Let me start by saying I am not a fan of lawn. I am a fan of plants. I've ripped out as much of my lawn as is allowable by my homeowners assoc (ahem), and I'm working on ditching the rest of it in my back yard (if only husband would cooperate).

So I don't know how to make a lawn look really pretty and green, other than the usual stuff (aerate, thatch, yada yada). Crab grass? Beyond ripping it out? I have no idea. Other stuff? Clueless.

A question comes from a reader. He's got something growing in his lawn. It doesn't look like crab grass, but it's something in his lawn that he finds unsavory. Here, in his words:

I have a great lawn, except for some light green patches of grass that are starting to grow in it.
My mind goes to crabgrass, but this grass is lighter in color and lighter in texture than what I would normally think crabgrass to be. Perhaps it's a cool/wet climate version of crabgrass.
I know the photo isn't great - but your diagnosis would be appreciated.

Picture here. Your thoughts?

Reader Nan Maynard of Tacoma called me yesterday afternoon with a question about dahlia tubers. I was glad for the break. I was swamped, thanks to my fellow editor Craig Sailor being strapped with reader rep duty this week (call him at 253-597-8432 to complain about, well, anything. He deserves the torture).

"I got tubers from a friend, but they've been in a box for three years. Can I replant them?" Nan asked.

I paused. Dahlias in a box? For three years. Yikes. Then I remembered the summer of 2005 when I moved and lost a bag of tubers. I found them in a random box in my garage in 2007 and planted them. They came up just fine. I told Nan my previously lost dahlias are shooting out of the ground right now. They seem ok.

But what if I was just lucky? Can dahlias survive three years locked away in a lonely little box? Nan swears they have been stored outside and they haven't seen any light.

Your thoughts?

In the meantime, I've got a call in to Connell's Dahlias in Tacoma. We'll see what they say.

Reaching into the reader question bag this morning, and here's what I dug out:

Greetings from Eatonville!
Last year I bought a healthy yellow weeping willow with 3-inch caliper base and planted it our yard. It thrived all summer and came through winter in great shape.
Around March this year, I noticed some movement amidst the branches and when I went to investigate, a sapsucker(red-headed) flew out. In a matter of days he had a series of holes drilled, in a spiral, at the top of the trunk, I would estimate at least 100! Of course, I noticed a battery of ants as well. My solution was to:
1) Circle poultry netting as high up the trunk as I could
2) Cut tin plates into spirals and hang them from the lower branches(the sapsucker has not returned)
3) Place tanglefoot on the trunk of the trees to stop ants
4) Sprayed the ants and their aphid herds with soapy solution (branches are now clean of insects)
5) water profusely when it's hot out.
The leaves of the willow are slowly shedding and a third of the leaves have turned a light yellow. About half of the holes have "healed", but some remain open and
have a blackish interior. The trunk above the "holes" has bulged somewhat, while the trunk below seems diminutive. A fungus seems to be appearing on some leaves as well. Is this tree a "goner" despite all we have done? What might you suggest as an additional course of action?

Ugh ugh, ugh. It sounds to me as if our reader has done everything he can, doesn't it? And it's a lot more than I would have done to save a young willow (I would have just visited the Watson's fall tree sale and got a new one. Bad, I know). Anyone have any thoughts? I'll nose around with some of our arborists and ask them when they think.

Until then, post comments/thoughts here.

Update 7/29: I had a brief e-mail exchange with Dennis Tompkins, our former arborist columnist and our go-to tree guy. His opinion? Our reader has done everything he can to save the tree. Dennis officially gives us a shoulder shrug. Sigh.

Good luck, poor sick tree. Our thoughts are with you.

I interviewed Cynthia Johnson from Fox Farm on Vashon last week for a blog posting and story about lavender.

