Program Contacts:
Master Gardeners
(509) 477-2181
Jackie Sykes
Plant Clinic Coordinator
Tim Kohlhauff
Master Gardener Coordinator
Urban Horticulture Specialist
Note: Some WSU Extension web sites provide links to external sites for the convenience of users. These external sites are not managed by the WSU Extension. Furthermore, WSU Extension does not review, control or take responsibility for the content of these sites, nor do these sites implicitly or explicitly represent official positions and policies of WSU Extension.
WSU Publications:
The WSU Extension Publication Store carries many helpful publications: many are available for download at no cost.
Note on Waterwise Landscaping
Water is essential to our everyday lives. And, our supplies are limited… so please use water wisely. Cutting water use inside and outside our homes is really important. If each of us changed our water-use habits, we could save billions of gallons of water. Here are a few tips that can help conserve water outdoors:
- Early morning watering is best. Some experts estimate that 50 percent of the water evaporates when watering between noon and 6 p.m.
- Adjust your sprinkler to avoid the pavement; otherwise, evaporation will claim all the water that doesn’t end up on your lawn.
- Turn your system off if it’s raining. A smart controller can do this for you and make sure your lawn gets the right amount of water.
- Consider replacing lawn with native plantings. Native plants naturally need less water and thrive in our environment.
Resources:
WSU HortSense: Home gardener fact sheets for managing common plant problems using Integrated Pest Management (IPM). Cultural controls and Washington-registered pesticides are included.
WSU PestSense: Home owner fact sheets for managing common indoor pest problems with Integrated Pest Management (IPM). Includes cultural controls and Washington-registered pesticides.
PNW Insect Management Handbook: This handbook is intended as a tool for making decisions regarding the control and management of important insect pests in the Pacific Northwest.
PNW Weed Management Handbook: This handbook is designed as a quick and ready reference for weed control practices and herbicides used in various cropping systems or sites in Idaho, Oregon, and Washington.
PNW Disease Management Handbook: This handbook is intended as a ready reference guide to the control and management tactics for the more important plant diseases in the Pacific Northwest.
Gardening in Washington: WSU Gardening Team website.
Grow Smart, Grow Safe: A gardener’s guide to choosing safer pesticides and safer products.
Plant Pest Diagnostic Clinic: The Washington State University Plant Pest Diagnostic Clinic is dedicated to serving the state of Washington and its citizens through high quality service by providing plant disease and disorder diagnosis, pest identification, and management strategies. The Plant Pest Diagnostic Clinic provides plant health problem diagnosis to homeowners; greenhouse and nursery operations; public and private landowners; and commercial growers including those involved with agriculture, horticulture, and floriculture.
Seasonal Jobs in the Garden (PDF)
Fall: The average date of the first frost ranges from early to late fall. Check your dates on Washington First Average Frost Date Map. Begin watching weather reports at this time in order to protect frost-sensitive plants. Even after the first frost, we can usually expect several weeks of warm temperatures.
Winter: Freezing temperatures, snow and ice. When planning your garden, consider that we are mostly in USDA Zone 6b, but we can plant a large variety of plants by using protective methods such as mulches, tree wraps, wind breaks and utilizing microclimates for more tender plants.
Spring: It teases us with warm weather one day and frost the next. It can stay cold and wet for quite some time as well. Be prepared to protect plants with covers, hot caps or row cover. Planting a little late is the safest method. Average last frost date ranges from early to late spring in Spokane County. Check your dates on Washington Last Average Frost Date Map.
Summer: Temperatures can be quite hot, sometimes reaching over 100°F. It’s a dry season so we recommend drought-tolerant and native plant. Plan to irrigate. Our long summer days provide lots of sun for beautiful flowers. Vegetables grow well, but we do recommend short-season varieties when possible.
WSU Extension website: Gardening in Washington State
- January
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- Catalogs and Seeds: It’s time to order seed and plant catalogs and to order seeds. Order your favorites now to avoid your selection being sold out. Try a new variety of your favorite flowers and vegetables.
- View from Inside: This is a good time to take a hard look at what your garden looks like from the inside. Check your favorite windows and ask yourself if your view could use some additional winter interest or if it could use pruning to avoid blocking the view.
