West Seattle Blog…

Happening now: West Seattle Garden Tour 2014, Admiral to Westwood

A peaceful, beautiful landscape including stone and water features is one of the nine residential stops on this year’s West Seattle Garden Tour, under way until 5 pm. This is where you’ll find renowned photographer Art Wolfe, who is there talking with visitors (below, in sunglasses) as well as selling and signing his books.

Also open for Garden Tour visitors, the 35th/Barton P-Patch.

Its masonry oven was in action this morning, baking fresh bagels:

Other stops on the tour – listed and mapped in the ticket book but not online – range from Admiral to Gatewood. It’s self-guided, so you don’t have to go in any particular order, as long as you complete your tour by 5 pm – ticket-book locations are on the right side of the WSGT home page.

West Seattle Garden Tour tomorrow: Meet Art Wolfe at his garden

The West Seattle Garden Tour is about the gardeners as well as the gardens. On this year’s WSGT – 9 am-5 pm tomorrow – the nine residential gardens includes one belonging to someone who is world-renowned for his amazing images of our Earth’s beautiful creatures and places – photographer Art Wolfe. You can see a preview on his Facebook page. Your WSGT ticket book also gets you in to Susie Egan‘s lecture at The Kenney (WSB sponsor) at noon. If you don’t have your ticket book yet – it includes the gardens’ addresses – you should be able to get one in the morning before going on the tour at locations that are open on Sunday, including Metropolitan Market-Admiral (WSB sponsor) and West Seattle Nursery (all ticket locations are listed on the right side of the WSGT home page).

First week for High Point Market Garden Farm Stand

It doesn’t get much fresher than a stand selling organic produce right next to the big garden where it’s grown, and that’s what’s happening until 7 pm at the High Point Market Garden Farm Stand (32nd/Juneau), during this season’s first weekly opportunity for public purchases. Here’s the produce/price list for this week:

High Point is one of two Market Gardens that are part of the city Department of Neighborhoods community-gardening program. The produce stand will be open to the public every Wednesday, 4-7 pm, through the end of September.

High Point Market Garden to open for the season Wednesday

(2011 WSB photo from High Point Market Garden)
This Wednesday is your first chance to buy fresh organic produce picked steps away from the point of sale – opening day for the High Point Market Garden Farm Stand, just announced by the city. It’s at 32nd/Juneau (map) and it’ll be open 4-7 pm Wednesdays, July 9th-September 24th. The first harvest is expected to include spinach, carrots, leafy vegetables, new onions, peas, turnips, and radishes. The city announcement adds that the stand and its counterpart at NewHolly “accept EBT cards and participate in Fresh Bucks which doubles consumers’ first $10 spent on the card.

West Seattle Garden Tour 2014: 2 weeks until your chance to tour 10 memorable local gardens

It’s a big year for anniversaries and the West Seattle Garden Tour is part of it – celebrating its 20th anniversary! We are now exactly two weeks away from the WSGT, which is a self-guided tour, 9 am-5 pm Sunday, July 20th. Ticket books are on sale, including the addresses of the nine residential gardens that are featured – along with the West Seattle Bee Garden in High Point – and the WSGT notes that among the nine is the garden of world-famous nature/culture photographer Art Wolfe, who will be there to talk with visitors and sign books. Your WSGT admission includes the guest lunchtime lecturer, Susie Egan, speaking at noon on tour day at The Kenney (WSB sponsor); she owns the private two-acre botanical garden/nursery Cottage Lake Gardens near Woodinville. WSGT is a nonprofit and its net proceeds in turn benefit other local nonprofits – see this year’s beneficiaries here. You have seven places/ways to buy your ticket book right now – here’s that list.

Fire and rain: Barton Street Community Garden/P-Patch wood-fired pizza party

Rain makes a garden grow, and it didn’t stop the gardeners of the Barton Street P-Patch from throwing a community pizza (and more) party today as promised.

