Zone 8b Garden Tour | Spring 2023 | Gardening Pacific Northwest

Come garden with me in my zone 8b Pacific Northwest suburban garden!

Gardening in cooler climates presents an interesting set of challenges – this year, spring has been so slow to arrive I started to worry that it would never come! Now that we finally have some warm weather, things are starting to look up in my no till/no dig zone 8b organic garden.

Our little suburban homestead is coming to life – our backyard chickens are coming of age and starting to lay, narcissus are blooming in full force, mason bees are buzzing around, and I can finally start to transplant out vegetable starts! So far, the green beans, tomatillo, and lettuce starts are looking great outside – lettuce in the open air, green beans and tomatillos under low tunnels. Our hot weather crops – eggplant, tomatoes, and peppers – are still in the greenhouse so they can be on heat mats over night, but I’m going to start hardening them off soon. We have probably another two weeks until the overnight lows are in the 50’s and I’ll feel ok at that point moving most of those plants outdoors.

At this time of year I’m reminded why we do what we do: inching towards self sufficiency and food security (knowing full well that we’ll never get to 100%). I love that we have the opportunity to grow our own food – some of it at least – and make our local ecosystem a little better in the process.