- Force Bulbs: Favorite bulbs for forcing indoors are amaryllis, paperwhites, and hyacinths. Other bulbs include tulips, daffodils, and dwarf iris. Forced bulbs don’t even need soil to grow as they can grow well in water and.or gravel.
- Snow on Trees: If you can leave snow on trees and shrubs unless the weight of the snow appears to be breaking the branches. If you need to remove snow, use a broom and sweep upwards. Never attempt to remove ice from branches as they will break.
- February
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- Attend a Class: Check out class offerings in your area. Community colleges, conservation districts, and Master Gardeners all offer winter classes. Register for Cabin Fever to be held in March.
- Starting Seeds: As February gives way to March, you can start seeds indoors for early maturing vegetables such as broccoli, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, kale, and lettuce.
- Check Your Houseplants: Indoor, heated air is dry and many insects take advantage of the conditions and flourish. Check your indoor plants for aphids, mealy bugs, and scale. A warm shower will usually do the trick to get rid of the pests.
- Don’t Walk on the Grass: It may be tempting with melting snow to get out and check on the garden, but stay on hard surfaces and paths. Walking on saturated sod will compact the soil and make it much harder for your grass to grow roots.
- March
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- Attend Cabin Fever: Get set! Get ready! Go! This is a great way to jump start the gardening season.
- Starting Tomatoes: If you grow tomatoes from seed, now is the time to start them indoors if you want big, juicy tomatoes in the summer.
- Start a Garden Journal: Start by taking photos of your early blooming spring plants so that you will know what you have when they die back. Continue to photo and note what blooms where all season for easy reference the following year.
- Ornamental Grasses: Now is the time to cut back your ornamental grasses to avoid cutting off the new growth tips. Cut back to about 6″. Don’t cut fescues, but clean them up by running your hands through the plant and removing the old plant material.
- April
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- Come to the Garden Fair and Plant Sale: There will be thousands of great ornamental and vegetable plants and garden products vendors.
- Dandelions: Dandelions are a sure sign of spring. They are an important early food source for the beneficials and pollinators that are returning to our area. If you need to control them, wait until other flowers are blooming.
- Roses: Cut back blackened canes into the green portion of the cane. Move mulch away from the plants.
- Frost Date: Spring weather makes us want to get outside, but it can be unpredictable. Snow one day, 60 degrees the next. Remember that the average frost date in this area is May 15.
- May
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- Plant Veggies: Daytime air temps are favorable; nighttime temps are getting warmer and so is the soil. Our last average frost date is May 15. Prepare your vegetable beds and get ready to plant tomatoes, root crops, leafy greens, and more!
- Divide Perennials: Now is a good time to divide perennials that have grown too large for their space or if you want to move plants around your garden. Depending on the plant, there are several ways to do this job.
- Nurture Beneficials: Many insects and other small creatures are desirable to have in your garden. Take special care to provide food, shelter, and water. Avoid using broad spectrum insecticides that kill even the good guys!
- June
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- Mulch: Mulching helps control weeds and provides nutrients in the soil.
- Deadhead Blooms: Those late spring/early summer flowers are just so pretty! To keep them blooming year after year, remember to deadhead the blooms while keeping the leaves to nourish the bulbs and roots.
- Prune Spring Blooming Shrubs: Spring blooming shrubs (lilacs, forsythia, viburnum, etc) can be pruned after the blooms are finished as they will bloom again on the new wood the following year.
- Houseplants Can Move: Now is the time to move out your houseplants. Once the nighttime temps are around 50, it is safe to move plants outdoors. They are not used to direct sun, so put them in a shady spot.
- July
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- Watering: It’s getting hot out there! Our plants need hydration as much as we do.
- Attracting Beneficials: The bees, caterpillars, butterflies, and other beneficials have arrived! Most insects do not ravage your garden (there are exceptions).
- Insect/Slug Damage: Spider mites, slugs/snails, deer, oh my! What’s munching on my plants is a common question at this time of year.
- Enjoy: You have worked hard to get to this point. Make sure you take time to sit and enjoy your garden, harvest the veggies, and dream about next year!
- August
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- Plant Cool Crop Veggies: You can get a fall crop of many vegetables by planting by mid month a new crop of spinach, peas, lettuce, and other leafy greens.