We stopped by this afternoon for a quick look, and found Brad making the wood-fired-oven magic happen.

The season kickoff started with bagel-baking this morning and continues with pizza until 5 pm; as for future open-to-the-public dates, we’re told that’s still under discussion. The community-created garden is in its third full season at 34th and Barton.

Longfellow Creek P-Patch gets TLC from Troop 282 & friends

A community garden badly in need of TLC got it thanks to West Seattle Boy Scouts; now, it’s your turn to show some love. Julie Nugent-Carney shares the photos and this report:

(Last) weekend, Troop 282 restored the Longfellow Creek Community Garden/P-Patch, which had been vandalized and fallen into disrepair. This was organized and led by my son (Jacob Carney) as part of his Eagle Project.

There were more than 40 volunteers, and 800 pounds of garbage was hauled away. They spread a dump truck’s worth of new bark on all the paths and installed a new sign. We’re hoping people will take notice and start using the P-Patch again to discourage the vandals.

The garden is at 2500 SW Thistle, just east of where the creek borders the Chief Sealth International High School parking lot.

Never mind the grill: Outdoor bread, pizza baking Sunday at Barton Street Community Garden

Barbecue grills might be the official outdoor-cooking appliances of summer, but you can break the mold by joining in wood-fired baking with the Barton Street Community Garden and P-Patch, which invites you to drop by sometime this Sunday:

The 2014 gardening season is underway! To mark the start of summer, the Barton Street Community Garden and P-Patch will fire up its wood-fired masonry bread and pizza oven. Architect and designer/builder Chris Luthi, who led the project construction, will host. He’ll introduce the use of traditional community ovens as well as masonry oven cooking techniques. Neighbors are invited to join the event, which will feature baking bread and bagel in the morning and pizzas in the afternoon. Participants are encouraged to bring cheese, sauce and toppings for pizzas, and a limited amount of dough for bagels and pizzas will be provided. This informational and fundraising event is open to all.

WHO: Barton Street Community Garden and P-Patch

WHAT: Fire It Up! Bread and Pizza Oven Season Opener

WHERE: Barton St. Community Garden and P-Patch, SW Corner of SW Barton Street and 34th St. SW

WHEN: Sunday, May 25, 2014, 10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.

WHAT TO BRING: Cheese, sauce, pizza toppings, drinks, chairs

Donations are warmly welcome!

This is the garden/P-patch’s third full growing year.

Teamwork! Morgan Junction ‘triangle property’ blossoms with community, church collaboration

What once was something of an eyesore is getting beautified, bit by bit, reports Barry White with Friends of Morgan Junction Parks, who also shared the photos:

A delegation from Peace Lutheran Church again joined Friends of Morgan Junction Parks in our ongoing restoration project of the Junction triangle property. The two groups first teamed up last September to clear brush and weeds from the overgrown site. The groups continued that work (on Sunday) and began the process of arborizing some of the many shrubs that sprang up from the fruit of the strawberry tree (arbutus unedo), with the long range plan of training the shrubs to match the structure of the parents and create an extensive shaded canopy on the site. A sunny afternoon aided the labor of the small but dedicated group and we accomplished nearly every task on our list. Thanks to everyone who turned out.

See more photos on the FoMJP Facebook page.

You can help! K-5 STEM & Arbor Heights Elementary Garden Party at Boren this Saturday

More fun this Saturday: 9 am to noon, it’s a combined garden party at the Boren Building campus for the two schools that will share it for the next two years, K-5 STEM (now permanently housed there) and Arbor Heights Elementary (moving in while the new AHES is built). You don’t have to be a parent, student, or staffer to help out – they’ll welcome the entire community. Scroll through the flyer above for info (or see it here as a PDF), and just be there on Saturday morning, 5950 Delridge Way SW (map).

