What Grows Well Here: A Starter Planting List for the Northwest

If you have just moved to Portland, Vancouver, Camas, Gresham or anywhere else in the metro, you have probably noticed that things grow here. Rain, mild winters and long summer days make this an easy place to garden, as long as you plant for the climate you actually have rather than the one you moved from.

What the Northwest climate gives you

Our growing season is long and gentle. Frost usually holds off until late fall, summers are warm without being punishing, and the ground stays workable through much of the winter. The trade-off is a wet spring and cool nights, which slows down anything that needs steady heat to ripen.

Cool-season crops that do the heavy lifting

These are the plants that treat our weather as a gift. Lettuce, spinach, kale, chard, peas, radishes, carrots, beets and broccoli all prefer the cool, damp stretches of spring and fall. Sow them early and then again in late summer, and you will get two harvests out of the same bed without much fuss.

Warm-season crops worth the effort

Tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, zucchini and beans will grow here, but they want the sunniest spot in the yard and soil that has actually warmed up. Wait until the nights are steady, and choose short-season varieties so the fruit ripens before the rain returns. Zucchini and green beans are the most forgiving of the group if you are still learning your yard.

Herbs and perennials that come back

Rosemary, thyme, oregano, sage and chives overwinter well in most local yards, and mint will happily take over a corner if you let it. Rhubarb, blueberries and raspberries are reliable Northwest staples, and all three are content in our naturally acidic soil.

Where you plant matters as much as what

South- and west-facing spots warm up fastest. In Gresham and east Portland, yards often drain a little better; closer to the rivers in Vancouver and Camas, soil stays wet longer, so raised beds or a generous dose of compost make a real difference. Watching where water pools after a storm will tell you more than any chart.

Christian Ching is the local agent to ask about the area, the neighborhoods and what a yard here can realistically do.