- Maintain Perennials: To keep your perennials blooming for as long as possible, many will respond with a second bloom if you deadhead the spent blooms.
- Watering/Fertilizing: Keep watering as the ground is getting dry. By mid month, stop fertilizing roses and woody shrubs so that they have time to harden off before the cold weather.
- Harvest Fruits/Vegetables: Before you know it, you will have apples, peaches, plums, tomatoes, zucchini, beans, cabbage, peppers, and so much more! Enjoy!
- September
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- Lawn Care: This is a good month to fertilize your lawn. Fall fertilization will help your lawn look great in the spring. You can also reseed bare patches early in the month, but remember turf grass goes dormant when the soil is cold, so do it soon!
- Spring Bulbs: Now is the time to order or purchase your spring bulbs for the best selection. You can plant bulbs until the ground freezes, but best to get them in this month to give them time to grow roots.
- Plant Garlic: Direct sow seed garlic in early to mid fall. Purchase from garden centers or online, not from the grocery store.
- Protect Tender Plants: Get ready with tarps, sheets, and other covers to throw over your tender plants on those frosty nights and prepare pots for the ones you plan to bring side.
- October
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- Season Extenders: Plan ahead and plant late season bloomers and color, including asters, mums, ornamental grasses, trees/shrubs, and fall blooming bulbs. Change out your planters using fall blooming plants including ornamental cabbage.
- Leaves: Leaves grace the trees all summer, then turn into beautiful colors in the fall. They are also useful for mulch, weed suppression in veggie garden pathways, compost, and insulation.
- Bird Feeders: Migratory and winter resident birds will appreciate it if you repair damaged bird feeders, keep the food fresh and clean, hang suet, and keep water sources open and clean.
- Trees: Conifer needles closest to the trunk will drop in the fall. Evergreens will provide yearlong interest and shelter for small animals and birds. Keep watering your trees until the ground freezes. Larches turn yellow and drop needles.
- November
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- Bulbs: As long as the ground has not frozen you can plant spring bulbs directly into the garden. Follow the directions on the package for depth of planting and provide a mulch cover over the top of newly planted bulbs to prevent heaving.
- Tools: This is a good time to clean your hand tools. Remove all dirt and rust from metal, sand and repaint wooden handles, and store in a dry location.
- Trees and Shrubs: Continue to water your trees and shrubs until the ground freezes. Tie up or trim back branches of loosely branched evergreens. Pull mulch away from trunks to prevent rodents from hiding and eating the bark.
- Houseplants: Check the plants that have summered outside for pests frequently. Reduce your rate of watering to allow for slower growth and do not fertilize until spring. Plant forced bulbs (paperwhites, amaryllis) now for winter interest.
- December
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- Holiday Decorations: Use branches, leaves, pinecones, hardy plants, and interesting containers you find in your garden to create beautiful indoor/outdoor decorations. Add lights to brighten up the setting.
- Great Reading: This is a good time to catch up on your reading. Explore your own stash of garden books or go to the library. Watch TV shows about gardening. Keep notes about what you like so that in the spring you can hit the ground running.
- De-icers and Decor: Commercial de-icers and salt can severely damage your plants. Use sand and/or kitty litter as safer alternatives for your sidewalks and driveway. Be careful about not placing outdoor lights where the bud tips will break off, and be gentle when removing the lights so that you don’t break branches.
- Live Christmas Trees: If you cut a live tree to use in your home for Christmas, remember to re-cut the trunk before place it in the tree stand and to keep the tree well watered. Use the tree for small animal shelter and plant protection when you remove it from your home.
Common Weeds in Spokane County:
Invasive Weeds of Eastern Washington (PDF)
Weeds of Concern have a negative impact on property in Spokane County and when found, their control is encouraged.
Noxious weeds are non-native plants that have been introduced to Spokane County through human actions.
Due to their aggressive growth and lack of natural enemies, these species can be highly destructive, competitive, or difficult to control.
Noxious weeds are everyone’s problem and they can not only reduce crop yields, and destroy native plant and animal habitat, they can damage recreational sites, clog waterways, lower land values, and poison humans and livestock.
The Spokane County Noxious Weed Control Board can assist you with identifying noxious weeds and give you advice on their control.
The Noxious Weed Control Board of Washington State website can help you learn how to do your part protecting Washington from noxious weeds.