Another house making way for a park: Demolition under way at Puget Ridge Edible Park site

On West Seattle’s Puget Ridge, this house demolition happening now is big news – it’s the long-awaited removal of the house on the future site of Puget Ridge Edible Park (18th/Brandon). Thanks to Stu Hennessey for the photo and word that demolition has begun. PREP has been in the works for years – here’s our March 2011 report about volunteers working on the plan after the city agreed to buy the 3/4-acre site with Parks and Green Spaces Levy Opportunity Fund money. As noted on the project page, the vision for PREP is “to create an urban community farm which is a neighborhood meeting place, a community food garden and a test site for environmentally conscientious sustainability.” We’ll be following up on where the park-development plan goes from here, now that the site’s being cleared.

West Seattle Garden Tour poster-art winner announced: Congratulations, Sue Madill

The announcement just in from Clay Swidler of the West Seattle Garden Tour:

The West Seattle Garden Tour is thrilled to announce Sue Madill as the winning artist chosen for the WSGT’s 20th Anniversary Poster! The original painting will also be for sale at one of the nine gardens featured on this year’s July 20th garden tour. (Location to be announced.) Congratulations, Sue!

This year’s tour is on July 20th – more info here.

You can help! Join the West Seattle Bee Garden team

In a month – as announced here – it’ll be time for the second annual West Seattle Bee Festival. But first, the centerpiece of the celebration, the WS Bee Garden, needs you:

Looking to participate in a Community P-Patch?

The West Seattle Bee Garden, located in the Commons Park P-Patch, could use your help!

We are seeking gardeners to help with weeding, watering, planting and general maintenance of the grounds. Come be part of the pollination-garden team!

To become a Pollination Gardener, please contact Lauren Englund at lcenglund@yahoo.com, or 616-502-3182

Also, everyone is invited to join us at our work party Saturday April 12th from 10 am-2 pm.
Sign up here.

More information about the garden here: westseattlebeegarden.com

The pollinators, plants and fellow gardeners thank you!

Think summer! West Seattle Garden Tour poster-art contest, guest lecturer announced

Summer’s really not that far away. Funny to say as snow remains on the ground, but it’s true, and that’s why the West Seattle Garden Tour has just made two announcements about the 20th-anniversary edition of the event this year – first, the art contest, with a $500 prize and a deadline just four weeks away:

Our milestone garden tour, showcasing nine spectacular NW residential gardens in West Seattle, will take place on Sunday, July 20th 2014 from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm.

We are also thrilled to announce our 2014 WSGT Poster contest. Over the last several years, the greater Seattle arts community has been encouraged to enter our annual poster contest highlighting Art in the Garden. This year’s contest entrants are encouraged to consider our 20th Anniversary when submitting their artwork. The deadline for entries is March 8th, 2014. (Submission guidelines and entry form here.)

2014 WSGT Guest Lecturer

The WSGT is pleased to present Susie Egan as our 2014 Guest Lecturer. Susie will speak to our garden enthusiasts at 12:00 pm July 20th at the Kenney Retirement Center in West Seattle. She is the owner of Cottage Lake Gardens, a private two-acre botanical garden and plant nursery located on Cottage Lake in Woodinville. In recent years Susie’s been focusing on the study and propagation of native and woodland shade plants particularly trilliums, an endangered wildflower. She is currently working toward establishing a National Trillium Collection at Cottage Lake Gardens whose purpose will be to conserve, grow, propagate, and make available the many species of trilliums.

As noted on its website, the WSGT raises money for local nonprofits. Tickets will go on sale in May.

West Seattle Bee Garden: The buzz for what’s in the works

(May 2013 photo by WSB’s Katie Meyer)
So what do you do for an encore after you launch a brand-new educational garden with a parade and festival AND win the West Seattle Chamber of Commerce Westsider of the Year award? West Seattle Bee Garden founder Lauren Englund sends word that even bigger things are ahead for the WSBG in the new year – and recaps some of what else happened along the way:

Guess what, the West Seattle Bee Garden (WSBG) crew made a last-minute decision to apply for another Department of Neighborhoods Matching Fund grant this year, and was awarded $18,000! Fantastic news!

