Dear Flora, I hear that gardening can be therapeutic. Is this true? Running for the Garden Dear Running, To get some “help” with these questions, I enlisted the assistance of Janit Calvo of Two Green Thumbs. She also writes a garden column for the West Seattle Herald. Thanks, Janit! She said: “I have one customer [...]

So there are multitudes of ways that we creatively add more space in our urban gardens. And some of these you don’t hear a lot about-like the Japanese Tomato Ring. The accounts that I have read bring up a good point-the tomato that springs up in the compost pile is often better than the ones [...]

I do appeal to country bumpkins, don’t I? I tend to write to those with ample space, with the exception of container gardening issues. But with the new high-rise condos going up in many cities, urban gardening has become a topic in itself. I beg of you now-if you live in an urban area with [...]

Ideally, it is great to plant your veggies in larger pots so that transplanting is not necessary within their short season. In addition, many of them do not transplant well. But it worse comes to worse, and you would rather not thin and toss-you might want to throw a few in another pot instead and [...]

Another fun challenge with container, rooftop or patio gardens is storage. As packing supplies and potting soil up the stairs can be not only be a daunting process, but bad for your back, it is time to think outside the roof. Some patios or roofs, even with apartments, have a closet outside. If so, take advantage [...]

WATERING Because some of our containers are on a rooftop, we had to rig up a different watering system for obvious reasons. It wasn’t practical to lug buckets up and down the stairs or sling a hose over the roof wall. Drainage was also a potential big problem with a flat roof prone to leaking [...]

 I am excited to show you the beginnings of my mom’s rooftop container garden this year, because I want you to see how easy it can be to grow in small places, and even how some package directions should be ignored. I’m not kidding. I know, I know. Normally I am more of a stickler [...]

 I was walking around town last evening and discovered a concept in design that I have yet to see anywhere else-using tiny shrubs as borders around flower gardens. They are done in such a way as to not impede the visual delight of seeing the plants beyond and I loved how it drew the eye to the [...]

Well, my garden has had little sun so far, and I know that you can sympathize with me. And I am disappointed in the lack of progress for the organic peas. They are just now poking their heads out, although the non-organic ones did long ago. Is there something in the non-organic seeds that makes [...]

Did you see the chickens? They were on display, not so discreetly tucked into a couple of show gardens. Popular speaker, co-author of “Intimate Gardens” and garden designer, Lucy Hardiman, reports that Portland was the first city to implement a chicken coop tour. Of all the interesting things to make part of a garden-the chickens [...]