Pokeweed is a beautiful plant with large dark purple berries and reddish or purple stems. Even so it is an invasive plant. Pokeweed is native to the southeastern United States. It is showing up in PNW nurseries so it is necessary to be careful when browsing for new plants. It starts off as a smallish plant but quickly grows into a large bush in one season. Birds often eat the berries and carry the seeds to new locations, including natural areas. Left unmanaged, pokeweed can form dense patches and overwhelm native plants and trees. This damages our natural areas which contribute to our clean water, wildlife habitat, recreation and other benefits. Although birds seem to be immune to the ber
I often refer to soil temperature and day to germination data when planning when to start vegetable seeds for the new season. Here are two useful tables. One provides optimum temperatures for germinating vegetable seeds. The other shows the approximate number of days to emergence at various temperatures. I find these two especially useful for determining what temperature to set my heat mat thermostat. The latter is especially useful for those kinds that are slower to germinate, or when the seeds are old and may not be as vigorous as new seeds. A heat mat is the number one accessory I would recommend to everybody who wants to start almost anything from seeds. These are all factory set at
