Not to toot our own horn but the Beacon Hill Garden Club has won an award from the WA State Federation of Garden Clubs. You may remember "Beacon, A Hill of Beans" with beautiful pots of beans all up and down Beacon Avenue in 2013. That project earned us a third place in civic development. Not too shabby. Our club wanted to recognize Christina Olson for coming up with the idea and spending most of the summer watering all those pots. She was granted the title of "Queen Bean" with a lovely craft project by Betty Jean.
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What: Next garden club meeting we will be teaming up with Master Gardeners to learn how to properly sharpen and take care of your tools. Mostly demos with a little time for hands on experience. Bring your rustiest tools!
Where: El Centro de la Raza, 2524 16th Ave S, Room 106. When: Thursday, February 19 at 7 pm. Why: Because we've all left a shovel or two out in the rain and now it's rusty and dull. Who: Everyone is welcome, you don't have to be a garden club member to attend.
Spotted on the web
What: Intro to Vermicomposting When: Tonight! Monday, December 1st, 6:30-7:30pm Where: UW Botanic Gardens, Center for Urban Horticulture, Douglas Classroom Cost: Free! But your generous donation of $5 at the door is appreciated! Have you ever been interested in composting with worms but found the idea a little daunting? Do you live in an apartment and don’t have much space but you do have an interest in compost dabbling? Let Crescent Calimpong lead you through the steps to build, start and keep your own vermicomposting bin, aka “worm bin”. Whether you live in an apartment or have a large yard, vermicomposting is for you. Come learn all that you need to know to get started making your own “black gold.” This is an introductory class and is geared towards those that are unfamiliar with vermicomposting. This class has plenty of room, so tell your friends and neighbors to join us! Drop ins are welcome. What: Bayview Triangle Work Party
When: Saturday, November 22nd, from 9 a.m. until noon. Where: Meet at the Shell station at 15th and Beacon Why: We were awarded a Small Sparks grant from the City of Seattle to buy plants, and it would be great to get them into the ground this fall. We would love your assistance on this work. We will provide gloves, tools and some mulch to tuck our plants in properly. Refreshments will be hot chocolate this time. Go to the Tree Ambasadors website to RSVP. I had tried pumpkins this year but only one actually produced a pumpkin. Then my neighborhood raccoon made off with it when it was the size of a baseball. Oh well. But this story from the New York Times has me inspired to try again next year. A farmer has come up with a way to grow the pumpkins into plastic molds and create awesome looking faces. No carving and mess required. Just spotted on Facebook
Saturday, October 4th, 10-3, Cascadia Edible Landscaping and Go Natives Nursery are teaming up to host a big plant sale in the Hillman City Park and Garden. They will have a variety of native plants, berry bushes and winter veggie starts for sale. There will be a small cistern demo as well as two gardening experts available to answer questions! The sale will be held in the garden, up Orcas, behind the The Hillman City Collaboratory (5623 Rainier Ave S). CityFruit has some great tips, check out their website to find out more. Know the variety. Yellow Transparent, Gala, and Gravenstein are summer apples, so were ripe this year in mid- to late summer. Most apple varieties ripen in September or October. Know what your apple is supposed to look like when ripe and when it should be ready to harvest. www.orangepippin.com is a good web site for information about apple varieties. Weather. This summer in Seattle has been especially hot and dry so that fruit is ripening about two weeks earlier than past years Seed color. As your apples get close to maturity, take one off the tree and cut it open.If the seeds are still light colored, it is too early to harvest, but if the seeds are dark brown to black, your apples should be ready to harvest. Take a bite to confirm that the fruit is sweet enough to harvest. Skin color. Red apples will get deeper in color as the fruit gets closer to harvest. Green apples will gain a creamy white or yellowish tinge when they are ripe. Location on the tree. Not all apples ripen at the same time on the same tree. Apples in a sunny spot, especially the south side, ripen before apples in the shade or on inner branches of the tree. Dropping from the tree. An apple tree will drop diseased or damaged fruit before the crop is ready, but if there is healthy, pest-free fruit on the ground, it's time to harvest. The best time to pick an apple is when it is almost ready to let go by itself. Lift the apple up gently. If ripe, it will release easily into your hand. If it continues to hang on the tree, it's not ready. How About European Pears (Bartlett, d’Anjou, Bosc, Comice, etc.)? European pears do not ripen on the tree. If you wait to harvest these pears until they appear to be ripe, they will be mushy inside. As with apples, a harvest-ready pear should easily come away from the branch when you lift it up. After picking, most European pears will require some amount of chilling, just two days for Bartletts, but 2-6 weeks for winter pears such as d”Anjou and Bosc. After chilling, the pears will ripen in 5-10 days at room temperature. Asian Pears? Asian pears ripen on the tree. The pear is ripe when it is sweet and juicy and has crisp flesh and thin skin. Its aroma should be strong and sweet. Taste it! If it’s sweet and juicy, the pear is ripe. As for apples and Asian pears, the fruit should easily come off the branch when you lift the fruit up. If you have to pull the pear off the branch, it is not ready to harvest. Wondering what to do now that summer is winding down and rains are returning? Well, there's plenty to keep you busy around town. The Center for Urban Horticulture and UW Botanic Gardens have an impressive line up of classes for gardeners of all skill levels and interest, from botanical watercolor painting to tours of the gardens. Seattle Tilth has classes that include cooking, foraging and urban farming.
There are a lot of events focused around the bounty of the season, from cider pressing to cheese tasting. Slow Food, Edible Seattle, and City Fruit are all great resources for what's going on in your neighborhood. In fact, this Saturday (9/21) there is a Harvest Festival at Danny Woo Community Garden. On Sunday (9/22) there is a community BBQ at the Rainier Urban Farm. Have an event or class you would like to share? Just email us the details. One small town in the Netherlands has your solution, it's amazing what they are doing with flowers. ThCheck it out!
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