While we were chatting, she mentioned a great tip for lavender that I thought I would pass along:

(Lavender will) grow fine in acidic soil, but it will be fabulous if you add a little lime in the soil mix. But it’s difficult, (if you add) too much lime and it won’t grow. What we suggest is adding limestone chips and sprinkling them around the drip line of the plant. It is said that as it rains, the limestone will drip into the plant. Just sprinkle the chips around the plants. They can reflect the sun, which will cause the plant to get more heat. It causes alkalization of the soil.

Johnson said the chips also work for peonies, iris and hellebores.

So where do you find limestone chips? Well, that's a good question. It turns out you can't necessarily run down to McClendon's and buy a bag. Johnson buys them by the hundreds of pounds from people who install marble flooring. Want some? Johnson has the chips for sale in small bags for a few bucks each at her Vashon farm. Find Johnson's farm here.

Last weekend I took a tour of Northwest Perennial Alliance gardens on Vashon Island. As I always do on Vashon, I drug my lower jaw through a collection of amazing gardens.

First up was the hillside garden of Edna and James Dam. The couple have a steeply sloping acreage that they've planted with a variety of perennials. Interestingly, they also have grapes, pinot noir, that James has just begun experimental wine making with.

This photo shows an ebony and ivory pair of bulbous oat grass and a dark foliaged dahlia.

Next, I stopped at the always interesting and colorful nursery, DIG. Sylvia Matlock's nursery seems to be appearing in every national garden and architecture magazine I pick up these days. Last November, she expanded her business indoors and now sells interior wares. I wanted to buy everything.

Matlock told me she has shrunk her nursery but it seemed bigger to me since my last visit. Just an optical illusion, she said.

This is one illusion not to be missed.

Next up was the shoreside garden of Anita Halstead and Kelly Robinson on Maury Island.

This garden recently won an award in a garden design contest sponsored by that other newspaper up north. It's easy to see why.

Spectacular borders frame sculpture and views to the water. Interesting plants and combinations, like this crocosmia, globe thistle and flax caught my eye.

You can ponder your next move in the brilliant summer sun on this chess set.

Finally, I finished at the garden of Cindy and Steve Stockett. I've been there before but the garden looked a lot different. Cindy said the windstorm of 2006 did a lot of damage and they've spent some time replanting.

It would take a whole story to tell of the wonders of the Stockett garden but I'll show you something I've seen before but this time it really caught my eye.

This biennial, Echium pinnata, was huge, as the photo above shows. Cindy told me it takes two years for it to bloom and then it perishes - like a good biennial does. But, they reseed naturally. I stuck my camera inside the...uh....leaves...?...and shot this photo of the fleshy colored...uh....head...?

Anyway, I have got to get me some of these.

I just returned from Tacoma's Sixth Avenue farmers market. I am impressed.

Based on only one visit (not a scientific method, I know) it's my new favorite market. It's compact, chock full of food (and not crafts, lotions and knick knacks) and has a neighborhood feel.

As vendor Ann O'Neil told me, you can find everything you need for dinner there: veggies, fruit, cheese, meat and more. "We've been doing farmers markets for nine years and this is the best," O'Neil said of the Sixth Avenue market.

But since this is the gardening blog, I'm happy to report that several nurseries were represented there. I bought sage and sedums from O'Neil's Cottage Gardens.

Ann O'Neil sells her plants outside the Engine House brew pub on Pine Street Tuesday night.

A new (to me) nursery at the market was The Rhododendron Garden out of Federal Way. Owner Dianne Bell had an impressive stock of hydrangeas on hand. "I only have two weaknesses," Bell said of her passion for rhodys and hydrys.

Bell, at right in the photo (talking with Emillie Hirota of Steilacoom) said the hydrangeas were late this year (like everything else.) Bell said she'd be back at the market next week but couldn't commit after that.

Customers and vendors both seem smitten by Tacoma's latest farmers market. Hirota called it "charming." Bell was a little in awe. "People have been coming up and thanking me," she said.

Get down there on a Tuesday afternoon and check it out. The market opens at 3 p.m.

