First Day of Spring

Aaaaaah!  We made it through the winter, and Daffies are busting out all over.......

Happy first day of Spring everyone.

May your gardens bloom big time this year!

How Many Bags?

This is just two of the three bundles....about 1600 or so bags.

Kind of interesting to see where the beans came from..... some bags had labels showing Brazil, Nicaragua and New Guinea.  No hint of coffee aroma at all since the bags contained raw beans.
Folks are already coming by to pick them up.

Recycling in action and good things being put to good use for gardens in our community.... a win win for everyone! :)

Sowing Seeds With Nile

Fall City has a large community of avid vegetable gardeners.  Many of them gather on the 3rd Saturday of the month to swap information, share stories and educate each other on their successes and failures..... the group is called Trellis.  Here's a link to their Forum if you're interested in learning more about vegetable gardening and attending their monthly gatherings. 

I started attending their meetings at the beginning of this year in hopes of picking up pointers on the topic.  A guy named Nile Clarke is a regular attendee.  When I told the group I was interested in getting some seeding/starter/greenhouse experience he invited me to come to his farm to learn the fine art of seeding tomatoes.  Nile and his wife live at Salt Box Farm in Fall City.

When I arrived, the first thing Nile did was walk me through his 2011 Tomatoes Plan.   First lesson learned.... if you want to sow seeds, don't start creating your plan right before it's time to do the sowing..... that's too late.  You need to be thinking about this stuff way in advance - vegetable gardening isn't for procrastinators!   Planning includes deciding what varieties you want to grow, knowing how long each variety takes to mature (and therefore when you need to sow them)..... and then obtaining the seeds and all materials. 

Obtaining the seeds is often as simple as purchasing them from a reputable supplier.  Nile did some of that, but he also gathered some seeds on his own - targeting tomatoes he'd grown the previous year that were a hit, and purchasing some tomatoes he liked and harvesting those seeds. 

Nile had 16 varieties on his list and wanted to produce about 288 plants, which meant planting about 18 of each variety.  No, Nile and his wife don't swim in tomatoes each year, they generously give most of the plants away to various groups and individuals in the community.... what wonderful people they are!

288 plants, 72 segments per seed tray meant we had to prepare and sow 4 trays.

So, we started by filling each tray with good quality, well draining potting soil....

We tamped the soil down a smidge so as to make a little divot in each segment and then gave each tray a really good watering so the soil was evenly moist throughout.....

With that done, we carefully labelled each area of the tray with what we were going to plant and then did the fiddly task of putting a seed into each segment.... adding a few extras here and there for insurance purposes.  Dang, those tomato seeds are itty bitty..... this isn't something you do with gardening gloves on! 

We topped the trays off with a fine dusting of soil, and gently tamped each segment down again to create good seed to soil contact.....

After giving each tray a gentle mist-like watering we put covers on top and set them into the greenhouse on heating mats to germinate...... which should take about 3 weeks or so.  With the covers on it may not be necessary to do any additional watering while they germinate, but Nile will be checking on things just to be sure.....

Stay tuned for the next installment of my 2011 tomato journey.  I'm hoping to return to Salt Box Farm to help transfer the seedlings to bigger pots......

Burlap Sacks

MARCH 16TH: UPDATE
Final count was 2400 bags!!!
I now have them staged at my house ready for you to come and get them.  For those of you who requested some I sent you logistics details via private email.
Would appreciate you picking up your allottment promptly so we can get our driveway back!
Thanks.
CW

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MARCH 12TH:  Need someone with a truck to come with me to pick up the sacks.  They won't all fit in one load.  Please reach out if you can help.  Thanks.
CW

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MARCH 6TH: NO MORE REQUESTS PLEASE!
Final count is........ (drum roll).........1900 bags!  Holy mackeral!
For those of you who submitted requests.... I'll get back to you later on this week, via email, with pick up logistics.  Stay tuned.
CW

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MARCH 5TH UPDATE:  Today's the last day to submit a request.  We're up to 1675 bags!  Oh my!

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MARCH 3RD UPDATE:  2 days to go.  So far I have 1440 bags requested.  Any more requests out there?
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FEB 28TH ANOTHER UPDATE:  Pushed a little harder on the original Starbucks lead and voila... it's paid off!  They'll GIVE US THE BAGS FOR FREE! So..... who else wants to place an order?  Let me know before March 5th. 
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FEB 28TH UPDATE:  Folks have been responding and I now have 750 bags on the count list!  If you're still interested in getting some, send me your counts and I'll add you to the list (deadline is March 5th).  I'll then confirm with the supplier what the cost/unit is going to be based on our final count, and get back with you so you can confirm if you're in or not in actually purchasing them.

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Last year I learned about the value/benefit of using burlap sacks in the garden.  They're great for use as a mulching material, or to wrap around containers for added winter protection, or to wrap around a shrub with some twine to protect the plant from heavy snowfall, or to use as a "tea-bag" for making compost tea, or for covering compost bins to help retain moisture, or to haul small loads of kindling or other items from here to there.....the list goes on.....
Last year I heard the Starbucks distribution center in Kent was selling burlap bags for peanuts in big bundles of 50, 100 etc, but when I checked with them this week, I found they're not doing that anymore (at least not anyone I connected with knew about it, so I may be wrong).  BUT, fear not, I've found an alternate source Sustainable NE Seattle, that's collecting / re-selling burlap resources from many stores/restaurants/organizations.  I sent them an email to get more details...... here's their reply.....

We're happy to help you get all your burlap needs met. But there are many
different burlap bag types and grades, depending on the use you want to put them
to. And just as importantly, there are _significant_ pricing differences between
a small order (100+ bags) and a medium-sized order (400+ bags) and a large order
(800+ bags), even if each was similiarly picked up at our facility.

So to help you with pricing we'd need to have a slightly narrower idea of
the range of numbers needed, and know what kinds of bags we need to quote you
(based on the use you want to put them to - erosion control? weedblock? sheet
mulching? container planting? geo-technical filter material? etc...)

So, I'm reaching out to see what interest there is out there for this stuff?

The Trellis vegetable gardening group is pondering their needs.  What about the Fall City Garden Club, Eastside Master Gardening-related groups, Community Gardens/Pea Patches and the like? 

Share your thoughts and perhaps we can take advantage of a larger order with greater savings.... a win win for everyone!