This year has been great; not only did West Seattle come together and create the space from scratch in less than three months, but eleven field trips took place there, including a spectacular Seattle Public Library reading event which packed the place with eager learners.

The garden has also had a constant stream of visitors from near and far – really need a guestbook!

Also, local companies including Shipwreck Honey and Seattle Bee Works helped out by building the hives and hosting beekeeping classes at the space. Interested in beekeeping? Keep an eye out for more opportunities down the road!

Here are a few changes you can expect to see at the WSBG, and educational opportunities we hope to share beyond our Bee Garden borders:

Click to read the rest of West Seattle Bee Garden: The buzz for what’s in the works…

‘One person can make a difference’: West Seattle Junction ‘stump dump’ transformed

Maybe while you were in The Junction for Sunday’s Harvest Festival – or some other visit to shop and/or dine – you noticed that newly planted mini-garden on the southwest corner of California/Alaska. You might remember when it was mostly just home to a tree stump:

Here’s the person you can thank for the transformation – Elois Gruenhagen:

The retired West Seattle teacher was featured here last June for her beautification work a bit further north, by Red Cup Espresso, whose co-proprietor Breanna Baillie sent along the photos and also this story of what Elois did and why; here’s our transcription:

‘Downtown West Seattle’ says the sign. Below was a stump used as a dump. Elois Gruenhagen has walked by that stump for 6 years hoping that someone would remove it. This spring, Elois vowed that stump would be gone by fall even if she had to sit on a little chair beside it so someone would notice.

She contacted Susan (Melrose, director of the West Seattle Junction Association). The process had begun. Elois says, “It may take many to accomplish a task, but only one to start it.”

A few weeks ago, a former first-grade student, now grown, told Elois that what he remembers about first grade was that he learned to love plants and gardening so he is teaching his daughter. One person can make a difference.

Take a walk by the corner of Alaska and California where the stump used to be and see the difference.

Thank you Elois, Susan, those who furnished plants, and Great Harvest for providing water when needed.

PLEASE DO NOT USE THIS PLANTING OR ANY OTHER AS AN ASHTRAY OR DUMP. THANK YOU!

And thank YOU, Elois.

P.S. Thanks also to Kerry, who e-mailed us a few days ago wondering if a “guerrilla gardener” was at work and sharing this photo:

We had just begun to investigate when Elois stopped by during the Harvest Festival to mention the project and promised information would be on the way.

Happening now: Little Red Hen Project’s first fundraiser

You still have time to get over to West Seattle Nursery (California/Brandon) and meet the friendly folks working on The Little Red Hen Project - teaching and encouraging backyard farming in eastern West Seattle; they’re raffling off cool items and talking to people about the project, until 4. If you didn’t make it to today’s event – read more about the project and its work at Delridge Community Center by going here.

Tomorrow: The Little Red Hen Project is ready to meet you

Another big event tomorrow – your chance to assist, and find out about, a new program to help turn the Delridge “food desert” into something more like a “food oasis.” Starting at 1 pm at West Seattle Nursery, it’s the first fall fundraiser for The Little Red Hen Project. Jen Dowell explains:

The Little Red Hen Project will provide the underserved Delridge community with a way to grow, maintain, cook, and preserve sustainable back yard food.

We are a new Seattle Tilth fiscally sponsored program located in the heart of the Delridge food desert at the Delridge Community Center. We have begun work at the DCC with the teens program and will continue our progress by encouraging community members to enter our teaching program to learn how to grow their own food. With the support of the Seattle Master Gardeners program, we have access to Seattleites in the Master Gardener program who are completing their volunteer hours by contributing to our need for strong teachers.

This will be going on all Sunday afternoon, so even if you’re going to the Junction Harvest Festival, head a few blocks south afterward. More details on the official Facebook event page for tomorrow’s event.

