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August 2007
The weather has not been very 'summery' for most of you- but we do need this
rain- and I think it will warm up again for the month of September- fingers
crossed.
A note on FALL vegetables - time to plant your spinach, cabbage and lettuces
- through September. Wait until September to sow the seeds of root veggies, like
beets and carrots, as well as snow peas. They will go through the winter with a
few leaves and then have growth spurt in February and March when others are just
getting started.
Also a good time to over-seed the lawn and repair patches -leave the clippings
on the lawn to feed the soil, if you usually collect them.
If you are composting outdoors - you want the pile to really heat up- make
sure to stir it up a bit then layer some blood meal into the pile- maybe 4-6
cups for a large pile, make sure to water the pile really well and layer over
the top of the blood meal with some soil - this will really get it cooking.
Keeping the pile moist, but not wet, and stirring it up once in awhile keeps it
aerobic and adds much needed air to the process.
Our honey bees seem to be doing well - we hope to have some honey this fall.
I know they did their work this spring - because we had so many peaches,
raspberries, strawberries, and plums!
May 2007
Hello gardeners!
Well here we are in full swing of gardening season, and I'm just getting the
tomato plants ordered - Why? because the nights have still been too cold for
planting them out! This year I'm ordering the largest selection of tomatoes I've
ever ordered - many varieties recommended by Carl Elliot -- KUOW's now retired
Organic Radio Gardener. Varieties like Stupice, Oregon Spring. Cherokee Purple,
Sun Gold, plus many more. These varieties were all tested at Seattle Tilth
Gardens for years, and from the Seeds of Change gardens, So they've been proven
best for Northwest gardens- ours are grown by Rent's Due Ranch- organically.
We have been getting some pretty exciting Collectors plants in - like
Kaleidoscope Podophyllum- see this web-page for details - www.plantdelights.com/Catalog/Current/Detail/05139.html.
He sells this plant for $40.00 + S/H.
We've also gotten in some pretty amazing hostas - like Fire Island - a very
bright gold hosta with red petioles- a medium sized hosta - but oh - what color!
Plant it near a blue Hosta - like Blue Umbrellas or Blue Angel- they will show
each other off!
The most amazing Oriental Poppy I've ever seen- Papaver orientale ‘Patty’s
Plum’ Grape color petals with black center. To die for!! It's like antique
silk chiffon - beautiful!
Echeverias, Aeoniums, and many more, for great container combinations.
The Roses are starting to bloom- you gotta come smell them - they smell
delightful!
I am proud to say that our Olde Roses look and smell dreamy! If you have been
afraid of roses because you believe them to be fussy, hard to care for, or a
pain - you really should grow Antique roses - they are so easy - really, I mean
it. You don't even have to prune them for them to bloom. Old roses don’t require
the stringent and careful pruning that is needed by many modern sorts - in fact,
they can sulk and refuse to bloom if pruned too hard. Roses have been around for
centuries - They are resistant to disease and blackspot. All you have to do is
give them a great start- a well amended spot in the sunny garden - with Worm
Castings, of course, and then top dress and fertilize them in the spring - and
that is it. How hard can it be? Old roses offer the gardener a wonderful array
of gardening opportunities. They are time tested survivors whose versatility in
our gardens are unmatched by any other plant types. Roses, particularly the
older varieties, come in so many forms that they are limitless in their garden
use. They climb, they ramble, they trail, and they form bushes large and small.
They bloom steadily for several seasons or overwhelmingly for one. They can be
used as the background for a bed, or forms its backbone, or be massed for color
in the foreground. They even settle happily into containers for those who have
no garden space at all.
Have you ever read Tasha Tudor? If you like antique flowers - you should. Her
nineteenth century New England lifestyle is legendary. 'Paradise on earth' is
how she describes her gardens. She is truly inspiring for cottage garden style
gardens.
We now offer the following:
- Bagged organic fertilizers, in 2lb. packages
- Worm Tea Brewers - this is a super easy and affordable system for home
gardeners (see attachment below for benefits of worm tea)
- Barefoot Soil Worm Castings- see attachment for benefits- you shouldn't
garden organically without it! This soil is amazing!
- Gift Certificates- for teachers, neighbors, friends, co-workers,
gardeners.
Some Events:
May 26th - 11am-3pm - Ask the Experts about the benefits of worm castings
and worm teas. Yelm Worm and Castings farm will be here to answer all of your
questions about worms and vermi-composting.
Check out the tea brewers! So easy to use and so good for the garden! Free.
Worm Tea page
June 2nd @ 11am Hypertufa half-stone cousins-what are these you ask? Come
and see. Come prepared to get messy and have some fun creating your own garden
Art. $45 all supplies included, must preregister, prepay. Limit to 8 in class
16th @ 1PM- Rose talk with Calvin Creasey- learn how easy it is to grow old
roses- and why we fall in love with them- the fragrance is heavenly!
23rd- English High Tea- The Daughters of the British Empire will be serving
.High Tea. Stroll through the winding paths of the gardens and gather ideas for
your garden. We will feature Local artists selling handmade items, Including
pottery, jewelry, original silk screened shirts, paintings and more. This event
is open to the public, No reservation required. Join us 11-4:30
We got our Honey Bees!
