Beacon Hill Blog

Beacon: A Hill of Beans at Cinco de Mayo Saturday

Christina Olson of the Beacon Hill Garden Club writes:

If you wander over to El Centro Saturday afternoon to enjoy Cinco de Mayo, be sure to stop by the Beacon: A Hill of Beans booth under the big tent. We’ll have free seeds (purple pod pole beans and green bush beans) along with some advice to get you started.

Chat about plans to plant the 24 planters around the parking lot with heritage beans and create Beacon’s first public U-Pick! We are looking for planting help later in the month. And let us tell you about the plans to bedeck the Beacon business district with pots of scarlet runner beans (beware of low flying hummingbirds in these locations)

Finally, shop local with our selection of heirloom seeds (see www.beaconahillofbeans.org for varieties). Mother’s Day is May 12, and Father’s Day is June 16 and everyone loves an unexpected token of friendship, beautifully packaged in envelopes designed by Maura Shapley of local Day Moon Press.

Join us in making Beacon: A Hill of Beans in 2013!

Tags: gardening

Bean Bonanza kickstarts summer of bean-growing activities

The Beacon Hill Garden Club and ROCKiT Community Arts, with help from a Department of Neighborhoods Small Sparks Grant, are kicking off a season of events focused on bean growing with a Bean Bonanza from 1 to 4 p.m. on Saturday, April 20. The series, Beacon: A Hill of Beans, will include educational, fun, and tasty activities for neighbors at all levels of gardening experience.

Those attending the Bean Bonanza event will leave with free bean seeds, a bucket, bean poles and soil. Other beany activities include a bean “teach-in” with Master Gardener Mick Duggan, a bean haiku contest, bean bag games, a bean buffet, a sale of sample packets of heirloom bean varieties, and more. Attendees will also find out details of the Beautiful Bean photo contest, demonstration gardens, and plans to decorate Beacon Avenue merchant spaces with pots of scarlet runner beans.

Bean events will continue throughout the summer with taste tests, preservation demonstrations, and an autumn bean supper.

Find out more at the website.

Tags: garden club, gardening, rockit space

Canning Connection “full of beans” this month

The Beacon Hill Garden Club is joining with Rainier Valley Eats to present another Canning Connections workshop on Wednesday, August 29 from 7-9 p.m. at the Garden House, 2336 15th Ave. S.

According to the Canning Connection folks, “this month we’ll ‘put up’ some of Master Gardener Mick Duggan’s recipe for green beans in mustard sauce and some delicious dilly beans. Both are fantastic with cold summer suppers or on the buffet and picnic table.”

The class is $15 and includes everything but your apron, but it’s limited to 10 students, so you should register soon by emailing ankataa@yahoo.com.

Mark your calendar — the Canning Connections program will be preserving something at the Garden House every fourth Tuesday of each month from now on.

Tags: gardening

Learn to grow your own food

Summer is moving rapidly toward its end, but it’s not too late to learn to grow your own food. This Saturday, August 11, from 10-11:30 a.m., is another in a series of free “Grow Your Own Groceries” classes at El Centro de la Raza.

This month’s topics include:

• What to plant Now?
• Figs and Kiwi
• Seed Saving

The class is led by Master Gardener Mick Duggan. The location is El Centro de la Raza room 310, 2524 16th Ave. S. Mark your calendar: next month’s class, the last of the year, is scheduled for September 8.

Tags: classes, gardening

The Beacon Hill Garden Club wants you!

The Beacon Hill Garden Club is, as always, welcoming new potential members. According to the group, “We seek to grow a colorful garden of friendships, as well as fruits and flowers! Gardeners of all interests and levels of experience are welcome.”

What do Garden Club members do? In the past, their activities have included movie nights at the Garden House in conjunction with the Beacon Food Forest project, Canning Connections preserving classes (with Rainier Valley Eats), progressive dinners in each others’ gardens, and more.

Currently the group has a few things in the works, including a Save the Whale campaign, to restore the antique whale weathervane to the Garden House roof, and the First Annual “Anywhere but Seafair Caravan”: “Escape the noise, the crowds and the traffic with a field trip to Mount Vernon.” The road trip includes a tour and picnic at Jell-O Mold Farm (flowers) and a visit to the WSU Experiment Station Display Gardens.

The club meets in the evenings on the fourth Thursday of odd months (which would be July 26, this month) at the Garden House, 2336 15th Ave. S. Dues are $12 per year. For more information, contact Christina at gaspari5@msn.com.

Tags: clubs, gardening

Shredding, gardening, and fighting foreclosures this Saturday

Saturday, July 14, is a busy day. Along with the Jefferson Park Jubilee, there are three other events on the Hill you should know about.

