how to grow garlic, a q&a with filaree farm

MY FIRST EXPLORATION INTO growing garlic was also my first encounter with Filaree Farm. I hate to confess how long it has been since I first read “Growing Great Garlic,” the popular book by Filaree’s founding farmer, Ron Engeland (hint: publication date, 1991). Today, it’s Alley Swiss who farms the venerable Filaree acreage in Okanogan,…

Read More

what weed is it? putting names to pesky plants

I KNOW A LOT OF PLANTS BY THEIR PROPER NAMES, but when it comes to “weeds,” as we term unwanted garden visitors that seem to just come with the territory, my knowledge really paled until recent years. Lately, on days not conducive to outdoor work, I’ve been studying up from some great weed-identification websites, so…

Read More

How To Design A Front Yard Foundation Planting

Figuring out what to plant in front of the house can be very intimidating for new gardeners. I want to make it easy. So, in this post, I’ll simplify the fundamentals of foundation planting. Plus I’ll give you tons of tips for choosing the best plants for the front of your house. Then I’ll walk…

Read More