Spring Awakening - Garden Sale

Hello Everyone!

I hope you all had a great winter and kept warm through the unusually large amount of snow we got here in Lacey. While we were all bundled inside drinking hot cocoa and binge-watching Black Mirror the Learning Garden was busy at work. 

In the fall, Catherine, the Oikos Residence Floor and I planted four varieties of garlic. All through those cold winter months, the garlic was getting ready for harvest that will be coming late this summer and will then be ready for eating! 

The raspberries went dormant over the cold months and have begun to wake up as well as the herbs throughout the garden.

In these first few weeks of sunshine and above-freezing temperature, Catherine and I have been busy in the greenhouse planting seeds and transplanting starts for the garden sale! 

The garden sale is Tuesday, April 17th and 24th from 11am-1pm and 4pm-6pm. On the 17th we will have guest herbalist Kate Tossey there to talk about safely transplanting your newly bought starts into your garden as well as previewing some of her product

Can't wait to see you there!

SMU Learning Garden Spruces Up in an Effort to Thwart Weeds

Many thanks to  all of the FYS students that helped out this Wednesday. The Learning Garden has been both beautified and made less vulnerable to weeds by their direct action. We achieved these goals by laying down weedcloth and securing it with staples and then covering this with river rock pebble.This created a nice clean weed free environment around the shed and the foundation. This had been an area of  nuisance weed seeds that were infiltrating the Garden.

The area near the Rhododendrons got a complete makeover a layer of cardboard was stapled down and is ready for the bark mulch next week.  Enough Ivy has been taken out that we are creating room for more raised beds.

You are all Garden Heroes!!

Here is a link to a website dedicated to Ivy removal  http://www.ivyout.org/

Winter Garden

students in First Year Seminar grafted an apple tree this winter

Garlic started sprouting. Can you spot what else was hiding in the garden bed?

Winterizing Your Own Garden

Hello again to all our readers, volunteers, and fellow garden and sustainability enthusiasts,

For those of you who, like me, are perhaps more enthusiasts and less experts, we have been doing some further research about important things to remember when putting your garden down to hibernate for the winter months. The following are some important and easy tips and tasks to remember to preserve your garden until Puxatony Phil announces the arrival of spring:

• Rake the leaves—Leaves might seem like a natural cover and a good insulator, but they can mat, and suffocate your plants. So rake them up, and compost, compost, compost.
  
  



• Pull up Annuals—Any plants that have fallen victim to frost, and won’t be coming back next year can and should be pulled up. You can add these plants to your compost, just be sure to check and throw out any you think might be diseased.
  
  




• Cut back the Perennials—Be sure to trim back any dead or unsightly leaves, etc. You probably won’t need to get rid of the whole plant, and those leaves that still look good can add some color to your winterized garden until you start growing again.
  
  




• Weed—Might seem a bit superfluous to be weeding, particularly if you aren’t planning on growing anything this winter, but this gives you the opportunity to make sure weeds don’t get the head start on you in the spring.
  
  




• Dig up tender bulbs—Any summer-blooming plants aren’t likely to survive the winter months in a USDA zone of 9, or colder. (Click on the map below to visit the USDA's website and learn more about your own area) Store bulbs in Vermiculite in a paper bag in a cool (65-degrees F or cooler), dry spot. (Tender bulbs may include: Begonias, Gladiolus, Dahlias, and other summer blooms)
  
  
  



• Protect broad leaved Evergreens—Spray them with antidesiccant. This will prevent water loss and dehydration of your plants from drying winter winds.
  (Broad leaved evergreens might include: Rhodendrons or Holly)
  
  




• Water Evergreens (and small trees)—If your fall weather is particularly dry, you want to make sure that the leaves and stems of your evergreens and trees are healthy and plump to survive the drying winds and winter months.
  
  




• Save your favorite plants before the frosts hits, small annuals and herbs can flourish and brighten up windowsills in the winter months.
  
  




• Be careful to avoid fertilizing your garden, or pruning at the end of a plant’s season, this promotes new growth that will be killed off by frost and cold. Trimming dead or damaged branches or leaves is fine though.
  



• Winter mulch Perennials—If winter temperatures are likely to fall below 10-degrees F, you should provide your perennials with winter mulch to insulate them from the cold. Simple and lightweight mulches such as: shredded autumn leaves, pine needles, or straw will work. Avoid compact mulches and whole leaves since they can suffocate your plants.
  
  But just because it’s winter doesn’t mean there aren’t plants that will flourish in your garden in the winter months. One of the things we did in winterizing our garden was to plant plants which would reintroduce nitrogen and other nutrients this year’s crops may have taken out of our soil.
  
  
  This is a sample of what the Hayes Valley Farm, an urban farm in San Francisco, does to layer and add nutrients to their soil.

Again, thank you to all of you who follow our Learning garden's progress here on the blog, and have volunteered your time and hands to keeping our garden beautiful and running smoothly. And best of luck with your own winter gardens.

Winter Garden-land

Last Friday the garden hosted an expert gardener, Lynn Villella, who walked us through the process of preparing our learning garden for the inclement weather of the winter months in the great Northwest.


And not a moment too soon, as the following days before our Thanksgiving break the garden seemed to be growing snow.


We had wonderful volunteers and hands that came out last week to help us prepare the garden for a winter hibernation. As per our usual M.O. we had rain and light showers for our garden gathering, but we still managed to recruit some brave souls to help us.

Our volunteers helped us to clean out the beds, compost old plants, and plant faba beans in the empty beds to help reintroduce some nitrogen and other nutrient goodies into the soil for next year's plants.

Gardens in front yards or other high visibility locations used to be a taboo, because of the pressure for them to be maintained and looking beautiful, but after our clean-up our expert thinks we'd pass inspection.

We also enjoyed some hot apple cider and treats from Bon Appétit.

And our volunteers even managed to take home some mint starts for themselves.

A very productive, and timely work party for our Learning garden.

Many thanks to everyone who have been following us here on the blog, and volunteering your time in the garden helping to keep it beautiful, and running smoothly. Our wonderful garden wouldn't be possible without the help from all you.

Winter Garden

This year’s theme for International Education Week is Striving for a Sustainable Future. With sustainable future in mind, gardens are becoming increasingly popular all over US campuses, in people’s homes and in cities!

For example, take a look at a San Francisco’s neighborhood recent re-use of a freeway ramp into an urban farm!

In this spirit, we are excited to offer you a Garden Workshop this coming Friday in SMU’s new campus garden.

Garden experts will be on hand to tell and show you how to prepare your gardens for the winter.

Dress to be outside and get dirty! Bon Appétit will provide hot apple cider and there will be light snacks.

At 2pm, we will gather in the St.Gertrude (dining hall) atrium for a talk, followed by some hands on work in the garden.

NOTE: the IEW poster says 3-5, but we are actually starting at 2pm!

Friday, Nov. 19
Winter Garden Planting
SMU Community Garden, 2-5 p.m.