Zones

This will explain it better than I can!

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Buckle up! It makes it harder for the aliens to suck you out of your car!

Your not 7 or 8 in Seattle more like 5. Where do you live in Seattle. My Dad is in Lake City.

Anyway there are lots and lots of plants you can use in the shade. But before you start buying anything you need to do a soil test. That will tell you what your soil is like. If you have any evergreens in your yard or that overhang your yard you may have an acid soil that needs to be addressed either by using acid loving plants in your garden or by adjusting your soil with lime.

Sounds confusing doesn't it? But your starting at the right time to have a garden next year.

The soil test is where to start along with knowing your zone and how much sun the area gets. Then you need figure out how your going to make your beds. Pull the weeds and sod out or use a layering technique to kill off all the grass and weeds that are where you want to plant next year. Either way you want to do that now so you can ammend the soil so it's ready to plant in next year.

I'll leave it there because I don't want to overwhelm you with information.

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You can get the kit at lowe's or home depot and just follow the directions. They are pretty easy. But yes there are the little meter type things too. I have no idea how those work. Or you can contact the university cooperative extention and talk to them about how to get a test done by them. They really give you an indepth summary of what your soil needs. And they have master gardeners there to answer questions as well.

I've remembered lows in the single digits in Seattle and snows that lasted weeks. I'm not sure that plants that require zone 7 or 8 would do well in that situation. But who knows it never hurts to try.

It's been getting so hot here in Virginia that I've been thinking about trying some zone 8 plants out in the garden. We are having close to triple digits here this week so I'm really hot and the plants outside are having problems too. The miniature roses are going dormant because of the heat. And although the peppers and tomatoes love it the glads didn't last as long this year as they have in previous years. And the snapdragons are drying up into just sticks. I'm not at all sure they will be back in the fall. It makes me want to move to a cooler climate.

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It's my favorite too. How are you doing with the soil testing?

I'm sure that columbines will probably do well for you. And they come in many different colors and combinations of colors.

They require a cold spell before they will sprout but I think they are worth it. They flower spring and fall so you would have to have something to fill in during the summer but there are alots of things in that catagory. I just mention the columbine because I have clay and they still manage to do really well.

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Most people will send you seeds for s sasbe. But I always come home with seed packets when I go to the garden center. I can't seem to help myself. Different plants need different pH. So when you've made your selection google the plant and find out what it likes to grow well. I've lost a number of plants because I didn't check that out before planting. Especially money plants and chinese lanterns. They are hard to grow in my soil. But now I have a spot especially amended just for them.

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Deborah,

No I haven't. Never heard of her actually but I would be interested in learning more.

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My journal

Yesterday is history, tomorrow's a mystery. Today is a gift, that's why it's called the present.

I'll have to check those out next time I'm at Barnes and Noble. Thanks for the tip. I'm always looking forward to reading new books. That's my other hobby.

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Cheryl's Photobucket
My journal

Yesterday is history, tomorrow's a mystery. Today is a gift, that's why it's called the present.