Growing fruits and vegetables is a crazy good thing. I love it. From that chilly spring day when I bundle up and venture outside to briskly poke pea seeds into the wet soil to hot summer afternoons spent staking tomatoes, their sticky foliage enveloping me in a slightly bitter herbal aroma and staining my fingers olive—I find the entire process endlessly appealing. But all that pales next to the sheer pleasure of going into the backyard and harvesting crops in their prime. It’s all about the food people!
Several years ago while driving along with NPR on the radio, I caught an interview with Greg Atkinson, Northwest chef extraordinaire, recounting a conversation he’d had with esteemed food writer Ruth Reichl. Her assessment of our region’s many resources struck me so strongly I immediately pulled to the curb to write it down. To paraphrase Reichl: the Pacific Northwest has a climate and a geography that makes human beings feel very welcome on the planet.
Indeed, ours is a land of plenty, ripe with potential. Ample rainfall (ahem), good soil, and moderate temperatures grant a long and hospitable growing season. But we grow things a little differently in the PNW (defined in this book as western Washington, western Oregon, and southern British Columbia). All gardening is local and especially so if you happen to reside in a region embraced by mountains, bordered by salt water, or run through by rivers. Cool-season crops (like kale, carrots, and cabbages) yield generously, demanding little from us aside from the care of the soil and attention. But if you want your harvest to also include tomatoes, eggplants, cucumbers, and peppers it pays to approach the growing season with a definite plan and a few simple tricks to maximize summer heat.
This book will take you through every month and the many eccentricities of the PNW gardening year. You’ll find tips and techniques as well as suggestions of plants and specific varieties proven to excel in our region. No matter what you’re looking to harvest—a windowsill crop of midwinter microgreens, fresh salads spring through fall, a bumper crop of tomatoes, or a few savory herbs to enliven your dinner—this is your guide to navigating the delicious possibilities available to the PNW grower. Read this book cover to cover on a rainy winter night for a complete crash course in edible gardening. Or pick it up midsummer to discover how to turn the seedlings you purchased on a whim at the farmers market into a tasty, healthy harvest. Growing good food means something different to each of us.
Whether you’re new to growing or a seasoned green thumb, cultivating a year-round PNW garden is a continuing education as well as a nearly constant feast. Some years are more challenging or fruitful than others and sometimes the harshest seasons are the best teachers. Tellingly, a recent record cold spring divided backyard growers into two camps: anguished impatience as months slipped by unproductively between way-too-clean fingers; and resilient, philosophic acknowledgment that this sometimes happens. The latter group comforted, and fed, by overwintered and perennial crops producing in spite of irregular climatic circumstances.
Distracted by deadlines and a busy life, I found myself squarely among the anguished. But even though this year’s harvest has not been my best by a long shot—a cruel and humbling irony when days are spent writing and telling others how to succeed—it was modestly offset by endless salad greens, mountains of kale, and the sweetest peas I’ve ever picked. I plan to spend the winter rebuilding my soil, installing a sheltering windbreak, and putting up shop lights for a seed-starting area in the basement. It’s time to shake off last year and anticipate the next. The new seed catalogs should start arriving any day and I can’t wait.
Welcome to another year in the garden. Dig in!