Featured Gardener: Margo
Chapter: Whatcom-WA and Skagit-WA
How long have you been gardening?
Since I moved to Bellingham for an AmeriCorps service term at Common Threads Farm in 2018. I’ve been gardening at home and for work (I now am a program coordinator for Concrete Farm to School elementary garden). However, I grew up around my mom, grandmother, and aunts who all gardened together.
What are your “must-grow” crops?
- Red Sails Lettuce
- Herbs because it’s so easy to have on hand for cooking versus buying at the store in small and expensive portions.
- Kale any variety but prefer red Russian because I eat a ton of kale salads, and stir frys.
- Cherry tomatoes because fresh toms beat anything you can get in the store. I prefer Sakura or clementine varieties.
- Flowers, both perennial and annuals, because they make everyone super happy! Some of my favorites are dahlias, peonies, irises, frilly poppies, and geums.
One piece of advice for beginners?
Keep a journal! Track what you planted when and where, observations, drawings and maps of the garden, and your plant and seed wishlists.
GeoGardenClub is a wonderful companion to store observational photos, timelines of planting dates and plans, and your notes can make problem solving and dreaming in the garden that much more enjoyable!
Also, get a photo organizer to organize your seeds and keep them dry.
Favorite feature of GeoGardenClub?
I like to use the filter function to find where I planned to plant certain crops rather than scrolling through all my beds to try and find where I put things.