Digger magazine

Written to make you a nursery industry expert.

Learn about integrated pest management at Oktoberpest workshops

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It’s almost that time of year again, for beer, sausage … and bugs. That’s right — the lineup for the annual OktoberPest workshop series is all set. Sessions will be offered every Thursday in October at the North Willamette Research and Extension Center, 15201 N.E. Miley Road, Aurora, Ore. The series is aimed at helping nursery, […]

Vegetable garden declared a nuisance

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Some communities welcome vegetable gardens in the front yard. Others don’t. It appears that Memphis, Tenn. fits in the latter category. As reported in the Memphis Flyer, an alternative newsweekly, homeowner Adam Guerrero has been cited into court and ordered to dismantle his home garden. Memphis city officials declared the garden to be a nuisance […]

Slow housing market continues

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If you are a nursery grower and you depend on new home construction for a big chunk of your market, you might want to cover your eyes for this next one. Then again, you probably don’t need to, because you know what we’re about to say. In all-too-familiar news, the National Association of Homebuilders (NAHB) […]

Join our discussion on edible plants

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Commenter Joanne Rigutto of The Little Homestead (Mulino, Ore.) chimes in with a comment on edible plants and their potential to do double duty as ornamentals: Almost any plant we grow for row crops in food production has potential for ornamental landscaping. I think one of the problems is that we normally don’t think of […]

Vertical gardening supplies food for Manhattan eatery

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This is really cool: Bell, Book and Candle, a restaurant in Manhattan, grows all of its own vegetables and herbs under the personal supervision of owner and chef John Mooney. Each daily menu is crafted based on what’s fresh and ripe that morning. But that’s not all. Mooney grows the produce on the rooftop of […]

Will edible plants stay hot at retail nurseries?

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The start of the Great Recession in 2007 brought on a trend that garden centers hadn’t seen in years — edible gardening. Seeds, vegetable starts and fruit trees became big sellers, while ornamentals cooled off. Four years later, the trend is still going, but will it continue? According to Trey Pitsenberger of the Golden Gecko Garden […]

Roses for 9-11

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The first of three planned “Remember Me” Rose Gardens may be located 2,642 miles away near Stoystown, Penn., but the memorial for the victims and survivors of the 9-11 attacks has major connections to the state of Oregon. Sue Casey, a law librarian with the Portland, Ore. law firm of Ball Janik LLP, came up […]

Not quite contrite

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Against our better judgment, we are going to post about this Madonna vs. hydrangeas thing (“I absolutely loathe hydrangeas,” says Madge) one more time. It just gets more amusing every day. The latest development? The “True Blue” pop icon has taken to YouTube to respond to the controversy. Although some people consider them to be […]

A remarkable life story

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Most nursery folks and many Northwest gardeners will agree that Tsugawa Nursery in Woodland, Wash. is a retail landmark along Interstate 5 in Southwest Washington. I remember my parents, eager gardeners both, taking special trips to browse the garden center’s deep and balanced stock of plants. If you don’t happen to know the story behind […]