end [Read More...]
Peter HeffelfingerPhoto: Evelyn Adams by Peter Heffelfinger September is the turn of the year from expansive heat and sun to the oncoming cool rains and cloudy days. I often think of the oncoming fall season as the slow start of a gradual siege that begins in the cool [Read More...]
Peter HeffelfingerPhoto: Evelyn Adams by Peter Heffelfinger August in the Pacific Northwest offers the best weather of the year, reasonably cool yet sunny and dry. Rain is a distant memory, for now. Other regions have sticky humidity and drenching thunderstorms, face the threat of tornadoes and flash floods, [Read More...]
Peter HeffelfingerPhoto: Evelyn Adams by Peter Heffelfinger After a long winter of record rain, our Northwest gardens in July will be long overdue for heat and light to ripen our tomatoes and corn. An easily grown garden standby such as zucchini, however, will leap into high volume production [Read More...]
Peter HeffelfingerPhoto: Evelyn Adams by Peter Heffelfinger Compared to the rest of the continental United States, the Pacific Northwest is unique in offering a relatively cool, year-round gardening season, akin to the maritime clime of England and coastal Northern Europe. The tempering effect of the Salish Sea, as [Read More...]
Peter HeffelfingerPhoto: Evelyn Adams by Peter Heffelfinger Growing tomatoes in the Maritime Northwest can be a challenge, even with the warmer summer temperatures of the past few years. Tropical plants native to South America, tomatoes struggle with our more temperate, though sunny and dry, summers. For the coastal [Read More...]