And, of course, Pine and Sixth is one of the hottest intersections of dining in Tacoma so you can make an evening of like I did. (The top photo was shot from Masa's second floor bar.)

What is there not to love about daylilies? I find them impossible to kill, which means I automatically like them. I have five big ones in my front garden bed (yes, they're crowded and yes, I need to divide them and move them).

I love this time of year when they start to bloom. Each bloom seems to last about a day (thus the name, I suppose). I inherited them from a neighbor who was separating them on Easter weekend in 2006 and yelled over to my house asking if I wanted them. Of course I said yes, I love garden castoffs. I'm like a cat lady in my inability to say no to a stray plant. I'm not sure which variety I have. Take a look at my picture below and tell me if you think you know what it is. Oh, and send us pics of your daylilies, we'd love to see them. Email me at sue.kidd@thenewstribune.com (Legal stuff our lawyers make us print: Submissions may be published in any form, blah blah blah).

Photo here. Enjoy. (haha)

On Saturday Aug. 2, two weeks from today, we'll publish a story about daylilies by garden writer Jean Parietti. She interviewed Bill Havens, a Tacoma resident and master gardener who cross-pollinates his own day lilies. He plants somewhere around 300 seedlings and year and decides from that batch which ones to keep. Watch for the story in two weeks here.

If you can't get over to Vashon or Sequim for lavender, there is a closer option.

Stringtown Farms and Winery in Eatonville will open for U-cut lavender tomorrow. Details from the farm's press release:

Open: Beginning Saturday, July 19, 2008, until about mid-August (depending on the weather).

Hours: Daily 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Bloom Report: The early blooming Purple Bouquet and Ana Luisa (English lavenders) will be at their p eak for opening day. The later lavenders, including Grosso and Edelweiss (white), should reach their full bloom later in July.

Plants: Both field grown lavender plants and small nursery plants in the various lavender varieties will be available for sale.

Stringtown Farms/Stringtown Cellars
9121 Stringtown Road
Eatonville, Washington 98328
360.832.4743
stringtownfarm@aol.com
www.stringtownfarms.com

Cynthia Johnson bought her farm, Fox Farm, on Vashon for a respite from her busy day job as an obstetrician. The lavender obsession came later after a trip to France and a landscaping project hooked her.

She remembers a moment one morning in her garden that changed her from just a gardener to a lavender horticulturist and farmer. “The sun was just coming up. I saw these bees sleeping on the lavender blooms. As the sun warmed it up, it was magic. I just fell in love with it. Now when I go out to pick, I just can’t stop picking.”

She started propagating lavender, even coming up with her own kinda sorta variety (she and other Vashon lavender growers aren’t sure what it is, so she calls it ‘fox farm,’ named after her farm). She grows dozens of different varieties. Her farm is one of three opening Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. for the Vashon Lavender Farm Tour (see info box for details).

Johnson classifies four categories of her favorite lavenders: Lavandula angustifolia; L. x intermedia. Lavandula stoechas and Lavandula dentata. Click the "read more" box below to see how she explains the two kinds she primarily grows and sells, angustifolias and intermedias.

The Vashon Lavender Farm Tour
When: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday
Where: Three Vashon farms, Fox Farm (17232 107th S.W.), Lavender Sister’s Farm (16335 Crescent Drive S.W.) and Lavender Hill Farm (10425 S.W. 238th St.)
Cost: $5 (free for children 18 and younger). Tickets available at the farms. Proceeds benefit the Vashon Youth Council.
Transportation: A free shuttle bus will offer transportation for the 9:15 a.m. ferry at the north ferry dock that goes to the three farms and the Tahlequah ferry dock. For ferry schedules, visit www.wsdot.wa.gov/ferries.
Information: www.vashonlavender.com or call 206-463-3115

The Sequim Lavender Festival
There is another lavender festival this weekend in addition to the Vashon lavender festival. Here are details:
What: Sequim Lavender Festival
When: Friday through Sunday
Where: Various farms and locations in and around Sequim
Tickets: $15 (12 and younger admitted free)
Info: www.lavenderfestival.com or 1-877-681-3035

Here is a pretty picture of lavender taken in Craig Sailor's North Tacoma garden.

