new in Kalama and Gardening

Hi! I'm a ex city kid,new to Kalama, WA AND gardening,have a small planting area that faces N-NE(and its windy) and one that has some S-SW exposure..Under the weeds there is lovely orange Kalama MUD!
I want to work it ( for vegetables). Any suggestions?

I would suggest finding a source of horse manure, compost, or other such amendments. Mulch the area now, but don't dig it in until it is dryer in the spring, especially if your soil is soggy. The worms will get started on the work for you. If you do a soil test for PH, you will find out if your soil also needs to be limed to make it less acidic. Use agricultural or dolomote lime or oyster shell, not hydrated lime (which is for outhouses). The southern exposure is probably better, but there are probably things you can plant in the north facing windy area successfuly. It might take some experimentation. Good luck.

O.K. - I'm really exposing my gardening ignorance with this question, but here goes: Why is a southern exposure the most desirable for gardening? My assumption is that (assuming all other variables are equal), a southern exposure gets the most light. Is this so? Are there any other reasons? Quite coincidentally, my home is situated towards the northeast "corner" of the property, leaving a mostly southern and western exposure free for planting. To what extent should i consider this issue as i select my plant material?

Probably go easy on choosing shade plants, initially.

The s-sw exposure will give you the most sun exposure for the day - for a vegetable bed that is essential. Few vegetables grow well in shade - having said that, there are several that say thank you for some cover from the hottest exposure (most lettuces for instance), and I find that strawberries and cucumbers do well in light shade.

In the decorative garden a southern exposure gives you more latitude for planting: it is easy to create a shady area in a southern exposure. I am a bit stumped how to create a hot bed in a northern exposure.

I agree with everything in Laurie's post. That said, this all partly depends on the terms of the exposure: how steeply your land is sloped to the north, and also how much shade might be coming from other factors like buildings, trees and shrubs. In our region, fairly far north in the latitudes, the sun takes a while to get higher in the sky as winter draws to a close. Sunlight is part of the equation, but also frost retention keeping the soil colder and delaying seed germination (watch where the snow melts first out in your yard for a potential good vegetable garden location), and windy conditions can be hard on plants so you should look at what areas have more protection from the wind.
My personal conditions do not match the ideal in that my whole property slopes slightly to the northeast. However, I do have sun all day long since there are few trees except those that I have planted and are still small. I have had successful vegetable gardens here as I have developed raised beds and generally try to plant with the seasons rather that pressing the envelope too early.

For veggie gardening in our climate, I highly recommend "Growing Vegetables West of the Cascades" by Steve Solomon. He's the founder of Territorial Seeds, and a very practical guy. In particular he has an inexpensive recipe for an excellent and versatile home-blended organic fertilizer. As I mentioned in a book review on this site, every time he recommended one thing and I did something else, I was wrong...

Another excellent reference for our area is "Maritime Northwest Garden Guide" published by Seattle Tilth. It focuses on gardening in our western Washington climate, and has month-by-month recommendations about what to start indoors and outdoors every month of the year. It also contains variety names of veggies, flowers, and herbs that generally do well in our area.

Both books are usually available at Black Lake Organics just west of Tumwater.