Seasonal Tips

Support Your Local Pollinators!

Summer is approaching in its usual mercurial Pacific Northwest style – breaking high temperature records one week and enveloping us in June gloom the next. Our local pollinators pay little heed, staying focused and intent on their tasks in our blooming gardens. Many of us barely notice the purposeful travels of our insect companions, brushing away a […]

Juniper and berries

Greenery for Wreaths: Honoring our Flora

Katie Vincent, Garden Hotline Educator

As a symbol of strength and prominence, the wreath has adorned crowns and dwellings of humankind for thousands of years. And in the dead of winter when little else grows, what better way to pay tribute to our region’s resident evergreen trees than to make our own wreaths from fallen branches? After all, these benevolent […]

Mulch 101

Laura Matter, Garden Hotline Educator

What is Mulch? Mulch is a form of organic matter spread on the surface of the soil around plants to keep weeds down, conserve moisture and moderate soil temperatures all year long. Fall is a great time to apply mulch—getting ahead of cool season weeds and freezing winter temperatures. When applying mulch to beds with […]

Tomato Late Blight Season is Upon Us!

Melissa McGinn, Garden Hotline Educator

It’s mid-summer and you have your tomatoes planted in healthy, well-drained, nutrient-rich soil. You water your tomatoes with a soaker hose in the early morning before work. Your staking system is a work of architectural perfection. But with one swift wind on a cool, humid day, spores from an infected plant up to 30 miles […]

Container Gardening Workshop!

Even the smallest space and pot can grow something!

Join Us! Learn how to make the best of small spaces and grow fresh organic veggies in containers. We will be planting up small pots of greens for you to take home with you. Along the way we will discuss safe soils and pots, good plant choices for containers, healthy plant care and pest management, and […]

Flea Beetle Season!

An open letter to the Seattle P-Patch Community Gardens

Dear P-Patch Gardeners, I’ve been answering questions about flea beetles recently, which seem to be pretty numerous this year, so I thought I would share the info I have gathered with all. This is lengthy but hopefully helpful. Flea Beetles are very small, very active beetles that feed on numerous garden crops. They usually cause […]

The Best BOMBs: Blue Orchard Mason Bees!

By Katie Vincent, Garden Hotline Educator

Honeybees may be cute, popular and extra fuzzy, but the real proboscis behind most of our region’s fruit crops is a completely different arthropod: the blue orchard mason bee (Osmia lignaria). Why Choose Mason Bees? Native to North America, mason bees get their common name from their habit of patching up naturally occurring holes with […]

tree ambassadors

Winter Tree Pruning

Sue Hartman, Garden Hotline Educator

Winter is a perfect time to prune many trees in the Pacific NW. In the Seattle area, dormancy begins in late November or December when plant growth becomes temporarily inactive. This enables a tree to survive freezing temperatures. Dormancy usually lasts until mid-February, depending on Mother Nature. During this time, the bare branches of a […]

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Deciduous Tree I.D. in the Winter

Falaah Jones, Garden Hotline Educator Have you ever wondered what that beautiful deciduous tree is in your neighborhood? Even without leaves, flowers and fruit to help you, winter’s a great time to identify trees. The tree’s bark, buds and twigs and the sad remaining leaves provide great clues. Kick around the litter at the bottom […]

Celebrate the return of our cool season flowers!

Sue Hartman, Garden Hotline Educator ‘Tis the season for pansies, violas, calendula, and sweet alyssum. The weather is changing, the rains are returning and the nights are cooling off. This means those delightful spring bloomers that thrive in this kind of weather are also returning to our gardens. They will all easily self-sow and Calendula […]