Apr 27, 2017 | Eco-friendly Gardening, Nature
April is Earth Month. Each week we are featuring a blog post about steps you can take in your own landscape to help protect our planet. This week’s feature is about helping keep the air clean and the planet cool. Help keep the air clean: Switch to a...
Apr 18, 2017 | Eco-friendly Gardening, Nature
Earth Day is Saturday, April 22. Many local organizations are sponsoring events in honor of the day. Take a few hours to engage, learn and work to keep our planet healthy for the long term. Here are a few events to consider. Join people around the world for the March...
Apr 11, 2017 | Eco-friendly Gardening, Pest Control, Wildlife
April is Earth Month. Each week this month we will feature a blog post about steps you can take to help protect our planet. This week’s feature is good bugs and birds. Welcome bees and other beneficial insects, birds and other wildlife to your yard. Attracting good...
Apr 4, 2017 | Eco-friendly Gardening, Garden Care, Lawn Care, Recommended Plants, Watering
April is Earth Month. Each week this month we will feature a blog post about steps you can take to help protect our planet. This week’s feature is water quality. The steps you take in your yard and garden can have a big impact on how clean our lakes and streams...
Mar 23, 2017 | Eco-friendly Gardening, Garden Care, Pest Control
Most of us recognize an adult lady beetle (lady bug). But many don’t know the larvae. They’re weird-looking critters: we may think they’re dangerous. But they are valuable predators of garden pests. Lady beetle larvae are alligator-shaped with black...
Feb 14, 2017 | Disease Control, Eco-friendly Gardening, Garden Care, Video
Mulch has many benefits for the garden. It reduces weed growth, protects the soil from extremes of cold and hot weather, reduces watering needs and drought stress, feeds the soil for healthier plants, helps prevent the spread of diseases and prevents erosion. In...
Feb 9, 2017 | Eco-friendly Gardening, Garden Care, Nature, Video
You’ve probably heard about mason bees, the small, peaceful bees that are great pollinators. These non-aggressive bees are safe to have around kids and pets. They don’t live in a hive but are solitary bees. You can buy or rent mason bee houses to pollinate...
Jan 31, 2017 | Community, Eco-friendly Gardening, Tree Care, Video
Cass Turnbull, author, tree defender and founder of PlantAmnesty, died on January 26 while vacationing in Hawaii. She suffered a fatal heart attack after a swim. Cass was 65. We share the shock and sadness of the rest of the Northwest gardening community at the loss...
Jan 12, 2017 | Eco-friendly Gardening
Is your Christmas tree lying in your yard, looking sad and dropping needles? Help the environment by recycling your tree. Composting facilities will turn your tree into compost or wood chips. There are a number of options, depending on where you live. Seattle: Holiday...
Dec 23, 2016 | Eco-friendly Gardening, Garden Care, Landscape Design, Lawn Care, Nature
Keeping resolutions starts with good intentions. But it doesn’t hurt to have a little nudge in the right direction to make them stick. According to a Pew Research Study published in October 2016, “Three-quarters of Americans say that they are particularly concerned...
Dec 1, 2016 | Disease Control, Eco-friendly Gardening, Garden Care, Video
The rainy season is the perfect time to apply effective microbes (EM) to soils. Beneficial bacteria and beneficial fungi increase biological activity in the soil. This improves soil health, leading to better plant health. Find out more about what EM is and why we use...
Nov 8, 2016 | Disease Control, Eco-friendly Gardening, Garden Care, Landscape Design
Autumn is an excellent time to take a look back at how your landscape and garden performed this year. Take a stroll around your yard and take measure of what worked and didn’t work and what changes you might like to make. Landscape changes As plants grow and mature,...
Oct 25, 2016 | Disease Control, Eco-friendly Gardening, Garden Care, Pest Control, Tree Care
Cleaning up your garden now will make your plants healthier next year. If you can prevent pests, diseases and weed seeds from overwintering, you’ll have a head start next year. And you’ll have less work to do if you can prevent problems before they start. Weeds,...
Oct 20, 2016 | Disease Control, Eco-friendly Gardening, Garden Care, Lawn Care, Tree Care
Fallen leaves are both a detriment to your lawn and a benefit to your garden beds. This is an important topic, so we are updating a blog post from last fall. Many trees provide a wondrous show in the fall, with leaves in hues of red, orange, brown and gold. But once...
Oct 18, 2016 | Disease Control, Eco-friendly Gardening, Lawn Care
After all the rain we’ve had lately, you may see that mushrooms have sprouted in your lawn or garden beds. Should you be concerned? In most cases, the mushrooms are completely harmless, and they provide concrete benefits to your yard and plants. If you have...
