Have a look at this.

Here is a link that might be useful: Sunset climate zones: Western Washington state - Sunset.com

Thanks! Yes of course Sunset is a wonderful resource. It actually was the first place I visited, but I believe that the Olympia area is actually growing zone 7? This article only shows up to zone 6.

Whoops that was dumb of me- look like the sunset zone for Olympia is actually zone 5! I always confuse the two...

Keep in mind that Sunset zones and USDA climate zones are different.

Welcome, Caitrose! Like most of the Puget Sound region, gardening in Oly is a year-round affair! I do most of my "high quality" weeding on the occasional sunny days in late Jan. or February. Planting of tender annuals is usually an "after Mother's day" activity. Your particular micro climate will direct you as to what to do when.
Regarding soil, lots of people report great (read: easy for gardening) soil.
I enjoy gaining new plants from the Farmer's Market vendors (open Th. through Sunday starting April 1st) at the exchanges sponsored by the folks at this site (well, actually the P-NW exchange)as well as with my neighbors. For natives, I have found Sound Native Plants to have really high quality plants. I'm sure I sound like a plant snob, but our local nurseries, in my humble opinion, seem to have lots of ordinary plants hawked by people who don't seem to know too much about them!
Is this the appropriate place to discuss a great house down the street for sale- with some excellent gardening areas?!

Thank you for the great info Merry! I am so encouraged- it seems like there are quite a few resources down there. And I can't wait for the longer growing season. Palmer has a very, VERY short, (but glorious!) one and it would be lovely to be able to enjoy one's work a little longer than two months or so.

And I feel ya about the local nurseries- where we live in AK it's zone 4 (although to be safe most of my plants were hardy to zone 3), and a few nurseries tried to sell me things that would have only been suitable for a way warmer climate. As a relative beginner, I'm really glad I did my research before buying. It's nice to know there's a place in Olympia that sells native varieties and is knowledgeable about what they sell!

And yes, I'd welcome any information about houses! Where are you located? We've been doing lots of research on neighborhoods/nearby towns and will be visiting the area in a few weeks. It'd be great to have a place to check out while we're down there. We're a young couple with a baby girl and dog so outdoor space is a must!

Actually, the demonstration gardens (I think near the Palmer Visitor Center) were quite impressive the two times I was there. I recall many raspberries, a trellised clematis, and lots of flowers.

Even with the longer growing season here, you won't get 75-pound cabbages like in the Matanuska area.

I grew up (if you can call it that) in Olympia. You'll find that north of the city center heavy clay soils are usually the rule, but there are many protected/mild microclimates near the water that enable a longer growing season and greater planting possibilities for anything that can handle the soil. From the city center south, the soil gets better (usually loamy/silty) but winters can be very cold with early and late hard frosts common in some places. If you're looking for a good nursery in the Olympia area with some unusual and interesting ornamental plants (especially shrubs/broadleaf evergreens), visit Fairmeadow Nursery, open by appointment - they have a web site.

The website I built for the Oly Rose Society has info on Thurston County climate and soils and climate zones.

Frankly, moving here from the San Fran area, I find Olympia to be not much of a gardening town. That said I like that nothing ever gets root rot here, because all I've ever had here is gravelly sandy soil. "Heavy clay" is relative I guess, I've never seen anything here remotely as heavy as what I had in California. Some soils do have some clay in them but that's as far as it goes. Those soils do tend to be extremely waterlogged in winter though, and slow to warm and drain in spring. Our summers, while probably longer than yours, are still short and cool. Winters are wet and dark, though not as dark as AK, but wet wet wet.

Because we dont' have the extremes of day length that AK has we don't get the intensity of summer either. Short and cool, and things don't grow fast enough to make up for it like they might do in AK. And summers are dry. Now some plants do very well - rhododendrons, conifers, berries, apples, greens. Roses will be easier here than in AK. I don't even bother with tomatoes or squashes or melons on the other hand, not enough heat in summer. Last two summers in particular have been very cool. 2010 was the year without a summer at all - rarely over 65 degrees (and then it was 95). Last summer was ok, but late (mid July) and never hot, but I was happy with upper 70s - sure beat 65.

You can plant year - round here so long as the soil is neither waterlogged nor frozen, and it's rarely frozen for more than an inch or two and only for a few days at a time.

I don't know where Palmer is. Friends who lived in Anchorage for a while say winters there are not much colder than here, the big difference being daylength and precipitation. While our days are longer (about 7.5 hrs at solstice) you won't see the sun for weeks at a time due to constant cloud cover and rain. Think Juneau.

No moose here, but deer wreak havoc in gardens, even in town. The state Capitol campus in the middle of the city took out its old rose garden because of the deer. And outlying areas can be visited by black bear (no grizzlies) or cougar.

Here is a link that might be useful: Growing Roses in Olympia

Thank you all so much for the great info.