=> Read more!

Garden voyeurs, you’ll get your chance to lollygag around private gardens this Saturday in Federal Way. The cost for your voyeurism? Twenty bucks. Will it be worth it? Maybe, if you like checking out gardens that normally would be off limits, unless, of course, you don’t mind being chased away as a trespasser.

Six private home gardens and the Pacific Rim Bonsai collection will be part of the garden tour for the Federal Way Symphony. The tour starts at 10 a.m. and concludes at 5 p.m. (although there is a bonus garden tour from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m., but more on that later).

Janice V. Burgess, a symphony board member and co-chair for the tour, described the event as self guided. You buy a ticket, they provide a map and from there, you’re on your own. Lectures and demonstrations take place at select gardens.

Here’s a look at each of the gardens. Commentary provided by Burgess:

Garden one, the Ross garden. “This is a hardworking gardener who has totally redone her yard (with different kinds of annuals)" Highlights: a shade garden, a basalt fire pit, a fountain with basalt rocks, a garden house, pergola and arbor.

Garden two, the Spader garden. “This is the home of a master gardener... He has a vegetable garden with unusual vegetables, very colorful potatoes. He gave me some last year when I was there. They were pink potatoes. … He starts everything in his vegetable garden from seed.” Highlights: Eight varieties of tomatoes growing in large tire tubes; Jerusalem artichokes and an herb garden.

Garden three, the Konkell garden. “He is a former nursery owner who has an extensive train in his backyard. It has waterfalls and tracks that go through the backyard.” Highlights: Window boxes and container gardens.

Garden four, the Parrish garden. “(It) has the most spectacular waterfall. If you go up the hill beside the waterfall, you have panoramic views of the Sound." Highlights: A pocket garden near the patio and New Zealand flax in containers.

Garden five, the Pacific Rim Bonsai collection. David DeGroot, the curator there, will talk about the collection, and Bob Pogue who is a floral designer, will also lecture about floral design. Highlights: More than 100 bonsai from Canada, China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan and the United States.

Garden six, the Sherwood garden. “Sherwood garden has a pond that goes all the way down to the water (Trout Lake). … She likes clashing colors, reds and oranges, nothing muted." Highlights: a tricolored beech, black bamboo and a dry river bed.

Garden seven, the Sessler garden. “The restored garden of a historic 1880s log home. ... Lots of natural river rock fences and walls. At the Fessler garden, Louise Talley will do a container gardening lesson. (Note: The Sherwood and Fesler gardens are adjacent). Highlights: container gardens with colorful annuals and plants that hummingbirds love.

Bonus garden, the Dzingle garden. This is the after-hours garden tour from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. “They have hundreds of lighting features… It’s an extensive piece of property.”

Other stuff to do: Strolling musicians, raffles of container gardens from Watson’s nursery, signed books by authors, artisans displaying their work and more.

Ticket information: Call 253-529-9857 or buy a ticket at Furney’s, Watson’s, Windmill or any nursery listed at federalwaysymphony.org. Tickets are $20 each.

A new book about container gardening showed up in my mail last week. I've always been pretty sucktastic at growing things in a pot, at least annuals that require a lot of water in the hot summer months. I don't like doing accessory watering. If it's a waterwise perennial or ornamental grass, I'll grow it in a pot. That's probably why most of my container plantings are pretty boring (unlike the fabulous container plantings of my fellow Get Growing blogger, Craig Sailor).

As I flipped through "Easy Container Gardens," it made me really want to get better at container plantings (not that I will, it just made me want to be). The book certainly makes it look easy. Author Pamela Crawford organized the plant information in a really smart way, with each page devoted to a different container planting, including instructions on how to put it together. It's like a fun little gardening recipe for each container planting.

