Author: Kym Pokorny

While you’re battling the winter blues, make your own seed-starting mix and plan for the gardening days ahead. Home gardeners can start vegetable and flower seedlings indoors from four to 12 weeks before the last average spring frost in their area, which means it’s time to get started. Making homemade planting medium can be more […]

As you look back at last year’s garden and begin to plan next year’s,  consider the benefits of native plants. “There’s a new aesthetic,” said Weston Miller, horticulturist with Oregon State University’s Extension Service. “Gardeners want to connect to nature and the heritage of plants that grow in the Pacific Northwest.” Part of the draw […]

Gardeners hear it often enough: right plant, right place. It’s a fundamental rule of gardening, said Heather Stoven, a horticulturist with Oregon State University Extension Service, and one that applies to houseplants just as much as outdoor ones. “Make sure you buy for location,” she said. “That will help solve many problems that can come […]

Snipping some cuttings from the garden this time of year will produce your own private nursery of plants by spring. Whether you plant the results of your “snip and stick” project or give them away, propagating by cuttings can be a rewarding process. Although some sources of information can be intimidating, Neil Bell, a horticulturist […]

As we begin the slide into winter and summer’s bounty recedes, birds welcome the extra nutrition offered by backyard feeders. When putting out a banquet of supplemental food, high quality is essential, said Dana Sanchez, a wildlife specialist for Oregon State University Extension Service. Mixes with red millet, golden millet, flax seed, rape seed and […]

Mild days and cool nights this fall promised a spectacular show of color, and the promise came true. “This fall has been the best year for color in recent memory,” said Neil Bell, a horticulturist with Oregon State University Extension Service. “The weather has been perfect for the brilliant show we’re enjoying.” It takes a […]

Hazelnut, walnut or chestnut trees in your home orchard can keep you supplied with nuts for months if you know the best ways to harvest, handle and store them. Harvesting hazelnuts means gathering them as they fall from the trees – before autumn rains, if possible, said Ross Penhallegon, a horticulturist with Oregon State University’s […]

Ten years ago, the Clackamas chapter of the Oregon State University Extension Service Master Gardeners came up with the idea to offer gardeners research-based information in small, digestible pieces. The result was 10-Minute University, which was unveiled at the annual Spring Garden Fair where gardeners are hungry for guidance. “We thought maybe we should do […]

When it comes to plants, bulbs are about as easy as it gets. “You plant spring-flowering bulbs in fall, they grow over winter, flourish in spring and go dormant in summer,” said Heather Stoven, a horticulturist with Oregon State University’s Extension Service. “Once they’re in the ground, they do quite well over multiple years with […]