Dig It!

Time to bring in marginal hardiness plants now, or put under protected overhangs- they may not like the frequent rains.

**Fertilize your gardens and lawns with a complete organic fertilizer that includes Kelp and Rock phosphate, also use these in each planting hole when planting new plants, along with Yelm worm castings or homemade compost. Rock phosphate leaches out of our soils from all the rains, and Kelp is one of the best materials for an earth garden. For one thing, kelp helps stimulates soil bacteria. This, in turn increases fertility of the soil by humus formation (which feeds on the bacteria), aeration and moisture retention.

**Leave the seed heads on flowers like grasses and flowering perennials for winter interest, but also, because the birds will eat up all this free food

**Use daylily foliage, or leaves, as a mulch around shrubs or in the back of perennial borders, where it will break down and add nutrients back to the web of life underground.

**As far as tree leaves go- personally I just leave them, or rake them into the borders, especially maple, alder, and birch, they break down by spring, the worms and beetles use it as a protective canopy under which they get down to work, and create that healthy soil you admire in the forest. Or you can rake it up, compost it and put it back in the spring- but use it, it’s free, adds nutrients, and quite valuable!

 

I want to remind you of our upcoming changes for October…including the SALE

We will be going to reduced hours  

Sat/Sunday 10-5:30, other times by appointment-please call or email to confirm a time.

We will be closed on Thursdays/Fridays.

 

As we keep saying- Fall is The Best time to plant. 

Trees, shrubs, perennials-they all enjoy the cooler temperatures, combined with all the rain as it helps them to develop strong healthy roots systems, meaning they will be that much stronger in the spring, and summer. 

Remember trying to get new plantings established in the spring? All the watering, not knowing if they will make it? Try this- see if you notice a difference. 

 

We will be offering 50% off all perennials, shrubs and Natives for the month of October

We will exclude the usuals…not the Japanese Maples, Roses, and the Garden art or sculptures.

30% off all Vietnamese pottery

Some of our plants/ shrubs worth mentioning

Beautyberry- whose beautiful purple metallic berries literally glow in the light and last well into late winter 

Fuchsia’s- these gorgeous shrubs are still blooming like crazy and attracting all sorts of hummingbird action

Plumbago- is blooming in this incredible shade of blue with red and burgundy leaves, this shrub takes full sun, and is drought tolerant in good soil.

Canna’s- how about a bit of Tropical flair? Beautiful striped leaves and bright orange flowers- these are fantastic in containers.

Asters -  many varieties to choose from- Lady in black, Aster davaraticus is a woodland variety, Boltonia is a fabulous tall white that is very tough

We still have some winter veggies like Kale and some salad mixes,we also have Bay Laurel starts.

 

  Thank you so much -we had a Fantastic turn out for the Halibut BBQ September 13, 2008. We served 150 sandwiches!  Almost 30lbs of Halibut, and lots of smiles! Everyone had a great time. The Face painting was a BIG HIT-loads of pirates, butterflies and fairies running around in the woods, and the weather was perfect- what more can you ask for? Thank you for all the support in the last 5 years-we would not be here without your support.

  Thank you to ‘The Atlas String Band’ whose music made the atmosphere happy and lively!

Congratulations to the Raffle winners- Tom Rassmussen won the “Fill yer Red Wagon” drawing!

You can see it on the West Seattle Blog @ http://westseattleblog.com/blog/?cat=17  Please feel free to comment- we’d love to hear your comments.

  Also, on our website… we now have a Garden blog- this is where I will be writing garden info, events, posting photos of plants or new garden art- whatever comes to mind, and you can now comment, ask questions, or offer your own garden wisdom.

 

 

 

 
 
(AFTER SEPTEMBER 28TH WE WILL ONLY  BE OPEN
 SATURDAYS AND SUNDAYS)
 
 
We have starts of Kale, Lettuce, Mixed greens ready to plant for
fall harvest,
also many herbs, including Chives, Tarragon and
Bay Laurel starts.
Harvest continuously to keep production going-
Beans, Cucumbers, berries, Kale, Brussels sprouts.
 
With all this rain and cooler weather it is a good time
to plant and transplant,
plants don’t go into shock, they can develop a deep and
healthy root system,
and be more established next year.
FALL is THE BEST TIME TO PLANT most perennials, vines,
and all trees and shrubs.
Time to plant …
Lavender, 
Rosemary, 
Echinacea 
Penstemon 
Aster (blooming and super cute!) 
Anemone 
Good time to seed new lawns, patch bare spots, and seed cover crops.
 
