White Center Now: The blog about White Center

The Village Green Perennial Nursery-organized White Center Garden Tour is today – 10 am-4 pm, free! The map, first linked here July 5th, includes locations in south West Seattle as well as White Center; download it here, and/or get a printed copy at locations including Village Green, Full Tilt Ice Cream, and Proletariat Pizza.

Village Green Perennial Nursery, sponsor of this year’s White Center Garden Tour, sends word that the map is available! The tour is part of White Center Jubilee Days; it’s free, self-guided, and coming up on July 15th – 10 am to 4 pm – just one week from this Sunday. The map includes locations in south West Seattle as well as White Center; download it here, and/or pick up a copy at locations including Village Green, Full Tilt Ice Cream, and Proletariat Pizza. P.S. The Garden Tour has a Facebook page; see it here.

That’s the “after” photo from the south side of the heart of downtown White Center! The North Highline Unincorporated Area Council shares the photos and the before/after explanation:

Concerned with the two large neglected planter beds on 16th and 100th, the North Highline Unincorporated Area Council obtained a permit from King County to dig up the beds and put in new plants.

With good weather this morning, council members Steve Porter, and Barbara Dobkin, as well as community members, Eric, Gill, and Alex, the bed on the west side of 16th was dug up and new soil added as well as drought resistant perennials (picked out specially for us by Vera at Village Green Perennial Nursery).

Next up for NHUAC – their next quarterly public-safety forum, this Thursday, May 10, 7 pm at North Highline Fire District HQ (1243 SW 112th).

Three events you won’t want to miss on Saturday:

MCLENDON HARDWARE PANCAKE BREAKFAST: The tasty tradition arrives at the store again on Saturday morning. 7:30-10 am, free.

WEST SEATTLE MONTESSORI PLANT SALE: 9 am-3 pm, at the campus (11215 15th SW) – with a bake sale, organic soil, student vegetable starts, plants from Village Green Perennial Nursery, and more – read about it on the school’s website.

WHITE CENTER JUBILEE DAYS GALA: Saturday’s the night, Youngstown Cultural Arts Center (4408 Delridge Way SW in West Seattle) is the place, 6:30 pm – the ticket link and more details are on the Jubilee Days website.

Though this project is in the Seattle city limits, there’s an explicit invitation for White Center-area gardeners to join in, so we are crossposting this from partner site West Seattle Blog:

Ready to garden? The Westcrest P-Patch is about to be built, and ready to build its gardener/volunteer team, too! Here’s the official announcement (along with the finalized design, shown above):

After two community garden design meetings, the Westcrest P-Patch community garden project is planning to start construction next month in Seattle’s Westcrest Park! (Located at 9000 8th Ave. SW) The plan is to create over 200 10′ x 10′ garden plots following the final design which will feature crushed rock and wood chip pathways that interact with existing park features, gathering and storage structures, an out-door “kitchen”, and lots of room for artistic elements and common spaces.

The plots will be open to both Seattle residents as well as residents living in nearby unincorporated King County such as White Center which is two blocks from the south border of the park.

If you are interested in a plot, your probability of getting a spot will correlate to the number of hours you donate to the project. The more you volunteer the higher your chances of getting a plot. The Steering Committee is currently trying to determine what portions of the construction will be performed by contractors and what we, as a community, are willing to take on. If we can keep costs below the $90,000 budget, we can use the surplus funds to enhance the project. There are innumerable ways that you can volunteer in both outreach and construction.

Please contact Phi Huynh if you would like to explore volunteer opportunities.

E-mail: phi.huynh@seattle.gov
Phone: 206-684-4531

Huge day at Village Green Perennial Nursery – and the sun came out to cooperate. While proprietor Vera Johnson had scheduled a beekeeping seminar and a Master Gardener clinic, the day’s headliner was TV/radio gardening guru Ciscoe Morris, and more than 100 people showed up to see/hear him. In case you missed it, we have the entire hour on video, above, starting with Vera’s explanation of how they met, and then a few minutes later, his explanation of his trademark exclamation, “Oh la la!”

