Tag: jan nelson

I know many people who wait until the beginning of May to start their vegetable gardens for the summer. Conditions make not be right for them to grow cool season vegetables like beets, cabbage, cauliflower, kale, lettuce, unions, radish and spinach. Those plants don’t mind cold soil and chilly weather. But it you’ve been waiting for the perfect time to plant those scrumptious tomatoes you crave- wait no more. And if you plan your garden right you can still grow some of the cool season crops in the shade of your other sun lovers.

I’m envious of those of you who garden in lots of sun. Well maybe not so much on a hot July day but mostly I wish I could grow more edibles in the opening of my tall redwood forest. My neighbor gives me volunteer Sun Gold cherry tomatoes each spring and some years all the stars align and I enjoy these sweet morsels, picking them mostly as I putter in the garden. They rarely get inside on a salad but boy, are they delicious.

A couple weeks ago in a column about allergy free landscaping, I mentioned dogwood being a good tree choice as their pollen is not wind borne. Their showy flowers are pollinated by insects rather than by the wind. Producing less pollen, their pollen is large and heavy, sticking to insects rather than becoming airborne and leading to sneezing, runny noses and watery eyes. With dogwoods about to burst into bloom I thought I’d share some information about growing this iconic tree.

You can tell right away when you walk out the door how hot or cold it is, how windy, shady, moist or dry. You know if your soil is pure sand or hard clay because you’ve dug a few holes in your time. You don’t need a book to tell you these things. So why are the gardening zones described in Sunset Western Gardening book important when you add a new plant to your garden? And why are they so confusing in our area? The USDA Plant Hardiness zone map may tell you where a plant may survive the winter but climate zone maps let you see where that plant will thrive year round.

Each day my windshield is coated with yellow pollen grains from Douglas fir trees. Roadsides are crowded with blooming acacia trees. If you’re an allergy sufferer some plants are worse than others for you. What’s a gardener to do to mitigate scratchy eyes and congestion nearly year round where we live?