March 2007 - In the Garden
Trilliums are here!! We have a great
selection of Northwest Native Trillium Ovatum. We get our Trilliums
from a local Grower. They are seed grown or from divisions. You can
be sure these are not collected from the wild. Best selection in the last
two weeks of March.
Hello all!
We can come out of hibernation. We are finally seeing the first signs of spring,
trees are blooming, the daffodils are up, primrose are smiling up at us. This
has not been a winter for much gardening- for me anyway. How happy I am that
spring is just around the corner! We can put all the unusual winter storms
behind us and look forward to the year ahead.
Most of us are assessing the damages the cold temperatures had on our gardens.
Some plants may not have fared so well - I know I lost some zonal denial plants
- that certainly does not mean I won't keep pushing the envelope - I WILL!
I look at the losses as an open invitation to put something else in that I have
been considering- a plant, container, trellis, garden art... whatever it may be.
Change is good. Change means growth. We could all do with a bit of change - look
how happy we are about the weather change! It helps to welcome changes and not
become attached to the way things were. This is sometimes difficult, but we move
through life more peacefully when we welcome the changes.
We are making some changes and want to share it with you.
Join us for our
SPRING CLEARANCE SALE
30-50% off
Select Vietnamese Pottery
Shrubs
Vines and
Perennials
This is when I am planting new perennials and filling in spaces and mulching,
mulching, mulching. This practice feeds my plants, helps reduce evaporation,
keeps the roots cool, KEEPS THE WEEDS DOWN (this is my ALMOST favorite reason)
and keeps my worms happy and working for me, (I like worms-this IS my favorite
reason) by aerating the soil, allowing water to travel around under the soil
easier- plus they take the food right to the plants roots-WOW! That makes more
time for me to just enjoy, and plan the next bed. Hopefully, by now most of those
leaves that I put in the perennial beds has broken down some, if not- well, I
lazily rake some of it out, and then mulch right over top of the rest. If it's a
lot- it goes in the compost or- I start piling leaves where I want a new flower
bed. The kind of underground activity this stirs up is Incredible! Think WORMS!
When I am planting, I like to add a handful of Worm castings (and/or homemade
compost) right in the planting hole, this way I know I am adding humus and
microbial life right where it counts.
I know I am helping my plants to develop a symbiotic relationship with the
soil fungi, increasing resistance to disease, growing healthier plants, and thus
breaking the cycle of fighting off bugs and disease.
I'll let the birds do the work- they can keep the bug population in
check-that's their job. I do not feed my birds, or they get lazy. (who
wouldn't?) I want them to come to my yard and eat as much as they want- and by
not spraying the bugs I know that I am also keeping the birds healthier, who
wants to eat chemicals? Plus I am reducing transplant shock and helping with
water I am also walking through deciding which fall blooming plants need
divided. If there's a big clump of something with a dead patch in the center, or
that didn't bloom well last year- that is the first one to be divided into
smaller clumps, and moved around. I'm also looking to see where do I want to add
some spring color? How can I work something in there, how tall should it be?
This is where an ornamental container of some sort would fill a spot
immediately. Add some interest- then remove it when it's done. What color would
be best? Visit a Nursery to see what is in bloom. What has outgrown the spot I
put it in- and where would it be better suited? I'm also listening to the birds
sing, and I find myself sitting down to enjoy all the beauty that I have been
looking at as work, meanwhile the birds are singing while they work. So I
listen...
7 April 2005 - Village Green Begins Native Plant Partnership
Go Natives! is a partnership between Village Green Perennial Nursery, Donald
Norman of Norman Wildlife Consulting and Bonnie Blessing of Mardee Resources. Don
and Bonnie, both biologists, realized that native plants were not available to
many homeowners, as well as the information about designing the planting of
natives to attract wildlife. They knew that natives require less maintenance,
water, fertilizers and pesticides, but that few were available at local
nurseries. They began buying plants and doing outreach at neighborhood plant
sales in the fall of 2004 but realized that a retail outlet was necessary. Since
Village Green Perennial Nursery is also working to provide pesticide free plants
and non-chemical fertilizers like worm castings, it was a great opportunity to
join forces. Village Green now has over 70 native plants available for sale at
the nursery.
Both Don and Bonnie have both worked on urban habitat issues, including
assisting the Urban Ecology program at the University of Washington. Because
they have worked in numerous restoration projects, they are knowledgeable about
removing the English ivy, Himalayan blackberry, clematis and holly that are
overtaking our native habitats. Making the conversion from a yard with noxious
weeds and unwanted lawn to an esthetically pleasing, low maintenance garden is
their goal. Don is a volunteer at Seattle Audubon (his yard has been featured in
Audubon Magazine) where he works with the Gardening for Life program. Bonnie has
worked on amphibian conservation and has landscaping experience. Their approach
to backyards is ecological, simple, and cost effective. The large number of
available native plants allows the same great colors, forms and textures
Northwest gardens have been able to achieve, but with less impact on salmon and
more inviting to wildlife.
Don and Bonnie are both available to help with yard consultation, design, and
installation. Watch for "Ask the Experts" weekends at Village Green, when they
will give a talk, band birds, or show off a local native plant. To reach them,
contact Don at (206) 542-1275 and Bonnie at (206) 706-0904.
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