From Audrey Zemke at White Center Food Bank:

Want to garden in White Center? Applications are now available for 16 raised beds at the White Center Heights Park Community Garden. Community members have been growing their own vegetables at this garden for 5 seasons. The garden is located at 102nd SW and SW 7th. The beds are all organic and there is no cost to use one. You must apply to be considered. Gardeners will be picked by a lottery process. To get an application, contact Audrey at the White Center Food Bank (audrey@whitecenterfoodbank.org or (206) 762-2848, or stop by 10829 8th Ave SW). Applications must be returned by March 29 and those who will be able to garden will be notified within two weeks. The White Center Food Bank is working to get donations of organic compost, seeds and starts for use by the gardeners.

(After and before!)

By Vera Johnson of Village Green Perennial Nursery
Special to White Center Now

New garden beds over existing lawn: Skill level…Easy.

Have you been wanting to start a garden in an area of your yard, but it feels too overwhelming and you have no idea where to begin?

Do you have too much lawn to mow? Want to get rid of some of it?

Want to grow food and flowers? Growing perennial flowers is essential to healthy vegetable gardening, as the bees rely on the food source and the wasps that are attrracted to the plants are a predator to many of the bugs that attack vegetable starts … more on that later!

It’s really quite easy, but it does take some effort. Are you in? Willing? Then let’s go!!

Gather materials…this can take time, and that’s ok.

* Look around and see what you have to work with…rocks, concrete chunks from an old sidewalk or patio, wood rounds (preferably small diameter)

*Cardboard with tape and staples removed

*Newspaper…no shiny pages; the chemicals in the inks are not what we want for the gardens.

*Fallen leaves – there should be plenty in the neighborhood; ask your neighbors. Leaves (not all leaves are equal – see below) are a treasure trove of nutrients. You can also get free wood chips from a tree service; call ahead and have a place ready where they can dump, and you will get all the free mulch you can handle.

*Fertilizers (organic) with high nitrogen. Blood meal is great; bat guano; or fresh chicken manure if you have chickens – we’re not planting right away, so there’s no risk of burning the plants’ roots. I also LOVE to use KELP in this procedure, the soil benefits are spectacular.

1. Choose your location (think big, don’t limit yourself!) I like to use a garden hose to determine the border and have a visual aid for what the garden will look like.

2. Mow or weedwhack the area you’ve chosen (very, very short…leave the clippings for extra nitrogen)

3. Lay a heavy dose of nitrogen (fertilizer and/or manures) over the entire area you are planning to use as a garden; this will heat up under the layers we are about to put on the new garden and be ready in spring … patience.

4. On the chosen area for the new gardens, lay out cardboard so that it overlaps – or newspaper in thick layers, also overlapping – to prevent weeds from pushing up through. You are laying the paper or cardboard over the existing mowed lawn, and over the fertilizers.

5. Water the paper or cardboard to keep it from flying away. This is the stage where you can start heaping on the raked leaves. Birch, maple, oak, alder are the best leaves for this project.

You can also pile on any small branches and wood chips (not bark mulch, which is not a useful garden product, as it repels water – don’t get me started). You want the top layer to be at least 6 inches deep, more if possible. This will get the underground soil food web something to work on over the winter.

Come spring, you will be amazed at how loose and workable the ground is. You can expect to be able to stick the shovel in, right into the paper/cardboard; dig a hole, add fertilizer, soil amendment, and plant whatever you were planning to put in the garden.

Vera Johnson is proprietor of Village Green Perennial Nursery, and plans to share some gardening advice/secrets/info here from time to time. She writes about a variety of subjects at her own website – check it out here.

(Photo courtesy White Center Community Development Association, used with permission)
Next time you’re at 16th and Roxbury, take a close look and appreciate the freshened-up planting areas! Nhan Nguyen of the White Center Community Development Association shared the news today that a small group went out on Sunday to beautify the corner. He says that nearby Pho Lynna and Decoraciones Ely have ” volunteered to take care of regular watering.” The planting, according to Nhan, was led by Erika and Clark from Community Harvest of Southwest Seattle and WCCDA member Judy.

