The pleasure diminishes only slightly over the course of our two month harvest season…and continues throughout the year with Cindy’s frozen asparagus soup.

I took this photo the day after this year’s first harvest – April 23.

Ready for Another Cutting

At Stoneridge Resort in Blanchard, ID, I had been gently informing management of the dangers of Roundup and other herbicides. Thanks to the understanding and environmental awareness of General Manager Cindy Thomas, Stoneridge now has embarked on a program of non-toxic weed management.

I started experimenting with industrial strength vinegar (20% acetic acid) two years ago at Stoneridge.  Applied properly at the right stage of weed growth, it provided excellent control. The major drawback is cost…after this year’s season long control program, we’ll know how much of a cost difference this will be.

Cost, though,  is not as important as environmental and human safety, and I applaud Stoneridge management for making this commitment. Though I am no longer directly involved in the landscape management chores at Stoneridge, I am very happy that the young gardeners and the land are well taken care of.

Native Plants

All of a sudden I have three new landscape design projects – did I mention “spring rush”? And the really cool thing is all of these design clients, without any prompting from me, specify that they want a low maintenance landscape with as much emphasis on naturalistic design and native plants as possible. This is great for cost efficiency, easier maintenance and the health of our environment.

If you haven’t considered the possibility of native plants in your landscape, consider these benefits:

Low maintenance – natives are inherently low maintenance because they can grow in your soil and climate without any human input at all. This results in much reduced water, fertilizer, chemicals and labor.
Improved human health – because suspected and proven carcinogenic chemicals are not needed, we all will be healthier.
Less noise and air pollution – removing turf areas and resulting machine operation will help us sleep in on the weekends and make breathing easier.
Wildlife benefits – natives provide cover for birds and other small animals and provide seeds, nuts and fruits for these critters, as well as nectar for butterflies and hummingbirds
Beauty – a common misconception is that natives are not as pretty as exotic ornamentals. From my personal experience, I can say that this is completely false. See the photo at my Facebook page – about 85% natives and very close relatives of natives.
Plant choices – another misconception is that there is a limited choice of natives for the particular locale. Even here in the far north, I can choose from over 300 natives to include in a landscape.

Some local nurseries have been hesitant to get on the native plant bandwagon, but the more progressive thinkers can see the writing on the wall. Pester your nurseryman to carry more natives!

With the proper implementation of HTML5, it’s now possible to create a beautiful, modern website that is accessible from any browser, any desktop, and any mobile device, anywhere at any time – PC, Mac, iPhone, Android or any other flavors or browser size. This is a huge step forward for web designers and for all those who use the internet.

A “responsive” website is one that responds to the user’s device to serve properly formatted content. The websites that I’ve created with the Catalyst framework are all being upgraded to HTML5 and all those designed from this point forward will be responsive, thanks to HTML5.

This is a very cool advance in web development technology!

All wood originated from 2×6 cedar that I salvaged from a deck demolition. Total cost was just a few bucks for screws and plastic.

Quick Cold Frame

There’s just a small amount of algae in the pond itself – this time of year, most accumulates in the very shallow water of the stream. As the water warms, string algae can spread throughout the water garden and make quite a mess.

Fortunately it’s very easy to control with a product called AlgaeFix, available at The Landscape Market. AlgaeFix is most effective after winter water temperatures warm up a bit, so early season removal is best done manually. It was a quick chore – but the water is COLD!

Allen’s comment on his Facebook Wall: “A VISION that ART can bring us together and share it with all. Thank you Angelina Sonnetist, Cerrejon Miguel Angel and Laura Peralta!”