My favorites:

Silvers: pg 106. This light shade planter is all about shade of silver. Plants are echeveria, begonia, dicondra 'silver falls,' and euphorbia 'diamond frost.'

Weekly Water Only: pg 116. Now we're talking, a container I only have to water once a week (in theory anyway). This box planter is a combination of begonia 'cherry blossom," a spiky ti plant, coleus 'kong rose' and creeping jenny. Take a look at it here:

Find the book here.

I finally have all my tomatoes in the ground: some planned and some by accident.

The photo shows a variety called glacier that seems well on its way to being my first crop. To the right of it is one of my momotaros that I grew from seed in my bathtub. It's a little stunted. OK, a lot stunted.

In addition to those, I'm growing striped roman, brandywine, sun sugar, sweet 100's and white current. I bought those, along with the glacier, as starts. All are new to me except the brandywine (big, red, flavor-packed) and sun sugars (orange cherries).

And then there are the mystery tomatoes. Half a dozen volunteers have sprung up, the descendants of last year's crop. I considered pulling them...but couldn't. I'm just too curious to see what they turn out to be. The demoralizing part: they are all bigger than the momotaros that I grew from seed.

From now on I'll leave growing tomatoes from seed to the professionals - and Mother Nature.

My nasturtiums began blooming this week. In my garden that means one thing: Dinner time!

This entire plate is made of greens from my garden: Romaine, arugula and some unknown strange, spicy greens from Territorial Seed Company.

The nasturtiums add not only color to my salads but a spicy flavor as well. If you have some be brave, eat 'em. You're not scared of a pretty little flower, are you?

I spent Sunday touring nurseries in the Gig Harbor and Key Peninsula areas. I thought I would just spend a couple of hours there. I ended up spending almost the whole day there.

First stop was Rosedale Gardens. They've been around a long time but it was my first visit there.

I was really impressed with the place. It sits on two levels with the main nursery down below and trees up above. The business is very eclectic with a strong presence of art. I really dug these huge metal chickens.

There's a lot of life-like bronze sculptures which always creeps me out (Frozen children!) and I'm told by another nursery owner that there is a "mini Butchart Gardens" being developed but I didn't get an invite in.

I was intrigued with their pottery display. While their selection is not as vast as Bamford and Bamford I actually liked it better. I came away with four great ceramic pots AND they were having a two-for-one sale. What beats that? (Well, maybe free pottery day.)

They have a good, varied plant selection. I saw lots of unusual hostas, grasses and other perennials.

Rosedale Gardens is at 7311 Rosedale Street NW in Gig Harbor. Their phone is 253-851-7333 and they are open 9 a.m.-6 p.m. seven days a week.

The photo below shows the pottery display at Rosedale.

Next up was Arletta Gardens & Boutique, 3508 Ray Nash Drive in Gig Harbor. This one-year-old nursery was equally impressive as Rosedale. While tiny in comparison the artistic eye behind the business comes through loud and strong.

The owner wasn't on hand Sunday but I was blown away by her displays of plants, the inside store and the unique display garden which recreates a beach scene. Near this row boat waiting for a passenger was a scene set up to resemble an ocean-side BBQ. I could almost hear the waves crashing.

Arletta Gardens doesn't have a website but their number is 253-265-2224 and they are open 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Saturday and 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Sundays.

Finally, I made it out to Blue Frog Garden Nursery. Owner Russ Smith showed me his green houses. One of them was full of Japanese maples - one of his specialties.

His personal gardens are amazing. This is his dry-stacked wall (below) with all sorts of colorful perennials.

Blue Frog is not open to the public except on special events. Luckily, this weekend (July 12-13) is one of those. Russ has invited Steamboat Island Nursery (one of my favorite Puget Sound nurseries) as well as a grower of ornamental grasses to sell their stock. Call 253-857-0127 or go to their website for more information.