Want to be part of an occasional “mini-cleanup” in the business district? WCCDA would love to hear from you – and Nhan says they’ll supply the trash bags, trash pickers, and gloves!

At Big Al Brewing (9832 14th SW), the White Center Jubilee Days Spring Fling and Pinewood Derby is happening this afternoon, all the way till 7 – go support WCJD! Also in White Center:

Till 3 pm, at West Seattle Montessori/West Seattle Academy, the halls are lined with plants and gift items for today’s annual sale – and it’s not just a shopping opportunity; edible-gardening expert and author Amy Pennington is speaking and signing books till 3 pm. 11215 15th SW.

From Audrey at the White Center Food Bank:

Want to garden in White Center? Applications are now available for 16 raised beds at the White Center Heights Park Community Garden. The garden is in its 4th season and is located at 102nd SW and SW 7th. You can use an organic raised bed to grow your own food or flowers. There is no cost to use the bed. Gardeners will be picked by a lottery process. To get an application, contact Audrey at the White Center Food Bank (audrey@whitecenterfoodbank.org or (206) 762-2848 or stop by 10829 8th Ave SW). Applications must be returned by March 30 and those who will be able to garden will be notified within two weeks. The White Center Food Bank is working to get donations of organic compost, seeds and starts for use by the gardeners.

At SW 8th and 108th SW, the White Center Food Bank and King County Public Health‘s WC center are neighbors – sharing many of the same clients, and many of the same goals. Now, they’ve got something else in common – edible gardening. The raised beds you see above are part of an Eagle Scout-credit project by White Center’s Patrick Ufkes, working with a fruit-and-vegetable grant secured through the Women, Infants and Children nutrition program, with the help of KCPH nutritionist Elizabeth Duroe. We dropped by the garden recently to find out more about it in a garden chat with (from left) Patrick, Elizabeth, and WC Food Bank executive director Rick Jump:

The garden is yet another means of getting fresh, healthy food to people who really need it. And with the multicultural nature of White Center’s population, Rick says they’ve worked to make sure that what’s grown in the garden can be of use to various cultures’ food needs – Elizabeth notes they had seeds for more than half a dozen types of mustard greens, for example. Hot peppers have been important, too – as has assistance from gardening expert Lin Sierra. This all got started in midsummer, but is already yielding food – on the day we visited, they had just harvested nine more pounds of produce!

Volunteer help was key – Patrick marshaled forces including scouts from local Troop 375 as the beds were built and set up, and other members of his family (he is the son of White Center Chamber of Commerce president Mark Ufkes); others help tend the garden, such as AARP volunteer Thomas, who was there during our visit. Sustainability was key to securing the grant – not just the fact the bed can be planted year-round (fall/winter crops are in now like carrots, beets and snow peas), but also the materials, such as the beds being ringed with long-lasting bricks instead of wood.

Side note: Patrick is a Highline High School/South Seattle Community College Running Start student who’s taking some time this quarter for a service project in Kenya!

From Aviva at Community Harvest of Southwest Seattle:

Interested in gardening, but lack the space? Come to Drop-in-Garden-Night Thursdays 6:30 PM – dusk, throughout July and August at the St. James Community Garden – 9421 18th SW. Help weed or plant, then go home with some of the harvest.

Garden Helpers – Interested in
getting some hands-on advice in your own garden? A Garden Helper, trained by Seattle Tilth, can provide suggestions for starting a garden, or help with your existing garden. Read more about the program.

For more information about any of these programs: info@gleanit.org

So now you know; dig in!

Noon-5 pm. We’re told it should be sunny by then! Here’s our original preview. Pick up your map at McLendon Hardware any time after noon and start walking!

