Tag Archives: 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.

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

Photo by Carissa Rogers via Creative Commons/Flickr.

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.

Vegetable and herb starts for sale at Chavez Demonstration Garden

Photo by La Grande Farmers' Market via Creative Commons/Flickr.
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.

Learn to can food from your own garden

Photo by thebittenword.com via Creative Commons/Flickr.
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.

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

A Beacon Hill roadside veggie garden. Photo by Wendi Dunlap.
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

Musicians and gardeners meet at Garden House this week.

Does music make your garden grow? Find out this week, when events for both musicians and gardeners will take place at the Garden House on 15th Avenue South.

On Tuesday, January 24 at 7 p.m., ROCKiT Community Arts presents this month’s Tuesday Folk Club show, featuring Percy Hilo and
Friends, who are described as “original songs to sing, laugh and think with in Americana folk stylings.” Opening the show will be Betty Jean Williamson and Jack Lenoir. (Make note—next month’s show will feature Golden Tree Story, with Jean Mann opening.) Admission is a $5 donation, and kids get in free.

The following day, Wednesday, January 25 at 7 p.m., the Beacon Hill Garden Club meets. The local chapter is the newest chapter of the Federation of State Garden Clubs. At this week’s meeting, the group will look at seed catalogs to make a group order from multiple companies. All are welcome to visit, and it is $10/year to join the club.

The Garden House is located at 2336 15th Ave. S.

Vines growing in the Beacon Hill P-Patch during warmer weather. Gardening time is coming soon! Photo by Dapper Lad Cycles in the Beacon Hill Blog photo pool.

Learn about rain gardens at Sustainable Rain workshop

Sustainable Seattle is hosting rain garden workshops to celebrate their installation of new rain gardens in several areas as part of their Sustainable Rain program.

A workshop will be held on Beacon Hill on November 12 at El Centro de la Raza, 2524 16th Ave. S., from 10 a.m. until noon. The workshops will present information about the Sustainable Rain project and how neighbors can install their own rain gardens. They will also announce “scholarships” to fund more neighborhood rain gardens.

Two of the projects demonstration gardens are located in Beacon Hill: one at El Centro de la Raza, and the other at the Helen B. Ratcliff women’s transitional facility on the north end of the Hill.

Seattle Tilth offers gardening classes, camps

Photo courtesy of Seattle Tilth.
Seattle Tilth is offering a variety of gardening classes in Southeast Seattle this summer, starting on June 22. Classes include “Go Vertical,” to learn how to grow veggies vertically to maximize your space and harvest; “Wildlife-Friendly Gardening”; “Beyond the Vegetable Garden,” which will help you add perennial edibles to your landscaping; “Be Cistern Savvy!” which will teach how to collect rainwater at home; and several more.

The list of classes may be found here. Classes are in the nearby Mount Baker neighborhood at Bradner Gardens Park.

There are also volunteer opportunities and summer garden camps for kids in Rainier Valley.

Spring at last

Spring has sprung in these photos from the Beacon Hill Blog photo pool on Flickr. Have any great photos of the Hill? Your photos are welcome in the pool, too!

Inside a tulip at Jose Rizal Park. Photo by sea turtle.
Beacon bluebells. Photo by Wendi.
More Jose Rizal Park tulips. Photo by sea turtle.
Newly landscaped planting strip across from the Beacon Hill Library. A group of neighbors got together recently to work on this project. Photo by Wendi.

Please visit the photo pool for more images, including this very cool panorama from Jose Rizal Park by sea turtle.