I loved the Associated Press wire story we ran in Saturday's A section about guerrilla gardeners in Los Angeles. Under the mysterious cloak of darkness (heh, I love cliches today), the group slinks around and plants - GASP! - flowers in crummy looking medians.

I like it. I want to do it. I've been known to, ahem, participate in random acts of dead heading and there have been a few times I've really been tempted to prune something in a public right of way (only for beauty, I would be careful. I swear).

So readers, if you could guerrilla garden any public right of way in South Sound? Where would it be? Comment here. I can see an entire google map filled with public areas ripe for guerrilla gardening.

Read the story here:

=> Read more!

News Tribune artist Fred Matamoros is our number one Get Growing blog groupie. He reads us religiously (let that be a lesson to you readers, if you read us regularly, we will post about you prolifically).

He read my post asking where locals find beautiful hostas and emailed me a few pics of the hostas growing in his Lacey yard. He also gave a hosta nursery tip. He bought his at Springhill Nursery.

Says Fred:

Normally mail order plants arrive wimpy or dead-looking. I bought these during one of their “9 for $29.99” sales and they arrive as tubers. They were slow to establish but after much babying they seem to be doing great. I will be dividing them this fall.

Watch for Jean Parietti's hosta story in the July 12 Home&Garden section.

Here, enjoy Fred's pics:

Tara Parker-Pope, along with nutritionist Jonny Bowden, have come up with "The 11 Best Foods You Aren't Eating" on her New York Times blog.

It's an interesting list and proving quite controversial judging by the number of comments (931 at last count).

I was happy to see that Freak of Nature garden is growing a few of the listed foods (swiss chard, beets, pumpkins [pumpkin seeds and flesh are on the list] and possibly cabbage - if it comes up).

It'll be awhile before I'm growing cinnamon and turmeric. But with global warming it might be sooner than I think.

When Craig and I were at the Chinese Reconciliation Park on the waterfront Thursday, we noticed something that it seems everyone around here must contend with: dreaded horsetails.

It's a scourge in my neighborhood, for sure. I have spent days and days pulling them out. That is, until I heard Marianne Binetti talking at the Point Defiance Flower & Garden show.

Her advice? Keep a pair of scissors close to your garden bed. When you see a horsetail, cut it off to the ground. Don't yank, don't pull. She said it stimulates more growth. So I have been clipping, not pulling, for a month now. So far? Doesn't seem to be working. At all. Here, photographic evidence. Take a look at this giant one nestled under my California lilac.

They seem to be coming back stronger and even more, uh, vibrant and alive! It shouldn't surprise me, I guess. The little beasts are prehistoric. They've outlived everything. So me and my scissors? Totally no match, I guess.

Whats a green-thumb girl to do? Anyone have a proven way to get rid of horsetail that does not involve chemical removal? Post here! Let us know.

Sue and I visited the Chinese Reconciliation Project today. It was the first time it was open to the public, timed to coincide with the arrival of Tall Ships Tacoma.

The park and the Parade of Sail were a spectacular combination. Here are photos from our field trip. Sue provided the commentary.

Enjoy.

Our first impression was that the park is heavy on hardscapes and light on garden. This cove, we think, is pure genius. We immediately coined a term for it, "a mini tidal basin." This little outlet fills with water at high tide, and we imagine it looks really interesting as the water level increases. We'll go back to see that happen. This area is positioned just below the pedestrian bridge.

The view from the pedestrian bridge. That's the Lady Washington in the background. Again, a waterfront park is such a cool thing.

This spiral walkway is a focal point at the entrance to the park. It travels from a sloped area and winds into the tight circle you see here around the slab of granite. We aren't sure what the symbolism of the spiral is, but it's a really interesting spot. We walked single file around the spiral and pondered the slab of granite.

Oat grass? Blue fescue? We couldn't quite decide what it is (probably fescue, judging by the stalks), but there is quite a lot of it. There are many of these mounding grasses in long, straight lines that move your eye toward the water. I like how the plantings and the hardscapes, including the elevated areas, seem to really draw the eye and the observer to the water. The ship in the background is the Amazing Grace.