Now that July is here, it’s time for an avalanche of events. Jubilee Days is bigger than ever this year – and part of it will be the White Center Jubilee Days Garden Walk. Here’s the latest:

The White Center Jubilee Days Garden Walk is back this 2010 with generous support from this year’s Title Sponsor – McLendon Hardware, White Center. The walk will be held on Sunday, July 11th from 12 noon to 5:00pm. The event will start in White Center McLendon Hardware parking lot, where tour maps will be provided.

This will be a FREE Jubilee Days and Seafair sanctioned event that will be open to all ages. There will also be a vote for the favorite garden as well as prizes for those participating in the treasure hunt.

With the help of Garden Walk veteran Peggy Weiss, co-chair volunteers Donnie McDermott and Heather Huling will do their best to make this year as great as years previous.
~
For those interested in joining the fun just meet us at McLendon’s at 12 noon on Sunday, July 11th. For questions or more information, please visit us at: http://www.jubileedays.org/garden/gardenwalk.html
Hope to see you there!

Two notes from Vera at Village Green Perennial Nursery – first, she’s looking for anyone interested in a White Center Garden Tour – second (we think these are separate – if they’re not, we know Vera will correct us!) she points out the White Center Jubilee Days Garden Walk on July 11th – full details here. (Village Green, by the way, is at 10223 26th SW.)

If you’re on the Seattle side of White Center (and vicinity – hello, Highland Park! etc.) and you’re not going to use the two bags of free Cedar Grove compost that everyone in the city has been offered for the next few weeks, you can donate the coupon to the White Center Food Bank for use in its gardens. Details on the WCFB website.

Got this announcement from the folks behind the Master Gardeners program – note they’ll arrive in White Center earlier than West Seattle – mark your calendars!

The King County Master Gardeners will have their table set up at the West Seattle Farmer’s Market every Sunday beginning April 25th until September 26th (with the exception of May 2nd, May 30th, July 4th, and September 5th) from 10:00 AM until 2:00 PM. They are there to answer your gardening questions, give gardening advice, and help diagnose gardening problems.

They also have a clinic at McLendon Hardware (in White Center) on Saturdays, beginning April 3rd until September 25th (with the exception of May 1st, May 29th, July 3rd, & Sept. 4th) from 10:00 AM until 2:00 PM. Please stop by and “Ask a Master Gardener!”

(Photo courtesy White Center Food Bank)
That’s Long Nguyen with his raised-bed garden at White Center Heights Park – and now you might be able to have one too, according to this announcement, which includes a call for community-garden volunteers:

Together with the White Center Community Development Association, the White Center Food Bank is announcing that applications for raised beds at White Center Heights Park are now available.

The garden is located at 102nd SW and SW 7th across the street from White Center Heights Elementary School. Community members will have an opportunity to use a raised bed to grow their own garden. Raised beds are free to garden for the season. Gardeners can also contribute a part of their harvest to feed the clients of the White Center Food Bank.

Now In its 3rd year, the garden will be a place where residents can come together as a community to grow food with neighbors, family and friends. White Center Food Bank is excited to be able to provide an opportunity to the community to increase self-sufficiency and celebrate the diverse cultures that make White Center a wonderful place.

Applications are available at the White Center Food Bank. Contact Audrey Zemke in person, at audrey@whitecenterfoodbank.org or (206) 762-2848 for an application. Applications are due to the White Center Food Bank by March 30, 2010. A lottery system will be used to pick the 16 individuals or groups who will receive a raised bed.

The White Center Food Bank is also looking for people to help with the community garden. Volunteers are needed to help with composting, cleaning up before and after the season, educating gardeners, planning the kick-off garden event or year-end harvest celebration. If you want to be connected to a great community of gardeners, contact Audrey Zemke to volunteer.

This Saturday, noon-3 pm, you can buy fall vegetable starts at Community Harvest of Southwest Seattle‘s sale at St. James Place, 9421 18th SW (map). Bring produce for the food bank if you have some – taste heirloom tomatoes – and celebrate locally grown food. Need to know more? 762-0604 or info@gleanit.org – and at the CHoSS website, gleanit.org.