gardening | Team Reba Real Estate

Whodathunkit? They actually have to talk “green” at a show that is all about outdoor spaces. Alright, I’m being a little facetious since we all know you can grow a garden with loads of chemicals and genetically altered plants. Since I’ve always gardened organically (the past 15 years or more at 5-6 different home sites) of course I am pleased to see that we’re coming back into a time where individuals believe that we can take a role in better caring for our planet and the resources used in it, as well as what we derive from it.

Just this morning I was marveling at the bounty that my partner and I were able to enjoy this morning as we went for our morning walk with our 3 dogs. On the trails around our house we picked blackberries – we’ve been enjoying these for a couple of weeks now – and today’s haul was around a pound worth. From our own home we picked pears and apples from the 3 fruit trees we own. This morning’s breakfast consisted of a tasty yogurt, fruit and nut mix I made for us out of these items and we’ll be sharing our items with neighbors too.

Speaking of neighbors, we have a lovely elderly woman next to us who is growing tomatoes and hot peppers. It’s funny because she grows tomatoes every year, but she doesn’t eat them. She tells me that she likes to just have something growing and these are easy for her to do. One caveat she has for using them though is her “cha cha” that she makes which utilizes green tomatoes in the mix of goodies in this hot, tasty treat for the mouth. Think kimchi and you’ll get an idea of what it is.

Anyway, back to the NWFG show….

Here is an excerpt from the press release sent out today:

SUSTAINABLE GARDENING TAKES CENTER STAGE ATNORTH AMERICA’S THIRD LARGEST FLOWER & GARDEN SHOW Organizers of Northwest Flower & Garden Show Reveal Theme for 2009 Event

SEATTLE – Salmon Bay Events, organizers of North America’s third largest flower and garden show, today announced initial details on the 2009 Northwest Flower & Garden Show including the show’s theme – “Sustainable Spaces. Beautiful Places.” “Next year’s show will place a major focus on gardening materials and techniques that are good for the environment,” said Duane Kelly, chairman and founder of the annual event, now in its twenty-first year. “Show goers can expect to come away with a number of great ideas that conserve resources such as water and soil while, at the same time, making their gardens more self-sustaining and easier to care for.”

During the past year, organic gardening and vegetable gardening have grown in popularity thanks to the public’s keen interest in doing what’s best for the environment. The movement has also gained traction with consumers seeking homegrown fruits and vegetables that not only taste better but reduce ever increasing grocery bills. The annual event, which will span a total of six acres, showcases 25 full-scale gardens and offers over 120 free seminars for both veteran and aspiring gardeners looking for ideas and information on how to reinvigorate any outdoor living space. This year, full-scale gardens will focus on a greener future, featuring the elements of a sustainable lifestyle including native plants, organic vegetable gardens, creative recycling and composting.

WHAT: 2009 Northwest Flower & Garden Show www.gardenshow.com WHEN: February 18 – 22, 2009

Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, 9 a.m. – 8 p.m. Sunday, 9 a.m. – 6 p.m. WHERE: Washington State Convention and Trade Center7^th & Pike Seattle, Washington

Because of my blogging, I guess I’m now also considered part of the press covering their events (I’ve written about NWFGS for a couple of years at least in various online venues) and I may actually contact them to ask some questions. Do any of you out in the public have any you’d like me to get answered for you? I’m personally interested in hearing how they might be highlighting not just soil, plant, and watering techniques but also products that can be used to retrofit houses that want to recapture roof water, preventing run off, grey-water retrofits, creating a bug free or beneficial bug friendly retention pond on site to filter run off, pervious surface options, and more.

There are some new construction developers that utilize a lot of these methods, such as Martha Rose Construction, and sometimes you’ll see these kinds of custom projects in magazines like Dwell, but I’d like to see how a current homeowner can reduce, reuse and recycle too.

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Not everyone knows that I’m a big gardening fan but there are times when I’m walking around a client’s home that I can tell they’re surprised by the number of plants that I can identify by sight as we walk around and I’m giving them my staging advice for the exterior of their home. Yes, staging includes that all important “curb appeal” which will often mean taking a hard look at the aesthetic of the exterior of a home and the surrounding gardens (or lack thereof).

At my last home, the one I just finished closing on the sale of last week, I had done extensive exterior work using a contractor to build a wrap around deck, patio, raised beds, etc. Not only was this nice for my own personal use, but it was great in the eventual resale of the home because of all the extras that it provided. In the bedding areas I put in mostly perennials but some of the spaces were also used for organic gardening for our own vegetable food supplies in the spring through fall. Most of the plant choices were made to be low maintenance as well as drought-tolerant and we had rain barrels installed to catch water runoff from the deck for use in the garden to limit seasonal summer water use. With food prices and gas prices being what they are today, it is nice to have an onsite garden which helps limit the number of trips to the store for fresh produce and keep our household expenses down.

To keep up on various gardening ideas I frequently read the NWLife section of the Seattle Times, specifically, the gardening section. In the July 2nd edition there was an article on the “native plant of the month” named Sisyrinchium, aka Blue-eyed grass. I’m looking for ideas for my new home where we have an area that ends up with an occasional water run-off area caused by the topography of the lot and neighborhood. My thoughts in attempting to limit actual run-off and to help in slowing down the water and helping it to percolate more slowly into the ground is to put in a mini-marsh like garden where water can collect and there will be plants that help the process and that can survive and thrive in that environment.

The blue-eyed grass seems to be one of many that can fit into my little scheme. Granted, I realize I’m taking on a multi-year process of putting this in place and my first goal is to stake out the spot in our new lot that will become our new vegetable garden, but collecting ideas is part of the fun of gardening.

The best tidbit of info that I gleaned from this article though was the website put together by the Washington Native Plant Society where you can find more information on native plants, including the places where you can buy them. Growing native plants is a smart move because you’ll have fewer high-maintenance plants to deal with because native plants typically have already figured out how to defend themselves against pests and they usually require less watering than more fussy plants that have been transplanted to our environment.

So, over this holiday weekend, if you’re out gardening – have fun, be safe and “go native!”

Team Reba Real Estate

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