Author: Steve

Trees make you happy

Here’s something cool, shared with me by a coworker. Did you know that trees make you happy? A study from the University of Wisconsin showed that people who live among more trees are more happy. I know that I am! The researchers examined survey data in Wisconsin about mental health and well being, and they […]

Blue Atlas Cedar winter burn – probably OK

We’ve only had this house since 2012, so we’ve seen two full winters here. We have two lovely Blue Atlas Cedars – one a tall, wispy tree in the front yard and one a small, weeping variety in the back. I was alarmed last year when many of the needles were brown at the end […]

Any hope for veggies in deer country?

It’s the time of year when peas, spinach, lettuce, brocolli, and other cool-season vegetables can be planted. They can handle some spring freezes. But my worry since moving up on the ridge here at our Utah house is that that deer will feast on our garden bounty. There are a lot of articles on what […]

This is what forsythia should look like… and not

I love forsythia! It’s always the cheery harbinger of warm days, and it’s one of those shrubs that in my mind is best left to look wild. It should be allowed to send its long branches out, covered with beautiful blooms, sometimes arching under the weight of those awesome blossoms. The example above is in […]

It’s greenhouse time! And my winter-sowing experiment is working

It’s that wonderful time of the year again; the snow has melted (finally!), the perennial flowers are just starting to poke up through soil, and I’m feeling the urgency to get things started in the greenhouse. I decided to try winter sowing again to get some seeds sprouted, and then I’ll transfer seedlings into the […]

Time for valleygardens.com to bloom again!

We all love the changes that springtime brings. This year, spring is bringing a renewed commitment to our garden blog! We’re turning over a new leaf, so to speak. :) I had let the blog go mostly idle for the past four years or so, needing to regroup after divorce, leaving my “half acre of […]

Finally getting a new garden (and house!)

After two+ years of renting a townhouse, my wife and I are buying a sweet house in a short sale. Closing at the end of January. The new house is in the Suncrest area of Draper, Utah. This is up on a ridge, 1,700 feet above the valley floor (same area where we’ve been renting […]

Well, well, well… first snow on October 6th!

Well, I guess winter has come already. My home is at 6200 ft, so the weather is more extreme here than down in the valleys. Pretty big dusting of snow last night, but it is supposed to warm up to the 70s again soon. So, I have some good news for those who have followed […]