Seasonal Delights: How Does Your Garden Grow?
You can feel the buzz. The gardeners of Maritime Northwest are waking from hibernation and are ready to get some dirt under their nails. If you’re a new gardener, you may be ready to drop some seeds into that muddy dirt, but wait! Seasoned gardeners will tell you your seeds will rot and remind you that March snow is not unheard of in the Pacific Northwest.
Let’s share our gardening knowledge for a hive mind, so to speak. Here are some of our favorite local resources for gardening questions, seeds and supplies.
Experts
Lawns to Lettuce
Run by the Snohomish Conservation District, this program encourages converting lawn to grow edibles in a way that builds healthy soil, protects pollinators, minimizes pesticide use, reduces runoff and conserves water. Their website is full of helpful information to get you started.
Down to Earth Community Gardens
If you need help starting a garden, this is a great resource to teach you how to turn your lawn into a garden with sheet mulching. They have a demonstration garden in Marysville for ideas and inspiration and they often give away raised beds made from upcycled wood.
Sunnyside Nursery
Sunnyside offers free classes and a regular newsletter. They have Certified Professional Horticulturists on staff and the rest of their team is pretty darn knowledgeable as well.
Master Gardeners
If you’ve never met a Master Gardener, you should know they’re passionate about their work. They’re trained by Washington State University and volunteer time to the community to educate about all things gardening and horticulture. They’re especially good at helping to solve plant problems.
Neighbors
If there’s one thing gardeners like to talk about, it’s gardening. Gardeners are a friendly bunch and love to offer tips, seeds and even plants. If your next-door neighbors don’t garden, connect with other gardeners on social media platforms such as Facebook and Next Door. There are many types of groups including ones specifically for native plants and container gardening. Gardeners of Snohomish County is a friendly group on Facebook with over 2000 members.
Supplies
Now that you’ve figured out who to talk to, you’ll need some supplies. Here are our favorite sources for plants, seeds, soil, and tools.
At the beginning of the pandemic last year when we were all scrambling to get our gardens growing, Cedar Grove stepped up to do home delivery of bagged compost, soils and mulch. They’re doing it again this year and that makes us about as happy as having our tomatoes turn red in August. Place your order here.
Mulching existing gardens and starting a new garden by sheet mulching doesn’t get cheaper than free wood chips from local arborists. Chip Drop set up this great service to help arborists get rid of their wood chips and to help gardeners have more sustainable gardens. Place your order for some wood chips here and get ready because they can come the very next day in some cases. Tipping when you place your order will help you move up on the queue.
You’re probably going to need to pick up some seeds or seedlings. Word is that there is a seed shortage so make this a priority. Sno-Isle Coop is one of our favorite spots for basic seedling varieties from local growers and they have displays full of seed options. Sunnyside Nursery has a very robust selection of pretty much everything from seeds to bulbs to seedlings. Your local Ace Hardware offers a great selection of quality gardening tools.
Are there any good gardening resources we missed? Feel free to comment on our Facebook and share the love.
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