I never thought I’d be writing a post about protecting the garden from extreme heat. Our average June temperature here on Puget Sound hovers around 66°F, with a handful of rainy days mixed in. Heat has never really been something I worried about. Then came the heatwave. Three days over 100°F in the Pacific Northwest,…
If you’ve spent any time in a flea market or estate sale, you already know the feeling. You spot something rusty, chippy, or just plain worn out, and somehow it’s exactly what your garden has been missing. These vintage garden decor ideas come straight from my own cottage garden on Puget Sound, built over years…
It took me years to discover that some of the best things I could do for my garden had nothing to do with fertilizer or fancy tools. Pairing the right flowers and herbs together, what gardeners call companion planting, turned out to be one of the simplest and most rewarding changes I ever made. In…
Summer is the season when our beach cottage truly shines. With the garden blooming, Puget Sound just steps away, and the windows wide open to the sea breeze, this is when our home feels most alive. I have a feeling I know exactly what inspired this in me. Have you ever seen Top Gun, where…
Some of my favorite things in this garden aren’t plants. They’re the rusty, beat-up, full-of-character vintage pieces I’ve brought home from thrift stores and flea markets over the years. A galvanized tub here, an old wheelbarrow there. Each one has a story, and together they give the garden a feeling that no catalog planter can…
There is a simple technique that can completely change what your cut flower garden produces. More stems. More blooms. Fuller, bushier plants that hold up through the season. It’s called pinching, and once I discovered it, I could not believe I had been gardening without it. As a new flower gardener, I had no idea…