top of page
Palatino Garden Adventures
Start Here
Three posts that explain how I think about kitchen gardens
Kitchen Garden Planning Is the Hardest Part, Not the Gardening
The hardest part of a kitchen garden is not the watering or the soil. It is deciding what to grow, when, and what follows it. When a garden feels like too much, the problem is almost always a missing plan, not a missing effort. Here is how I think about planning a season so the daily work mostly takes care of itself.
How I Learned to Grow Food
In Germany, where I grew up, gardening was a school subject. We learned how to grow food every year, right alongside math and reading. When I moved to Seattle, I realized most people never learned this basic skill. That's the reason I started Palatino Garden Adventures.
3 Decisions That Make or Break Your Kitchen Garden
Most kitchen gardens don't fail from neglect. They fail because three decisions got made wrong before anything was planted. Not which seeds to buy or how often to water, but the decisions that determine whether your garden actually fits your kitchen, your schedule, and your climate. Get those right and everything else gets easier. Get them wrong and no amount of effort makes up for it. Here's what they are and how to get them right in the Pacific Northwest.
Search
Everything's Climbing and Everyone's Eating in My Seattle Kitchen Garden
It is late June in Phinney Ridge, and the garden has done two things at once. Everything that can climb is climbing, and everything that likes to eat a garden has shown up to do exactly that.
Jun 238 min read
Bring On the Heat: What's Thriving in My Seattle Kitchen Garden in Early June
Summer walked into Phinney Ridge after a dry, warm spring. Here is what is actually thriving in my Seattle kitchen garden right now, bed by bed, from the berry beds to the heat lovers.
Jun 26 min read
PNW Kitchen Garden End of May: Strawberries, Curry Plant, Mason Bees, and the Herb Bed
PNW kitchen garden end of May is the quiet productive week between the tomato push and high summer. A walk through what is actually happening in my Phinney Ridge garden right now: strawberries, the curry plant most people misunderstand, what the bee hotel is doing after the mason bees have finished, eleven herbs in the bed, and the potting soil I keep coming back to.
May 2620 min read
Mid-May in the Pacific Northwest Kitchen Garden: What to Plant, What to Fertilize, and What to Watch For
Mid-May is the real opening of the PNW kitchen garden season. A practical guide to what goes in now, how to feed a mixed berry bed, what to do about slugs, and how to read a fruit tree that looks rough.
May 128 min read
A Seasonal Herb Planter, a Workshop, and a Garden Tour. What's Happening This May
Three things are happening at Palatino Garden Adventures this May: a herb planter you can order for Mother's Day, a year-round herb workshop, and a community kitchen garden tour. Here is what each one is, who it is for, and how to sign up.
May 45 min read
The PNW Gardener's April Checklist and What to Do This Week
April in the PNW kitchen garden has about thirty things you could do, and most online lists pile them on without telling you what actually matters this week. Here are the eight tasks that move the needle right now in Seattle: soil temperature, what to direct sow, what to transplant, what to hold off on (yes, that includes tomatoes), and the fastest way to plan your warm-season layout before May hits. Plus a 5-item to-do list for the week of April 27. Zone 9a, real numbers, no
Apr 278 min read
My medicinal garden in spring (and what's already feeding the medicine cabinet)
People think a medicinal garden is a summer thing. Big calendula blooms in July, lavender drying in August. The truth is it runs all year. Right now in April my calendula is in full bloom, the mint and lemon balm are ready to cut, and the bergamot is sending up new leaves. Here is what I am already harvesting from my Seattle medicinal garden, what is still waking up, and the one plant I am putting in the ground this week for a summer root harvest: Ashwagandha.
Apr 138 min read
3 Decisions That Make or Break Your Kitchen Garden
Most kitchen gardens don't fail from neglect. They fail because three decisions got made wrong before anything was planted. Not which seeds to buy or how often to water, but the decisions that determine whether your garden actually fits your kitchen, your schedule, and your climate. Get those right and everything else gets easier. Get them wrong and no amount of effort makes up for it. Here's what they are and how to get them right in the Pacific Northwest.
Mar 164 min read
Want more like this? Clear the Noise is my newsletter on cutting through overwhelm with systems thinking and smarter defaults.
Ready to grow with intention this season? Join the Seasonal Planners Circle — a community for Pacific Northwest gardeners who want to plan smarter, harvest more, and never miss a planting window.
bottom of page