More hardscapes! Yes, this garden is heavy on rocks and hardscaping. I appreciate that, though. Gardens with structure are interesting. It seems as if the park will look more garden-ish when the plants mature. We saw lots of freshly planted ornamental grasses, rhododendrons and roses. I had an OCD moment when I saw the spent flowers on the rhododendron bush. I even started dead heading one of them, but stopped after I realized that I probably shouldn't engage in public pruning anymore. I'll save it for my yard.

We are back from our field trip and I am sunburned. Don't let the overcast weather fool you, the sun is out. It is just sort of hiding, that's all.

Craig and I had good times at the Chinese Reconciliation Park and Tall Ships. Watch for a post on that in a bit after Craig works up the photos and I formulate some thoughts.

Here's something fun: We swung by the farmers market on our way back. I sauntered right on up to the Amergardens booth and bought myself a garden full of lavender. Or, at least it will be a garden full of lavender in a few years. Right now, it's baby lav. Ready to be nurtured.

I bought: Silver frost, grosso, munstead, lodden blue and Spanish.

Look! A picture! (Not as good as Craig Sailor's, but it will pass. I took this with my cell phone just now).

Here are my five varieties of lavender, nestled among the offerings of my desk: the SoundLife team digital audio recorder, today's paper, a falafel sandwich from MSM deli (in the bag) and my water bottle. Enjoy!

In a few moments, my fellow garden blogger Craig Sailor and I will head out into the drizzle to the opening of the new Chinese Reconciliation Park for a tour and our first up-close gaze at the new garden there.

In yesterday's South Sound section, our intern Brian Everstine wrote about the park. Click HERE to read it.

Volunteers will give tours from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. today. Meet at the park's entrance for your own tour. Craig and I are looking forward to inspecting the waterside garden. We're curious how the view will play into the aesthetics of the garden. And of course, our photographer supreme, The Craigenator, will snap photos. Watch for them here later today.

Oh, while we're there, we'll also check out the Tall Ships. You know, those huge beasts that are sailing into town this weekend?

Note: It's raining! Bring an umbrella. But, duh, you already knew that.

Details here:
Tours of Chinese Reconciliation Park
11 a.m. to 5 p.m. today
Near Jack Hyde Park on the waterfront, at the south end of Ruston Way (you know, near Old Town)
Click HERE for more info to fill your brain.

Boy, I never get tired of that headline. Right up there with "The fungus among us."

Freak of nature vegetable garden is still fairly pathetic thanks to the cool weather and the neighborhood cats. I think I've sowed carrot seeds three times now.

What has been doing great are these: pots filled with lettuce and other herbs.

The cats and slugs stay out of them, I'm able to monitor their progress closely and they like the heat. It's so great to step out my back door and snip some greens for a salad.

This isn't the food blog but here's a salad dressing I came up with after reading various books and other materials on lowering blood pressure. It uses oil but is salt free and all its ingredients have reputed health benefits.

2 tablespoons flax seed oil
1 tablespoon pumpkin seed oil
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon orange juice
As many crushed garlic cloves as you want

Mix the ingredients and pour it on your salad.

Some tips:
- Store the oils in your fridge
- You can use less flax and more pumpkin if you like. The pumpkin isn't cheap but it's good. I found mine at Marlene's.
- Use whatever kind of vinegars you like. Raspberry, rice, balsamic all offer different tastes and intensities.
- Same goes for the juices: Lemon will make it tarter, the orange juice will make it sweeter.
- I put in five cloves of garlic because I can't get enough of the stuff (I grew up in Gilroy, Calif.) But, adjust to your tastes. If you don't own a garlic crusher I seriously suggest you get one. And don't get the cheap ones. I have a self cleaning version (so to speak) that makes life much easier.

You won't miss the dairy fat or the salt with this dressing.