Happening now: Pumpkin Festival at Lincoln Park P-Patch

The stars of the show, the pumpkins – priced in small, medium, large – were arrayed as if they were the greeters when we stopped by the Lincoln Park P-Patch Pumpkin Festival about an hour ago. The P-Patch isn’t actually at the park – it’s at what was the Lincoln Park Annex before it was renamed Solstice Park, a little bit uphill from the tennis courts on the east side of Fauntleroy Way (look for the festively decorated sign before turning). Right across from the pumpkins, before you get to the plants, bulbs, and bake sale, is this quilt:

$2 gets you a raffle ticket, benefiting the P-Patch Trust. This is all continuing until 1 pm, so get there fast!

Go fly a kite! Festival tomorrow at Seattle Chinese Garden

Continuing to spotlight some of what’s ahead, while also tracking what’s happening today – The Seattle Chinese Garden on Puget Ridge wants to make sure you know about its Kite Festival tomorrow (Saturday, August 10), 2-6 pm:

Come fly a kite at the Garden’s ridge-top site! Bring your own or buy one at the festival for a fun afternoon with family or friends. Activities for all ages include kite flying demonstrations, competitions, and kite painting. Put your own creative stamp on one you paint yourself — materials provided.

The festival also includes music and dance performances and a demonstration of eagle painting by artist George Yiqiao of Luoyang, China. Everyone will find something to enjoy at the festival, including refreshments such as Chinese bakery treats and tea.

The garden is on the north side of the South Seattle Community College (WSB sponsor) campus at 6000 16th SW.

City offering free trees! Get your request in, starting Wednesday

Want free trees for your yard? Starting Wednesday, you can apply for up to four free trees from Seattle reLeaf‘s Trees for Neighborhoods program. The program also provides free watering bags for each tree, plus training on proper planting and care.

The application can be found on the program website starting Wednesday (July 31st), and program managers say the trees go quickly, so you shouldn’t wait to apply. Different species of trees are offered, including both large and small varieties that are well-suited for urban areas. This year’s offerings include Galaxy Magnolia, Emerald Sunshine Elm, Cascara, and mountain hemlock. Find the full list here.

Since 2009, Trees for Neighborhoods has helped Seattleites plant more than 1,000 trees each year. According to Seattle reLeaf, these trees help to absorb storm water, replace carbon dioxide with oxygen, and calm traffic. Learn more about the benefits of trees in urban areas, and how to take care of them, at seattle.gov/trees.

West Seattle Garden Tour tomorrow: Explore 9 special gardens

(Sea holly and bee, photographed for WSB by Nick Adams during 2012 WS Garden Tour)
One of tomorrow’s big events is less than 14 hours away – and you have all day to enjoy it, even interspersed with other Sunday fun: The West Seattle Garden Tour runs from 9 am until 5 pm tomorrow, and your ticket book gets you the locations of, and admission to, the nine featured gardens, plus the noon presentation by Debra Prinzing, “A Year in Flowers” (at The Kenney [WSB sponsor], 7125 Fauntleroy Way SW). In addition to a day of self-guided garden touring and learning, the WSGT also is a fundraiser; net proceeds go to local nonprofits chosen each year, and this year’s half-dozen beneficiaries are listed here. If you don’t already have a ticket book, you’ll need to buy one tomorrow; ticket outlets are listed here – we’re told West Seattle Nursery (California/Brandon) is a good bet, since it’s open at 9 am, which is when the tour gardens open, too.

West Seattle-grown produce: High Point Farm Stand opens July 10th

Just announced by the city today: The P-Patch Community Garden Program’s High Point Market Garden Farm Stand opens July 10th, for weekly Wednesday sales, 4-7 pm, through October 9th. It’s at 32nd Avenue SW and SW Juneau, right next to the small “farm” where the organic produce is grown. Here’s the flyer with additional details.

