New to Cheney, WA

Hello PNW Gardeners!

Wife & I moved here to Cheney, WA (near Spokane) last year and this will really be our first Spring/Summer here. We've lived in the Mojave Desert for the last 20 yrs. & always had a nice garden there. We have 5 acres out in the woods and I just finished fencing off a 50'x30' area where the former owners had their garden (sorta).

We would like to grow berry vines along the fence lines and so far have planted one donated Black Currant. I would also like to put in some grapes that would do well here. The rest of the garden will be the standard fare of Peppers, Corn, potatoes, beans, etc. Any suggestions from you PNW veterans on my vines?

Thanks, Patrick
PS- I've included a pix of me learning about "winter work" earlier in the year.

Welcome to the PNW altho your winters are much colder then mine here in Vancouver, WA and your summers often much warmer.

Welcome Patrick, I live over in Tonasket, Next to the Canadian border. I do belive your summers get hotter for longer periods than do ours. Humm, Berry vines? I can't think of any. But what ever vine you chose I guess would depend on how strong your fince is?Sometimes that winter work never ends, but the past few years have been sparce for snow.
Debbie

Welcome Patric. Quite a change in climate for you. For information on growing things in your area you might get some good help from the Cooperative Extension Office in Spokane at N. 222 Havana. Or call Nancy Sanders, Extension Coordinator at 509-477-2195. Hope this will help. Dave's is always a good place to get answers too.

Also, Raintree Nursery has a nice catalog and they're geared toward the PNW. I've been ordering my berries from them.

Gwen

Hi Patrick and welcome to the area. How do you like living in the snow? LOL

I don't live in Cheney, but in St. Maries, Idaho, about a 2 hour drive from you. If you are ever down this way let me know. ;)

What a change from the Mojave to eastern Washington!

Our growing season is the same as yours pretty much. I grow raspberries and just put a blueberry in this year. Blackberries would also do well. Any local nursery should be able to give you great advice.

Again, welcome!

Zazzy

Welcome to Daves, Pat! This is a great place to learn from and you meet alot of people you can truly call your friends! Also...... get used to people here saying things about "rain" because alot of people don't understand that where we are in WA is quite dry in the summer and not at all like the coast. I have had to mention that to many people when they are suggesting plants that would be good to grow here. Good luck on your acreage!

Karrie

Thanks everybody for the feedback and welcomes! Especially you local folks.
Actually, I get a kick out of all the locals here telling me this is a "desert"! Technically, we are semi-arid I guess, but unless I see sand dunes and Scorpions.... I still am thrilled at all the green trees and srub out my window.

I think Raspberries and Blackberries sound great. I'd be interested to know how the Blueberries do.

I'll post some pix of our garden when things sprout and as we progress throughout the season.

Regards,
Pat

No - we aren't "desert" - I think what we are geographically considered is "high desert" meaning we do have trees (and as you can tell the more you drive west - alot of shrub). Lake Roosevelt was made from the Columbia River so that we could farm land that was once not farmable due to lack of water (i.e. in Tri-Cities, Yakima, Moses Lake, etc). Now there it is even drier and although I'm not sure about scorpions, they do have their share of Timber Rattle Snakes - almost got bit by one. It's pretty much rainy on the West side of the Cascades, and dry on the East side of them - huge change in climate. It's like this in Oregon as well.

Hi Patrick, I'm about 80 miles north of you and somewhat colder. We are zone 5. That is one of the most important things to remember when you are buying shrubs or perennials. Your zone 5.

Blackberries and Raspberries are really good for your area. Blueberries are not a vine. They are a bush. But they should do well too. Grapes would do well but they are a VERY heavy vine so that would depend on your fence.

Don't always think that just because you are buying from a local nursery that they can be grown in your area. Look for the zone on the tag.

Other than that, have fun and enjoy your new surroundings.

Jeanette

Welcome to our area. I live off 195 overlooking Hangman Valley Golf Course just a stone's throw away from you in Spokane County. I am originally from So. Calif and didn't appreciate gardening until we moved here 20 years ago. I think the cold winters helped me appreciate spring, summer and fall.

Deer is our biggest obstacle and we can't fence our lot with the layout of the property so I have to use sprays and other deterrents. Rasberries and grapes should do well but check with local nurseries for varities. I am not sure blueberries grow here so ask around. I know on the west side of the state, they grow in abundance. You must try local a favorite, wild huckleberries. You can find these growing in the hills of Priest Lake Idaho in July/August. They do not grow locally here in Spokane, but they are the best berry I've ever tasted. Very tart but full of flavor. Just watch out for bears because they like them a lot.

We moved into this house two years ago and did an extensive landscape project to our front and backyard last year. I am plant crazy and you can see this in the density of the plants in the backyard. This area does not afford us any tropicals but there is plenty that work and are quite happy. You need to really know your soil as it varies quite a bit. We have a too much clay and most everything was dead when we bought the house. We dug out most of the top soil and replaced it and the new the plants are taking off.

Crazy4plants

Crazy4, That yard is fantastic! I can't imagine the work that went into the rockery and dirt replacement. What an inviting getaway you have created. Very, very nice!

