Thinking in Soil explores the reflective side of gardening. It looks beneath the surface at the structures, systems, and connections that shape how things grow. These essays trace the parallels between tending a garden and tending an idea, following how attention, time, and care create understanding.
There are front yard berm designs you finish and forget, and there are ones that stay with you. This one is the second kind. Not because it was complicated. Because the bones were so good, and the solution was so clear, and it never got planted. That is its own kind of grief in gardening. […]
The Berm That Got Away Read More »
This was part of a larger project, a neighbor who had posted in a local mom’s group hoping to surprise her parents with a refreshed front yard. Four beds, a full plan, the whole thing designed as a gift. If you want to read how it started, that story begins with the hostas in Two
A Blank Slate and a Plant Addiction Read More »
It started with a post in a local mom’s group. A neighbor was hoping to surprise her parents while they were away on an extended trip, a refreshed front yard ready to come home to. She was willing to do the planting herself. She just needed someone to tell her what to plant, how many,
Two Roses and a Thorny Decision Read More »
A neighbor posted in a local mom’s group asking for help with landscape planning. She was hoping to surprise her parents with a refreshed front yard while they were away. She would do the planting herself, she just needed someone to tell her what to plant, how to lay it out, and how to make
Bedside Manners: A Shade Garden Design with Surprise and Purpose Read More »
Somewhere along the way, “evergreen” became shorthand for “pine tree.” Maybe a fir if you are feeling fancy. The word itself has become seasonal, tied to winter rituals and the impulse to bring something living indoors while the rest of the world goes still. Yet in the garden, the meaning of evergreen is something else
What We Mean When We Say Evergreen Read More »
— type: html-vault-note post: What the Seed Knows created: 2026-04-21 — # html — What the Seed Knows “`html A Bag of Seeds and a Memory I was out in the garden in late fall, holding a handful of poppy seeds from my mother-in-law, Linda. Not a seed packet, but a Ziploc bag full of
What the Seed Knows Read More »
The Season Starts with Memory I grew up in Skagit Valley, home to one of the most well-known tulip festivals in the country. The festival has grown significantly over the years, drawing such large crowds that traffic has become a major challenge. But once you get there, the miles of gorgeous blooms nestled in the
Fall Bulbs: What Nobody Understands Until You Explain It Read More »
Bare Soil Is an Invitation Bare soil is an invitation. That was one of the first things I learned when I began gardening. If you do not decide what grows there, something else will, usually something stubborn and opportunistic. In my case lately, that has been burdock. When I moved back to this area after
Bare Soil Is an Invitation Read More »
Not a Blueprint — A Feeling I think about flower beds the way some people think about paintings. Not in the sense of perfect symmetry or high drama, more like mood, rhythm, and cohesion. I want a space that feels intentional without feeling overworked. A place where your eyes can land, then wander. Where things
Garden Like an Impressionist: If Monet Had a Hose (and a Spreadsheet) Read More »
A Familiar Practice, Seen Anew I wasn’t looking for a shortcut. I was looking for a way to think faster. After a year of watching the yard wake and fade, I already knew its temperament: where the water pooled, which corners baked dry, what the rabbits liked best. What I needed was a way to
The Digital Gardener: Companionship, Not Control Read More »
A structured gardening approach to dirt, blooms, and the occasional rabbit emergency I know the type. Barefoot in the garden, flowing dress, maybe sipping herbal tea while gently patting soil around a seedling. That’s not my gardening approach. I’m out there in boots, bent over pulling on some weed or other, sweaty and far from
My Gardening Approach: Not Exactly Barefoot in the Garden Read More »