Pat Munts

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Gardening: Keep holiday blooms looking fresh

Wed., Nov. 16, 2016

The holiday season is only a few days away. Here are a few tips for keeping your amaryllis, Christmas cacti and poinsettias looking their best for the holidays.

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Gardening: Know when to prune to keep trees and shrubs healthy

Wed., Nov. 9, 2016

With the end of the fall season comes the question of when is the best time to prune trees and shrubs. It’s not always a simple answer. There are as many ways to prune as there are trees and shrubs.

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Gardening: Record-breaking rain helps, but drought impacts still there

Wed., Nov. 2, 2016

Wow, this has been a fall for the books. Just enough frost to turn the leaves, no winds to blow them off as of last Sunday, and lots of much-needed rain. While we wait for the leaves to fall, I thought I’d share a few observations of the season. Smart deer

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Gardening: Prepare your garden for winter storms

Wed., Oct. 19, 2016

It looks like we dodged the windstorm last weekend. It changed course slightly and stayed further off the coast than predicted, thereby lessening the wind damage. While this one missed us, the next one might not. Here are a few tips for preparing your plants for winter storms.

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Gardening: Crop rotation keeps garden healthier

Wed., Sept. 28, 2016

Most gardeners are familiar with the fact that you don’t plant the same vegetable in the same spot year after year. This is called crop rotation and it is done for several reasons.

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Gardening: Harsh summers may be damaging lilacs

Wed., Sept. 7, 2016

In our climate, lilacs are one of the tougher shrubs in the garden. They are drought tolerant (to a point) and need little fertilizer and little pruning beyond removing old flower heads right after they bloom. In fact, they are so resilient that they still mark the sites of old homesteads all over the region decades after the farmhouses have fallen down.

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Gardening: How to tell when it’s time to pick

Wed., Aug. 24, 2016

One of the biggest questions I get is how to tell when a cantaloupe or a watermelon is ripe. It’s not easy to tell.

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Pat Munts: High heat leaves little hope for tomatoes this year; start planning uses for green crop

Wed., Aug. 17, 2016

Don’t get me wrong folks. Normally I am a person who looks for the positive in everything. Being negative takes too much energy and really isn’t much fun in the long run. So what I need to say this week is said from a realist’s point of view. We better begin finding ways to use up green tomatoes.

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Gardening: Still waiting for ripe tomatoes? It’s the weather, not you

Wed., Aug. 3, 2016

It’s time to give roses their last dose of fertilizer and harvest garlic and onions.

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Gardening: Tricks to help garden vegetables pollinate

Wed., July 27, 2016

With the cool start of summer, we’ve lost a lot of growing time and the next four weeks will be critical to getting a crop. Our summer weather begins to cool after the middle of August, especially at night. So it’s time to practice a little intervention to help the plants set fruit.

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Gardening: Many trees showing signs of drought stress

Wed., July 20, 2016

Deep watering will help trees through hot and dry summers.

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Gardening: Floating row covers can protect warm weather crops

Wed., June 29, 2016

Tomatoes and peppers struggling thanks to cooler temperatures.

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Gardening: Good start can help garden through hot, dry summer

Wed., May 18, 2016

If the crowds at the recent plant sales and Garden Expo are any indication, everyone is eager to get out in the garden. Here are some ideas to get you started and a few things to watch out for.

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Pat Munts: Upcoming plant sales offer choices, gardening tips, gift ideas

Wed., May 4, 2016

Over the next two weekends gardeners from across the region can check out the latest new introductions, check out some great garden art and learn the ins and outs of growing flowers, vegetables, fruit and more.

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Gardening: Pollinators need more than blooms to thrive

Wed., April 27, 2016

Besides flowers for nectar and pollen, pollinator and beneficial insects need water, shelter from predators and nesting sites.

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Gardening: Choose blooms that attract bees

Wed., April 20, 2016

You should choose flowers that bloom progressively through the season to provide a steady source of nectar and pollen.

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Gardeners can grow lots of produce in planter pots

Wed., March 30, 2016

With our early spring, are those pots on your deck already calling out to be planted? Here are some ideas for filling them with cool-season vegetables and when the weather warms, some surprising new varieties of planter friendly old garden favorites.

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Gardening: Early spring means shrubs must be moved soon

Wed., March 23, 2016

This is one of the earliest springs I can remember in the Inland Northwest and I’ve been here almost 40 years. Forsythias are blooming a month early and there are swelling buds on a lot of other plants.

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Gardening: Make birds welcome in your yard

Wed., March 16, 2016

Encouraging birds to take up summer residence in your yard not only provides entertainment, it provides you with an ever vigilant flock of bug catchers.

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Gardening: Hybrids may be best bet for short growing season

Wed., Feb. 10, 2016

It’s still too early to start seeds for this year’s garden.

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Gardening: Native plants help pollinators thrive

Wed., Feb. 3, 2016

“Pollinator Friendly Gardening” devotes whole chapters to what pollinator insects need to thrive in a garden: water, shelter and food. It also addresses the fact that gardens planted with native plants attract and keep larger populations of pollinators than a garden full of conventional plants.

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Gardening: Easy-to-grow kale provides boost to healthy diet

Wed., Jan. 27, 2016

If you are on a health kick this year, be sure to add kale to your diet. Kale you say? That weird looking and tasting member of the cabbage family? Yep, the one in the same.

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Shows keep gardeners busy until planting time

Wed., Jan. 20, 2016

The January thaw is upon us. Our month of below-freezing weather and snow is giving way to a few 40-degree days. I’m hearing rumblings that gardeners are getting restless and need something to focus on besides reading seed catalogs. Here are some upcoming gardening and plant sale events to look forward to.

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Many happy returns of the Christmas blooms

Wed., Dec. 23, 2015

Tips for keeping holiday plants alive for perennial enjoyment.

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Gardening: Windstorm provided easy access to boughs for decorations

Wed., Dec. 16, 2015

With all the wind-damaged branches on the ground this year, making swags, wreaths and decorating empty garden containers for winter should be really easy.