From 10 a.m. until 2 p.m., Verity Credit Union is hosting its annual community Shred-a-Thon on at their Beacon Hill location, 1660 S. Columbian Way on the VA hospital campus. All are welcome to bring sensitive documents such as old checks or pay stubs to be shredded on site as you watch. A minimum $10 donation of money or nonperishable food items is suggested, to benefit the Beacon Avenue Food Bank. If you need to shred more than six grocery-size bags of documents, please consider an additional donation.

Also starting at 10 a.m. is the third in a series of “Growing Your Own Groceries” gardening classes at El Centro de la Raza. Topics of this month’s class include:

• What to plant now?
• Powder mildew
• When and how to water
• Internet information
• Home orchard and berries
• Herbs

The class is led by Master Gardener Mick Duggan, in El Centro’s room 310 at 2524 16th Ave. S. Mark your calendar for next month’s class on August 11.

The last event is at 3 p.m. on Saturday, when SAFE (Standing Against Foreclosure and Eviction) hosts a community meeting of “Neighbors Fed Up with the Banks and the Foreclosure Crisis!” at Bethany United Church. There will be testimonials, referrals for free legal counseling, help with foreclosure resistance, and food.

Bethany United Church is located at 6230 Beacon Ave. S.

Tags: classes, gardening

Make “Canning Connections” and good eats at class 7/18

Interested in canning and preserving your garden produce? The Beacon Hill Garden Club and Rainier Valley Eats are hosting a “Canning Connections” class on Wednesday, July 18 from 7-9 p.m. at the Garden House (2336 Beacon Ave. S.).

The event organizers say “We’ll be using the best organic fruit available and provide everything you’ll need (except the apron)… We’ll share resources, recipes, stories and go home with jars of goodness.” The session is hands-on and those with all levels of experience are welcome to attend, from beginners to veteran canners.

The class is limited to 10, and the class fee is $15, payable the night of the session. To register, email ankataa@yahoo.com.

Tags: gardening, homemaking

Vegetable and herb starts for sale at Chavez Demonstration Garden

Hey, gardeners! Starting tomorrow, Saturday, May 19, Master Gardeners will start selling vegetable and herb starts at the Cesar Chavez Demonstration Garden, located at El Centro de la Raza, 2524 16th Ave. S.

Master Gardener Mick Duggan says, “We are regularly there on Wednesday and Saturday from 10 a.m. – 1 p.m. Other times as well if you see us there in the Garden. We have so many extra Sungold tomatoes they are only $1. We also have other varieties of tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, chard, lettuce, leek, chives, chamomile. Come by and check it out.”

There will also be free gardening information handouts available.

Tags: gardening

Learn to can food from your own garden

Have you always wanted a cupboard full of homemade jam or pickles from your own garden? This could be your year to learn how. Rainier Valley Eats and the Beacon Hill Garden Club are hosting a basic canning class next Tuesday, April 24, from 6:30-9:00pm at the Garden House (2336 15th Ave. S.).

The class will cover the essentials of safe preserving, the equipment needed, how to gather recipes and resources, local fruit trees, and what you can find at farmers’ markets. The class costs $10. To register, email ankataa@yahoo.com and put “Canning Class” in the subject line. Please include your name and a phone number.

Tags: classes, gardening

Grow your own groceries with free gardening classes this summer at El Centro

Did the warm weather this weekend make you think about gardening? You may be interested in a series of free gardening classes that will be held through September at El Centro de la Raza, 2524 16th Ave. S. Master Gardener Mick Duggan is teaching the “Growing Your Own Groceries” series on the second Saturday of each month, from 10-11:30 a.m.

Each class will include free information handouts to take home. All are welcome to “join when you can, for as long as you can.”

The first class is on April 14 in room 310 and covers:

• Climate zones and frost
• Soil and fertilizers
• Crop rotation
• Site selection and bed preparation
• Botany basics
• What to plant: Now, soon, and later
• Seed starting and spacing
• Organic pest control

Here are the agendas for the rest of the classes this summer:

May 12, Room 106:

• What to plant now? Inside, outside, and under cover
• Crop rotation
• Planting and spacing
• Vegetable specifics
• Containers and small space
• Weeding and slugs
• Water smarts
• Pest management

June 9, Room 310:

• What to plant now?
• Tomatoes
• Melons in the NW
• Flowers in the vegetable garden
• Harvesting

July 14, Room 310:

• What to plant now?
• Powder mildew
• When and how to water
• Internet information
• Home orchard and berries
• Herbs

August 11, Room 310:

• What to plant now?
• Figs and kiwi?
• Seed saving

September 8, Room 310:

• What to plant now?
• Green manure
• Site selection and bed preparation
• Getting ready for next year
• Water quality
• Leaves and the wait

Tags: classes, el centro de la raza, gardening