The life of an urban tree is not the greatest. Two of my clients have had tree vs. sidewalk situations lately, so it's likely many others will have to address this too. Count yourself lucky if the tree in your parking strip has grown into the space allotted for it without heaving the sidewalk, getting into overhead power lines, or becoming a hazard. I hasten to add, these problems are not the trees’ fault, but the result of being planted in…
Craving a closer relationship with this elusive object, I recently picked up Richard Cohen's Chasing the Sun: The Epic Story of the Star That Gives Us Life. It explains how life on earth depends on the ability of green plants to harness the energy of the sun, thus making almost all other living things plant parasites (the only exception being deep-sea life near thermal vents but this still requires oxygen created by plants on the surface and you don't want to…
Moss update: after the post on Wallyhood about moss, there were two more mossy articles – one in the Seattle Times, and one in the NY Times. However, we can proudly say that Wallingford residents had their fingers on the pulse (also Ciscoe, who mentioned moss in his column on the same day) because our moss articles came out first! Marina writes: Could you write a beginner's guide to growing herbs (ideally on a porch) here? Are some herbs better than…
I have a small backyard that gets a couple hours of good sun a day. In the rainy season our dog completely destroyed what little grass existed when we moved in last summer. We are interested in planting grass and don't know where to start. The yard is mostly mud now. Please let me know any tips and when we should start. ---Heather Heather, Your observations illustrate several things going on that contributed to the loss of your lawn: grass needs…
We are lucky to have so many late winter and early spring bloomers in the Northwest. I've had a request to identify some of the flowers popping out, so here we go: There are lots of great big mature Camellia shrubs blooming. They've been used in landscapes for a long time and Wallingford's older homes have a number of really large ones Vinca minor (periwinkle) is widely sold and used as a groundcover, but it is becoming invasive and is on…
Imagine acquiring the power to produce your own food. Boom! Veggies over here. Bam! Herbs over there. Wham! Strawberries! Zap! Fresh-laid eggs, coming right up! Most city-livers are so distant from the sources of what they eat that this seems like magic. But in her new book Your Farm in the City, Lisa Taylor of Seattle Tilth explains that starting an urban farm is no mystery, but rather something deeply satisfying that we can all do. Meet Lisa, learn about the…
(Ed. Note: Wallyhood welcomes Jeanie Taylor as our new contributing writer, focusing on gardening. Jeanie owns Taylor Gardens, a gardening coaching service and Wallyhood sponsor, holds a B.S. in Botany, an M.S. in Conservation Biology , and teaches workshops for home gardeners on propagation and sustainable gardening. If you have questions on gardening, please e-mail her at [email protected] and she'll try to answer them here. Welcome, Jeanie!) Welcome to the inaugural Wallyhood Garden Questions column. I am pleased to be taking questions that will…