When Wilma Stordahl was growing up in eastern Montana, nobody suspected her desire to play with her brother’s LEGOs, dump trucks and road graters would foreshadow her later interest in landscape architecture and construction. When she wasn’t moving soil with her brother’s toys, she was helping her grandmother in her garden. Fast forward to today, and Wilma brings 30+ years of experience to the topics of organic gardening, garden design, gardens for healing and the elderly, commercial landscaping, municipal landscape codes, Americans with Disabilities Act compliance, and public open spaces and parks. She holds a Bachelor of Landscape Architecture degree from the University of Washington and a Master of Business Administration from Seattle University. After earning her bachelor’s, she went to work for the City of Seattle in CityDesign and on their monorail planning team. Later experience, working for multidisciplinary design firms, has given her valuable experience in collaboration with real estate developers; civil, structural, and geotechnical engineers; architects; interior designers and other allied professionals. Wilma is also The Tough Love Gardener and has written articles for Realty101.com and PayScale.com. She is the owner and principal of TerraWerks, LLC and a co-founder of 6and44. She lives in Seattle with her three sons and enjoys relaxing in her backyard with her dog, Thor, and her three chickens.
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Stormwater is essentially water that falls during a rain or snowstorm. You may be wondering what precipitation has to do with making your garden eco-friendly and how you can possibly be responsible for an act of nature. However, the current problems of stormwater runoff are entirely human-created, and the way you design your garden can influence what happens to rain that falls on your property. . . .
Read more about Stormwater Management
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An eco-friendly garden works with, not against, nature. What does that mean in terms of water? Ideally, it means you’re not using more water than the ecological system in which you live can provide. In other words, your garden plants will grow without supplemental water from irrigation. That may sound like a lofty goal, but by choosing the right plants and irrigating only as needed, you can have a truly eco-friendly garden that still looks great. . . .
Read more about Water-Wise Gardening
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Roses can be difficult to grow in some climates. They tend to be susceptible to black spot and powdery mildew, two fungal diseases that, even if they don’t kill the plants, can make roses look pretty dreadful and certainly not worthy of placement in a vase on your table. The following is a list of a half dozen roses for your garden. These varieties are known to be reliable and more disease resistant than other roses. Even if you’ve never grown roses before, . . .
Read more about 6 Roses for Your Garden
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As April showers bring May flowers, homeowners fire up lawnmowers, gardeners emerge to work in their flower beds, and irrigation systems get recharged for the season. Over the coming weeks, we’ll be covering eco-friendly gardening, from building and protecting the soil to drought-tolerant garden plants and everything in between. This week, we’re literally starting our eco-friendly garden series from the ground up by discussing the importance of soil. . . .
Read more about Protecting and Building Soil
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If you love to entertain, or if you just love the taste of barbeque, an outdoor kitchen could be a great amenity to add to your home. Like any other home improvement project, there are several things to consider before building an outdoor kitchen. In this article, I’ll cover the basic things you should consider before you run off to the hardware store, install a gas line, or . . .
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If you’re like most potential homebuyers, you’re concentrating on the house, not the landscape, when viewing a home for sale. As you shop for your new home, the following landscaping tips will hopefully help you avoid expensive problems in the future. . . .
Read more about Landscaping Tips for the First-Time Homebuyer
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In my earlier article on raised beds, I discussed the importance of choosing your building materials wisely. This week, I move on to the benefits and additional planning considerations involved in designing a raised bed vegetable garden. There are several benefits of a raised bed vegetable garden, but the most exciting one is that you can envision and build it . . .
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It may still be cold outside, but there is plenty of work you can do now to plan this year’s vegetable garden. As you wait for the soil to warm up and become workable, you can peruse seed catalogs, determine which vegetable crops to grow, and calculate how much space you will need to grow your own vegetables. While you’re in the planning process, . . .
Read more about Raised Bed Vegetable Gardens
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Unless you’re a farmer or a vegetable gardener, one rarely hears the words “crop rotation.” What is crop rotation, and why is it important? If you are growing your own vegetables, and especially if you are trying to do so organically, you will quickly learn the importance of caring for the soil. After all, how can you expect to grow a nutrient-rich vegetable in soil that has . . .
Read more about Crop Rotation for Vegetable Gardens
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Patios and walkways make a big impact on the enjoyment and functionality of your outdoor spaces. If you‘re not using your garden for entertaining and relaxation as much as you would like, or if you’re cutting across the grass and not using the existing walkways, it may be time to design a new patio or walkway. . . .
Read more about How to Design a Brick Patio or Walkway
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