*Think about Erosion control/prevention by planting ground covers, including 
Deer fern
Tassel fern 
Sword Ferns 
Evergreen native Strawberry
Kinnikinnik  
Salal (think jam/jelly) 
Oregon grape (young leaves for salad-lemony flavor) 
Evergreen Huckleberry (think jam/jelly) 
Rosa Rugosa (jams/jelly) 
Myrica californica, 
Ceanothus -Evergreen and fast growing
Iris -native and non-native, form dense roots
Dogwoods
Twinberry
Cornus Candanensis (Ground cover dogwood)
miner’s lettuce
 
We have a huge selection of discontinued perennials and shrubs from $.50 - $15
great for filling in blank spaces and bare spots.
 
If you are composting, remember to use a pitch fork to aerate it and keep it damp,
that will help it break down.
I add Blood Meal to get it to really heat up, grass clippings will  do the same thing,
though you want to leave clippings on the lawn as much as possible to feed the soil.
Divide spring blooming perennials
Prune cane berries that have fruited
Start piling debris (cardboard, small branches, plant clippings, straw, compost, topsoil)
on chosen areas for new flower beds next spring
All this will be worked in for free by hard working WORMS who create RICH soil
for new gardens next year- how easy is that?
 
We sell COMPOST WORMS for $29lb. (red wigglers) to be used in Worm Factory,
 ours sell for $89 no s&h costs, 
http://www.yelmworms.com/worm-store/

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September 20th @ 1 pm  We will be hosting Seattle Parks Dept for a demonstration of tree planting, how to choose a tree suitable for a residential yard, how to choose a specimen tree, and how to plant it. This will be a hands on workshop, we will be planting a tree on the property.Join us, this is a free class. Â

We just got a new batch of halibut fresh off the boat from Alaska.
 We have vacumn sealed  frozen packages for $14 lb. 
We also have boneless skinlees red snapper fillet for only $5 lb and 
Black cod fillets will be available in mid september for $10  a fillet. 
Thanks for your local support we’ll see you @ the nursery. 

September 13th   noon-3pm.  Halibut BBQ -4th annual 

Join us for fresh Halibut sandwiches from the 2008 Alaska fishing trip. This is the 4th annual BBQ,  & we will be celebrating our 5th year here at the nursery!  YES- we have been here for 5 years!   $5.o0 for beans, bun, beverage and the band.  We will have Halibut for sale for $14.00 lb. It will be frozen in 1lb. packages. CASH OR CHECK ONLY.

We are happy to have live music from The ‘Atlas String Band’       Old time mountain music with lyrics about heartbreak, liquor, God, guns, and some songs with no words at all, so you can just kick up your heels and dance. Music is Free, tips are appreciated. Great for all ages.

The ‘Atlas String Band’ is:   David Parker, mandolin; Tom Collicot, guitar and vocals; Carmen Ficarra, bass; Paul Tolo, fiddle; Morgan John, banjo and vocals.

**We will sell raffle tickets for $1 and have a drawing to give away 5 hanging baskets/planted containers

**PLUS we will have a drawing to ‘Fill your Red Wagon’ with plants in 18 minutes. The contest winner will fill a ‘Vintage Village Green Radio Flyer Wagon’ (not included in giveaway) at 2:30 on the day of BBQ

Face painting by Johanna $1-$3

Here she is… the F/V Alrita, Halibut/Sablefish (Black Cod) longliner boat built in 1945, built by Prothero’s at the Fremont cut. She is docked at Fisherman’s terminal, you can see her there. This is the Boat that brings back all the delicious Halibut we are serving up at the BBQ…

We are taking ‘Halibut’ and ‘Black Cod’ orders - if you want to place a pre-order, let us know- we will get you on the list. The Boat will be in around the beginning of August. We will be packing the Halibut in 1lb packages as usual, there may be Halibut cheeks available, price is not available at this time. Halibut BBQ coming in September- we will be posting the date as soon as we can.

***STEPPING STONES CLASS  AUGUST 16 AT 11 AM. NO REGISTRATION, JUST SHOW UP. $ 10.00 PER STONE, EVERYTHING INCLUDED, UNLESS YOU WANT TO BRING SOMETHING SPECIAL TO ADD.  FEEL FREE TO PASS THIS ON TO ANYONE WHO MAY BE INTERESTED.