August 5th Work Party

Yesterday's work party included an educational session on orchids, presented by Marilyn. Some of us who have given up on growing orchids were inspired to try again, as Marilyn reassured us that growing orchids is not difficult if you "think like an orchid." She gave us lots of great pointers and a demonstration on how to re-pot the plants. Her handouts included a re-potting calendar and a flowering schedule for the various orchid types and they are posted in the Class Notes section. Yesterday's pictures of the thriving Heritage Garden have also been posted in the Photo Album (thank you Laura and Sabine!).

287 Pounds of Produce Donated!

Through the month of July, the Heritage Garden has donated 287 pounds of produce to the Food Bank! According to Mo, this is a good start as beans, potatoes and onions have not been harvested yet. Last year, 901 pounds were donated; the goal is to donate 1000 pounds this year. Great job, everyone!

Blog Updates

Class notes have been posted for the Wild Edibles, Herbs, and Lavender classes. The class notes provide great information that I reference throughout the year, so thank you to all who have provided such great resources!

June 10th Work Party

After working in the garden (which is looking fabulous!), we learned about Plants as Medicine.  Diane had samples of nettle tea and homemade tinctures.  It was a fascinating topic and the nettle tea tasted somewhat like green tea. 

The latest Fair Schedule has been posted along with Diane's class notes. 

June 3rd Work Party

We started out with an eye-opening presentation by Kathleen on "Evidence Based Gardening"---the notes are posted.  Maybe it was the cold weather that had everyone working so hard, but a lot was accomplished on Tuesday.  In addition to the usual planting and weeding tasks, the watering system was installed in the hoop house, grapes and the apple tree were pruned and more improvements were made to the native garden (which is looking spectacular!),  Al's creative bird houses/planters were enhanced with pretty flowers---you can view them in the Photo Album (thanks to Sabine for taking the pictures!). 

May 27th Work Party

Pictures of the May 27th work party have been added to the Photo Album.  As you can see, the garden is looking great!  Planters have been added near the hoop house, plus the new native plant garden is beginning to take shape.  Corn, pumpkins and pole beans were planted along with various other seeds and starts.  Chris gave an informative overview of growing basil, citing the many varieties and nutritional benefits. Her notes are posted as well as Sabine's tomato growing notes,  which provide great information on how to successfully grow tomatoes in Kitsap County.  A draft Fair Schedule has been added to the blog; we still have slots to fill so please let MO know, as soon as possible, if you can help.

NO WORK PARTY MAY 13

Please note that there will not be a work party tomorrow, May 13th.

Last week we started planting in the Hoop House and continued planting and weeding the various beds.  Jennifer B, from Hawaii, gave a delightful presentation on tropical plants.

New pictures have been posted to the Photo Album (Thank you, Laura!).

April 15 Work Party

Hi All. Hope you're not too sore from working this wonderful sunny

weekend-- too bad the weather tomorrow will be turning a bit. Anyway we will continue to work with Jim to get our watering system set up for the main part of the garden,  weed around  the beds, fertilize, plant some beets, carrots lettuce and the move the compost bins around to the back.  By my count, we are down 8 blocks so hopefully this will cut down on the borrowing and will also open up a much sunnier location to grow flowers and vegetables.  We will have to shift and store the completed compost at the same time we are moving it.  Class tomorrow will be Jim talking about watering systems and how he makes the decisions on how to set up one for us.  Hopefully this will be helpful to you if you want a system at your home. Water material list and design thoughts from Jim are posted to the right under "Class Notes."  See you all tomorrow.  MO

Class Schedule

The first draft of the 2014 class schedule is now posted on the blog--thanks to all who have signed up.  If you don't see your name, there is still time to sign-up and there are plenty of open spots on the schedule.  Keep in mind that we all learn from each other.  Please sign up on Tuesday or email MO.

April 1 Work Party

Pictures are posted of Tuesday's work party.  We continued cleaning and preparing beds for planting and later we were treated to Jennifer's informative session on caring for roses.  We learned about what to look for when purchasing roses, how to feed, prune, remedies for diseases and pests, and more!  I'm looking forward to applying what I learned to improve my garden's roses this year!

March 25 Work Party

Our work party on Tuesday was very productive.  We cleaned up beds, turned beds, and also did some trimming where necessary.  Jim started working on the watering system.

 Laura uploaded the pictures she took---check them out in the Photo Album!

Pictures have been added to the Photo Album!

Pictures from the March 18 work party have been added to the Photo Album.  As you will see, we are off to a great start!    

Following is a message from MO regarding tomorrow's gathering:

Hi All We will be gathering again tomorrow to prepare the Heritage Garden for 2014.  We want our flowers to be picture perfect and beat our last years vegetable yield of 901lbs.  We will be turning the beds, fixing up the flowers, moving the non native plants, fixing up and moving our compost pile, working on the watering system with Jim, whew!!!  sounds like so much work but as all you folks know its great to get your hands dirty. Please bring a fork or shovel if you have one.  If any one want to give a class there is still time. Sabine is bringing the treats.  I have extra June bearing strawberry starts for anyone who wants them.  See you at 10 am  MO

Save the Date!

Friday, April 4th, is Rookie Garden Day at Heritage Garden from 2:30pm until 4:00pm.  It will be our opportunity to welcome the newcomers to the Master Gardener program and to provide a pruning demonstration.  Hope you can make it!

Welcome to the Heritage Garden Blog!

Our first work day this year will be Tuesday, March 18th, at 10:00am.  This year we will be putting in a watering system for most of the garden, continuing the new flower garden by the shed and putting in a new Native Garden display in the area between the shed and the dry stream (on the fence side).

We are looking forward to seeing everyone soon!