Specializing in the needs of Vashon Island homeowners who care deeply about their gardens, and those who are just learning about gardening.

New Video on Removing Invasive Weeds Without Toxic Chemicals

Winter is the best time to remove invasive weeds from your property - while the ground is soft.

How can you get rid of Himalayan blackberries and English ivy without using toxic chemicals that can get into our salmon streams and Puget Sound? This video covers tools and techniques to make these jobs easier, when restoring a landscape taken over by invasive weeds. Along the way, it covers weed and native plant identification, the importance of replacing the weeds with other (ideally native) plants, and why English Ivy is one of the worst invasive plants in Western Washington. This project is funded by the King County Wastewater Treatment Division, in partnership with the Vashon Nature Center. 

There are many resources for Organic Gardening on our Garden Green website. 

Sheet Mulching Videos Published!

Sheet Mulching: Low Maintenance Gardening Without Chemicals

One key way you can make your gardening life easier is to practice sheet mulching for weedy areas, shrub borders, and new garden beds. Imagine walking around your well-mulched garden, with no weeds or grass poking their heads up and demanding attention. All is peace, while the mulch and cardboard do the work. You need never double dig again, and you can free up shed space by giving your rototiller to the Tool Lending Library. “What is sheet mulching?”, you may ask. It’s basically putting cardboard on top of weeds to smother them, with a thick layer of mulch on top of the cardboard to make it look great and hold the cardboard in place. This method works beautifully in new gardens with small shrubs or new perennials – where there is space for weeds to grow. It’s also a huge labor savor when you want to turn part of your lawn into a vegetable or flower garden. You just sheet mulch the area and wait six months. Then, with a trowel, make small holes right through the mulch and decaying cardboard for your baby plants. They grow up with minimal weed competition, and plenty of moisture in the soil. 


 Here is a How To guide to view and print.  Click here to see and download the pdf file.


With help from the community, there are also now  3 short videos of the sheet mulching process:


Part 1 covers the preparation of the sheet mulching area and placing cardboard.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8xYE8sA8C0


Part 2 covers tips on working with large piles of wood chips and loading wheelbarrows efficiently. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QX-FunfK5uY


Part 3 covers tips on spreading the wood chips, and when you would use compost instead of wood chips. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9KjrhraHlY



Some of my services....

Are your Japanese maples and ornamental shrubs not nearly as ornamental as they should be?


Do you want to plant a pollinator garden, and could use some guidance?


hen yuou mo

Are you interested in growing your own food or medicine, and having it beautiful as well as functional?


Are you overwhelmed with your garden, and want to find ways to reduce the maintenance, but keep the beauty or the food?


Do you have some old apple trees that really need to be pruned, but you're not sure how to prune them?


Are you thinking of selling your home, and need the landscape looking its best?


These, and many more projects I can help you with. Give me a call: 206-567-5492, or send an e-mail: DianeEmerson@Yahoo.com





Special Offer: Half Price off my services for customers who do not use fossil fuel in their homes, properties, or vehicles.