I consider myself a novice gardener but I'm continuously amazed at what a food focused city Seattle is. Last year was a test run for my garden and I inevitably found that many of the veggies that I grew in the south, are very hard to bring to maturity in our unique climate.
So, I'm interesting in discussing northwest gardening and to know more about what other backyard gardeners are planting this year. A seed/starter swap was also mentioned a while back. Was anything ever scheduled?
Check the top of our events page - one of the library branches has an ongoing seed swap, for starters.
Bayou...
i am still interested in a swap.. and an idea exchange.
***
also.. on an NPR program yesterday someone was talking about success with Russian hybrid tomatoes but wouldn't leak the name of the nursery in the north part of seattle that carries them.
anyone know?
also.. has anyone tried the upside down tomato planter? the idea seems good but it looks liked it might be a real chore to keep watered. i know someone who posted here last year used a tomato cozy with good results.. a plastic cozy filled with water... that would achieve similar results.. warmed roots...
any thoughts?
Thanks for the tip TR!
I haven't tried the upside down planter but I would love to have some heirloom tomatoes. Last year I had a hard time finding any heirloom starter plants. I can't do seed starters inside because my kitties think that plants are tasty treats just for them.
I love the potato condo idea too. Any idea when it's a good time to put them in the dirt?
I'm one of the volunteers that is helping to organize the Edible Garden Fair, which will be at South Seattle Community College on Sunday, May 23rd, 9:30 AM - 4 PM.
We are planning to have an area where people can bring garden-related things to swap or "freecycle". You are all more than welcome to bring seeds & seedlings to trade or give away!
You can also bring garden books, pots, buckets, trays/flats, tools, tomato cages, gloves, potting soil, birdhouses and feeders, extra seeds or plant starts, sprinkling cans, garden hoses, wheelbarrows, rain barrels, composters, rototillers and more…
Looking for usable, FREE garden stuff? Stop by and see what you can find!
More details are here:
http://westseattleblog.com/blog/forum/topic.php?id=4519
Hope to see all of you there!
B-squared
Member Profile
Bayou- please consider visiting (early!) the Seattle Tilth Edible plant sale on May 2 and 3rd. many varieties of things hard to come by at nurseries.
PM me if you want more info - i volunteer at the sale and am a member.
http://www.seattletilth.org/special_events/EPS/PlantSale09
Russian tomatoes on their list include:
Urbikany
Odessa
Sasha's Altai
Moskvich
Grushovka
Cosmonaut Volkov
Besides their righteous plant sale, Seattle tilth offers lots of great classes for this climate(Maritime). And they publish a "must have" booklet call "The Maritime Northwest Garden Guide" that gives you a month-by-month guide as to what you should be doing in the garden. I will be attending the "Heat Loving" plant class (peppers, eggplant, tomatoes...) and a "Vertical Gardening" class later this summer.
you might also want to be sure to visit the free Edible Garden Fair - Saturday May 23 - at South Seattle community college. will be lots of mini seminars by those in the know. there will also be a West Seattle Edible Garden Tour later. good place for ideas....
Oh, and i threw some potatoes in already, in a half wine barrel that wasn't being used. i'm not sure when they were suppose to go in, but they were growing quite enthusiastically beneath the sink in the kitchen (testament to my negligence). good thing i discovered them when i did;)
I am a novice gardener, too. Last year I planted a vegetable garden for the first time in my life, and was SHOCKED at how much we got from it, and how relatively simple it was (once we got it going). We had great success with sugar snap peas, chard, lettuce, radishes, cabbage, strawberries, and carrots....and we had at least 40 pounds of tomatoes of assorted varieties.
I followed all of the advice I could find about getting a good soil, and I'm sure that helped. We used soaker hoses and tried to water 1-2 times per week (only slightly more often on the hottest weeks). We used coffee grounds to keep slugs at bay (apparently they don't like to climb over the grounds?), and planted some marigolds for the same reason.
We had no luck with spinach, and poor luck with beets. We planted leeks at the wrong time and got them at a different time - a year later! Same with garlic.
This year, we've got onions, potatoes, garlic, fava beans, sugar snap peas, carrots, spinach, strawberries, raspberries in the ground, with plans for much more. I had no idea that gardening was addictive!
I highly recommend the Maritime Gardening Guide recommended by someone else in an earlier post. I also learned a lot from Stuart Robertson's Tips on Organic Gardening (and we used his technique for turning sod into garden). The folks selling plants at the Farmer's Market are very helpful, too.
HunterG
Member Profile
I can grow mint and rosemary like nobody's business - but that's it...unfortunately.
This year I am trying italian parsley. We'll see....
JoB, last year I got russian tomatoes at the WS farmers market - siberian something-or-other that is supposed to be able to grow tomatoes down to around 40 degrees. I had 3 different tomato plants in containers (only 1 was the russian), and the russian one was definitely the last one still growing tomatoes in the season.
As for the upside down tomato planter, I haven't used it, but I've heard that while it works well it can be EXTREMELY heavy when stuff is growing. that's why I haven't tried it.
Kristina, I had huge success last year with baby spinach from seed in containers. I know I got the seed at WS Nursery. Did you try starts or seed?
HunterG..
if you can grow mint and rosemary you can grow parsley... just get it in the ground soon and plant it where it will get some shade...
you might want to try your hand at basil too. i haven't done them from seed here.. but do great from a start. you need a sunny location and i use self watering pots for mine (posts with a water reservoir in the bottom that wicks water up...)
i have heard the earth boxes are really good for this.. but i haven't used one... i also heard that if you google earth boxes you can find a site that tells you how to build your own... they are 30ish at menards... i don't know if the Menards in Renton has more stock than the one in Burien.. but i do know i seem to have better luck finding things there...
my little portable plastic covered greenhouse Rocks!
so far i haven't killed anything:))))))
Thanks for the resources homedk & B-squared! I'm adding dates to my calendar now.
My biggest successes last year were a ton of tomatoes and herbs (rosemary, thyme, basil, mint, cilantro). The lettuces/chards that I got from the Urban Land Army's bucket brigade also produced very nicely. I had a few cayenne peppers that did well but my other pepper attempts were not as successful. Also on the FAIL side, I lost my squash & sunflowers (to the squirrels) and made the mistake of planting beans way to close to my other veggies.
So far this year, garlic is the only thing I have in the ground. I'm still kicking myself for not getting one of those little greenhouses when McClendon's had them on special a few weeks back. I have a small terraced area where I could add a cold frame in the future. I've also been thinking about expanding and trying the square foot method, using above ground boxes. Has any tried that out?
Bayou..
since we are renting, i am doing the majority of my gardening in containers.. though not necessarily square foot containers.
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