Ticket sales Tuesday for 2013 West Seattle Garden Tour

The West Seattle Garden Tour is now less than one month away, and ticket sales are days away, starting this Tuesday (June 25th). Each ticket is $18 (children under 12 are free) and includes the noon lecture with author and outdoor-living expert Debra Prinzing. The tour is 9 am to 5 pm on Sunday, July 21st. Here are the ticket locations in our area:

Admiral Metropolitan Market, 2320 42nd SW

Junction True Value, 4747 44th SW

Village Green Perennial Nursery, 10223 26th Ave SW

West Seattle Nursery, 5275 California SW

To the right, you’re seeing the winning art for this year’s WSGT poster, “Blooming Palette,” created by Carrie Schmitt. Carrie receiving her prize check for $500 at Windermere West Seattle during last week’s June West Seattle Art Walk:

Posters will be sold for $10 during the tour, and Carrie’s original piece will be part of a silent auction during the tour on July 21st. The money raised, as well as other tour proceeds, will benefit these organizations.

Followup: First ‘Presto Garden’ harvest, after just one month

One month ago, volunteers organized by Sustainable West Seattle planted a “Presto Garden” to grow food for those in need (WSB coverage here). Today – the first harvest! The photo and update are from SWS’s Stu Hennessey:

The “Presto Garden” was created at a four hour work party a little more than 4 weeks ago as a final to a community forum series presented by Sustainable West Seattle. The garden was built at the Westcrest P-Patch and is a designated food bank garden for the White Center Food Bank. The forum series focused on gardening with a permaculture technique referred to as lasagna gardening. The different layers of the garden foundation were built up from the existing ground and were layered much like compost layering, green brown, green brown. You can see the results.

The first Harvest today 6/20 netted 15 pounds of lettuce and spinach to the White Center Food Bank.

High Point Market Garden: Produce subscriptions available

(High Point Market Garden; WSB photo from July 2011)
Starting next Thursday, a new season of organic produce will be available via the High Point Market Garden – and the easiest way to get your share is to subscribe. Here’s the announcement we received:

The Seattle P-Patch Market Gardens CSA (community-supported agriculture) program is accepting subscribers for its farm-fresh organic produce. Each week subscribers receive up to 15 items of seasonal produce grown at the High Point Seattle Market Garden, a city of Seattle program that helps to establish safe healthy communities and economic opportunity in low-income neighborhoods.

The cost ranges from $15 to $25 a week based on size of the share with prorated shares available.

The pick-up location (in West Seattle), dates, and times:

High Point Market Garden (32nd Avenue SW and SW Juneau Street): Thursdays from 5:00 – 7:00 p.m., June 6th through October 17

Community members can subscribe now by completing and mailing an application or contacting Julie Bryan, P-Patch Coordinator, at 206-257-8257.

Here’s the application form, which includes the mailing address. If you can’t or don’t want to commit to a subscription, the HP Market Garden also offers a weekly farm stand with on-the-spot sales – we’re checking to see when that will open for the season.

Another chance to help plant a West Seattle community garden

If you have passed Highland Park Improvement Club along SW Holden lately, you probably noticed some of the asphalt lot dug up, close to the sidewalk. This is the long-planned HPIC rain garden, close to completion, as part of a partnership with Sustainable Seattle and King County. This Saturday (June 1st), you are invited to join in finishing and planting the new community-designed garden, which will help keep toxic stormwater runoff from making its way into local waterways. The official event announcement adds that it’s a chance for you to get inspired to do something similar:

On that day, HPIC will also be the host to many other ways that you can get involved at home. Join us for the Yards in the Neighborhood Tour:

• Take part in the planting of the rain garden
• Embark on a short, self-guided walking tour to learn about rain gardens and see demonstrations of green infrastructure
• Meet RainWise contractors learn about incentives and reimbursements for installing rain gardens and cisterns
• Visit booths and see demonstrations
• Learn five easy take-home actions to help the Duwamish River!

This is all happening 10 am to 1 pm Saturday at 12th/Holden, free of charge, everybody welcome, no minimum time commitment – stop by for a few minutes or all three hours, help plant if you can (or just cheer everybody on!).