Plants provide wonderful food for cooking but one of the not-so-secret secrets of gardening is that every now and then, you need to cook for plants rather than with them. Give them a tasty meal of their favorite food and they will thank you with robust shoots, fruits and roots. But do not run out […]
diy tips
Posted inAt Home
Harvest Your Own Home Decor
Warm up your home with this season’s trendiest looks. Put your personal touch on your home’s decor with crafting projects that highlight the best of fall: copper detail, animal icons and pumpkins of every color, including white. Create a seasonal tablescape or mantel decoration with these Harvest Fall Lanterns (created by the crafting experts at […]
Posted inAt Home
Recipe for Simple Living: Grandma’s Chocolate Mayo Cake
Anyone else have a sweet tooth? I love to bake. Desserts are what make my kitchen go round. I used to purchase boxed cake mixes by the half dozen when they came on sale. Until (you guessed it) I started reading the ingredients. I went back through our family recipes and came across my great-grandmother’s […]
Posted inGarden
Maintaining Ponds and Water Features
Jan Bahr, who is a pond-plants expert at Roadhouse Nursery, says that outdoor pond maintenance is somewhat similar to keeping an aquarium. In maintaining an aquarium that houses fish and plants, the key element is the pump and filtering system. Fish and plants are also key elements in outdoor ponds. It’s a complete ecosystem, and […]
Posted inGarden
Pruning Sustainably
Sustainability is not a word generally used to describe pruning practices. Wikipedia has a more accepted use of the word: “Sustainable development is the organizing principle for sustaining finite resources necessary to provide for the needs of future generations of life on the planet. It is a process that envisions a desirable future state for […]
Posted inAt Home
Builder/Remodeler or Architect… Which Comes First?
If you are planning to build a new home or do a major remodel, there is a natural question that should come up. Whom do I call first? A builder/remodeler or an architect (or designer)? In 28 years of building and remodeling, I have seen many, many sad faces of clients who had a plan […]
Posted inAt Home
Abundance of ‘Healthy’ Labels Gives Food for Thought
It is a strange age when it seems like one requires a trip to the library, a day of research and an existential crisis just to understand the labels on a carton of eggs at the supermarket. There has been a push in recent times to increase the amount of labeling on our food products […]
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Selecting a Landscape Designer or Landscape Architect
“Gardeners, I think, dream bigger than emperors,” said author and journalist Mary Cantwell. But sometimes gardeners need help in realizing their garden dreams. When you do need help, two challenging questions arise: What type of creative professional do you need — a landscape architect or a landscape designer? And how do you find the right […]
Posted inAt Home
Pears
Of all the delicious fruits grown in the Northwest, pears may be the most versatile, succulent and satisfying of all. Pears transcend summer into fall, ripening late summer to early autumn, depending on variety and weather conditions. This beautiful fruit lends itself to freezing and long-term storage, and is available nearly year-round. But it is […]