Reg PNW 7- where are you from in CA? I grew up in Walnut Creek (East Bay area), so I know what you mean about the heavy clay. In Alaska we had really amazing soil, but it was just frozen for most of the year. :-)

Palmer is 1 hour north of Anchorage, and our winters can be a lot colder than theirs. Right now it's -3, and that's just in November. The summers are short, but the nearly 21 hours of daylight are really something. It never gets much higher than the mid-sixties (a day or two of 70 if we are lucky). And as far as wet goes, we don't have a lot of it, so it'll certainly be an adjustment. I went to college in Eugene, OR though, so at least I had a small taste of something like what you all experience.

Caitrose, I lived in San Mateo and Santa Clara Counties for most of my life, and went to undergrad at UC Berkeley. Yes we had real clay! Here when people say they have heavy clay, a particle analysis shows just clay loam, which I'd love to have.

If you're as into soil as I am then you need this web link for the Thurston County Geodata Center. They list every parcel in the county with tons of info, and most have the specific soil series included, so you can check the soil for any property you're interested in. Then if you want you can look up that soil series on the USDA's Web Soil Survey for even more info. My own personal wish list is for Yelm Fine Sandy Loam. All I've ever had here is Alderwood Gravelly Sandy Loam - no root rot as I said, but no nutrients or water holding capacity either. And no root crops. On the other hand the dogs don't dig very deep because of all the rocks.

As Ian said, the soils are finer to the north and get coarser and rockier to the south, although there are some nice loams in the Black Hills and Bald Hills.

Did I mention the mud??? muddy from Sept to May. I look forward to freezing soil weather - no mud.

I have not had a killing frost yet but I expect one any time now. Not that it's warm but it's only 38 degrees at my house right now. It oscillates around 40 degrees most of the winter. People moving here from Minnesota laugh at our winters, and Alaskans and Coloradans wear shorts all winter long here (keeps your pants dry in the rain). But it won't be warm until June.

Here is a link that might be useful: Thurston County Geodata Center

Welcome, you're going to love the milder weather here as compared to Alaska! We're located east of Kent toward Black Diamond at 500' so have colder temps & more rain than Seattle or even 15 miles away on the Kent East Hill where my parents live. His garden is weeks ahead of mine, so even if he plants out later his garden catches up & surpasses ours. Each location has it's own micro climate as mentioned.

Here's a garden update I wrote on May 31 to a friend about our veg. garden. This spring was cooler & wetter than usual, so even our raised beds weren't ready for planting until late.

We didn't plant the spring vegs (carrots, beets, Walla Walla starts, swiss chard, etc.) until mid April and only lately are we seeing some measurable growth. Last year we planted in mid February, which was unusually early. Most years we plant the early things sometime in March. Presprouted potatoes are growing slowly. The transplanted cabbage family vegetables just sat there for weeks. I've noticed the Kohlrabi wants to bolt as usual for us. All of it is tasty even if we don't get a good sized bulb. Transplanted lettuces have had 3 cuttings of the outer leaves with the 1st on Mother's Day barely enough for hamburgers for 10 people. The recent cuttings have been more abundant. A few have damped off in our wet soils.
Lettuces sown in milk jugs or lettuce mix containers have been cut a few times as well as baby lettuces. What I planted in April surpassed the March planting. All were outside.
Red Russian Kale is a no brainer once I learned to let it self sow. Starts easily from seed, grows well, cut outer bottom leaves after you have at least 4 leaves, and slugs don't seem to be attracted to it as much. Pick often, chop it fine & put it in everything. Cooked you almost can't find it other than little green things. Baby leaves okay for salad, but usually we eat it cooked in stir fry, added to meatloaf, topping on pizza sauce, in pasta salad, etc.
Slug control seems to be constant. We spray with ammonia diluted with 4-5parts water. I'm not exactly measuring it all the time, but direct hits on the gray baby slugs are fatal. The large slugs need to be removed with a stick & dropped into a bucket of water or skewered. Spray works well in between lettuce leaves, so I am generous with the spraying because I can't see those baby slugs, but they eat holes. The ammonia turns to nitrogen & doesn't harm you or plants. I don't want to give up growing lettuces so I use it. For around the clock control I apply Sluggo (looks like tic tacs) because it's safe for you or pets if they come in contact with it. I dislike the slimy slugs in bait stations, but many people like to set those up. I do lay lettuce leaves or banana peels out to attract the slugs, then lift up & destroy the hiding slugs. Same thing works with a small board or something that gives them a dark, moist hiding spot that works as a trap for you to get 'em.
Do your patrols after a rain or early evening for best results. All slugs have to do at night is eat your garden.

Right now in late November what is standing will continue to be harvested as needed. Swiss chard, flat leaf parsley, cabbage, kale, baby lettuces/greens, beets, onions, leeks, broccoli, celery, & evergreen herbs. We recently harvested the last of the potatoes & carrots and the chives protected from frost are still looking good.

Here is a link that might be useful: Garden Vegetable Planting in Western Washington.doc Garden Vegetable Planting in Western Washington