The McKee Garden

09/01/2026

Growing my pole beans this way has been a total game changer and has definitely saved my back! So far I’ve canned about 20 quarts, and I still have SO many beans left to go. 😂🫙

08/31/2026

🫘 A little garden knowledge passed from one gardener to another. Here’s how I grow my pole beans. 🌱

08/27/2026

This season has been brutal. Every instinct and old training told me to spray, to "fix it" fast. But I didn't.

I watched the damage. I clipped hundreds of buds. I felt helpless and, honestly, pretty angry some days. I kept feeding the soil, not the panic.

Today, one bloom opened clean. No thrips. It made me tear up. Not because it's perfect, but because it reminded me why I'm trying to do this the slower, harder way. Building something healthier and stronger.

This one flower isn't a win over pests. It's a reminder that soil is the root of everything. When the soil's alive, the plant will thrive.

I'm choosing to bet on that, even when it's slow.

08/22/2026

Okay, I can finally share this! 🌱

After some hesitation because of the time commitment, I finally decided to go for a dream of mine and applied to the WSU Master Gardener Program.

I haven’t been to college since 1995, so apparently I took a little 31-year “gap year.” 😉😂

I honestly didn’t know what to expect when I applied, especially knowing it’s not an easy program to get into. But just TWO weeks later, after my reference checks and a panel interview, the email came...

I WAS ACCEPTED!! 🎉🌿

Holy cow. I’m excited, a little nervous, and mostly just incredibly honored to have been given this opportunity. I spend so much of my life learning about plants and gardening already, and now I get to take that passion somewhere I’ve dreamed of going.

Here’s to going back to school after 31 years! 😳😂

08/15/2026

There’s something oddly satisfying about this garden chore. 😂

Once our Calla Lily blooms are spent, we reach down to the base of the stem, grab firmly, and give it a quick, hard tug. Most of the time, the whole stem pulls right out. Deadheading keeps the plant from putting energy into an old flower and encourages more blooms. Getting that entire stem out without breaking it? SO SATISFYING.

Calla Lilies have earned their place here for more than just their flowers. Seeing those huge leaves start pushing up in early spring is always exciting, especially knowing they’ll become the earliest focal flowers in our garden. They’re incredibly unfussy, too. We even grow some in full shade. They don’t bloom nearly as much there, but with leaves that big and beautiful, we really don’t mind.

08/12/2026

A little behind the scenes greenhouse project 🌱

With both of us working full time, getting the greenhouse built took a little longer than we originally planned. In the meantime, the weeds took full advantage of their nice protected growing space.

Rather than pulling everything, we decided to tarp the floor and let the lack of light and airflow do the work for us. The plan is to leave it covered and let those weeds slowly die back underneath.

This took me almost 30 minutes and, for reference, the greenhouse has been averaging around 100° lately. 🥵

About halfway through, I realized unfolding all of these tarps OUTSIDE the greenhouse probably would have been the smarter approach... but obviously that thought came a little late. 😂

Now we wait! I'll keep you updated on how well it works and how long it takes before we can finally move on to the next step of getting this greenhouse finished.

08/07/2026

Not every good garden combination is planned. 💚

This spring I planted my pole beans, and in between them I tucked in a few cinnamon basil starts. My thought was simply to make good use of the space, but it ended up working even better than I expected 💃🏻.

The pole beans took off quickly, climbing up and creating just enough shade to keep the basil from baking in the summer heat. The basil has been happily growing nestled underneath the beans, and both have been thriving 😁.

Sometimes the best ideas come from experimenting. This one was definitely an accidental success, and it's a pairing I'll be repeating in future years. 🌿💚

08/04/2026