Crazy, the landscaping is wonderful. Congratulations on a beautiful job.

Hi Crazy4Plants

I didn't know you were here at Daves! Glad to see others from this area. You do live much closer to his climate - it actually changes from Spokane to Cheney. I live more in central Spokane. Spokane is slightly warmer, although north. I have been successful growing plants that are even zone 7 (but am careful not to risk alot of money). According to the new chart (you can get it here at Dave's) I am zone 6.

What I do with plants (i.e. dahlias) that can't handle our cold, is mulch mulch mulch during the fall. It isn't fool proof, but I have had very good success with it.

Thanks for the feedback. I have a link showing the stages of our backyard progress. Believe it or not, we did this project last summer so it is very young. I planted heavily and wanted instant gratificaiton. Hubby is building his BBQ and it should be done in a couple of weeks. We had to move mountains of dirt and rock into this yard. It was a typical hillside view lot and the soil was horrid. Clay and rock, poor drainage, ick, ick, ick. Brand new house and almost all the plants in the front yard were dead. We had to bring in tons of dirt to build it up. Fortunately the nextdoor neighbor had a mountain of it from his tennis court project but it was crummy soil. We had to add tons of topsoil to amend both the front and back. Fortunately the backyard we built up but we had to hammer out the stuff around the house and build it back up with good soil. I really only got into gardening about five years ago and learned that the most important part of a wonderful garden is what you don't see, good soil and irrigation. Unfortunately most landscapers cut corners and often the plants do not do well as a result. We paid someone to move the dirt and plant the trees. I personally planted every single plant in this backyard and there were hundreds or thousands. Not sure. It was not bad because the soil was so nice to dig in. The front yard we dug out the existing plants and replaced the soil around the plants and put in new plants. We did a more basic landscape with shrubs and drip. The backyard is all spray irrigation and drips to the trees in outlying areas, mostly evergreen shrubs and perennials.If this continues to explode at the rate it is, I'm sure I will be having a plant party giving away many cuttings.

I would love to do landscape design because I feel I have a knack for creating outdoor rooms and living areas that are unique. I think the biggest mistake builders do is put some dumb slab outside the backdoor for a patio. I much prefer to build pathways that lead you out into the garden, build a nice patio area surrounded by plants and trees, perhaps a pergola. When I go to the patio, I want to feel like I'm in the garden, shaded and cozy, not next to the house. Sorry for going on. I live in an expensive neighborhood with the poorest landscape designs because people just don't know about the possibilities.

I do dahlias in very limited areas. I dig them up and save them in the basement. Usually it is cheaper to buy a plant at Home Depot. How deep do you mulch them? I might give it a try. I hate to wait half the summer for them to amount to anything.

I am doing all sorts of groundcovers in this backyard as I have the perfect setting but this is a learning curve. I put several invasive species only to rip them out as soon as I saw they were too aggresive.

I took pics in May and then June. Also have a before and during album

May:
http://community.webshots.com/myphotos?action=viewAllPhotos&albumID=550861201&security=NITdCk

June 10
http://community.webshots.com/myphotos?action=viewAllPhotos&albumID=550861201&security=NITdCk

before and during construction
http://community.webshots.com/myphotos?action=viewAllPhotos&albumID=550869667&security=TTXLvO

Crazy

ooops. for some reason the june and may were duplicated.

June is http://community.webshots.com/myphotos?action=viewAllPhotos&albumID=551245676&security=IxjeRd

JUST BEAUTIFUL... what alot of work... my gosh, I know your very proud and love to walk thru you garden rooms... !!!! I grew up in eastern Wa. Omak, and then lived a few years in Tonasket. I love the winters over there, and love the summers here, not rich enough for two homes... lol.. and too lazy to landscape more than one.
Viv

That is the crazy part, it doesn't seem like a lot of work to me. I frequently walk through and remove every little weed. I use pre-emergent and that takes a lot of the weeding out of it. I don't let things reseed because I don't want to be the plant police. I like tidy plants that stay in a clump. When I do something stupid like plant violets, I figure it out and get rid of them because the reseeding is not something I want to deal with. My last yard, I made the mistake of planting aspens and in this yard I was very careful to plant nice tidy trees and hopefully I won't have those sucker and weed problems. When I do find I did something invasive, I rip it out and put something less aggresive in. I planted wisteria on the pergola last year and it jumped the structure and was in the trees and shrubs in less than a month. I said forget it and got something less invasive before it was too late. A friend took 200 bucks worth of wisteria because I wasn't up to the task of controlling it.

Today we weed whacked our drainfield and native area. That was awful work and I didn't like it at all. Spending time around the pond/waterfall pulling weeds is the best hobby I've ever had. There is nothing like the PNW in my opinion. A relative just visited from Texas and kept breathing the air saying he needed to bottle it and sell it. They smell a lot of cows down there and everything is flat with no trees.

Plantcrazy

Plantcrazy, when my garden grows up I want it to be like yours. I'm adding yours to my list of inspiration gardens. Funny, they all seem to be at Dave's Garden. LOL

different climate & adjusting the soil.

harsh

I think it's a good thing that you brought in new soil there. you are already on top of it.

as far as the climate - we live and learn.