Happy Valley

Turns out I get to do even more gardening this year. I've been on the waiting list for a space in one of the City of Bellingham's four Community Gardens for months. Longer actually than I've even known about the Cordata Community Gardens. Finally, I received word from the City that I get one of their spots. Seems they've had some "no-show" gardeners from past years, have several "final notices" out and can let me know this week which space will be mine at the Happy Valley Community Gardens.
Originally called the Sven Hoyt Community Garden and leased for years now by the City of Bellingham, the Happy Valley Community Gardens have been referred to locally for as long as I can recall as one of those "hippy" gardens, so I decided to pay a visit there today to see just what I might be getting myself in for. Perhaps the locals labeled it a hippy garden because even by the early 1970's, it was well known that it was an organic garden. Possibly one of the first organic community gardens in the city of Bellingham, before organic gardening was cool, it seemed that anyone interested in growing their own vegetables without the addition of poisons and pesticides was labeled a hippy. Isn't it interesting how times have changed!

This year-round community garden, located on the west side of 32nd Street in the Happy Valley neighborhood, is in a wonderful location that gets full sun. Quite a large garden area, I couldn't tell how many spaces there were in all as many have been combined over the years because the City allows families to rent up to four spaces each. The garden spots there were in a variety of stages of gardening - some quite elaborately fenced and colorfully decorated.

Other spaces appeared to be more of a work-in-progress, and others looked to have been completely abandoned. No doubt, some of the previous owners of those abandoned-looking garden spots must be the recipients of those "final notices" my contact from the City mentioned, and one of those abandoned-looking spots will soon be mine. Looks like by mid week I will have lots of hard work to get started on!
Generous in size at 10' X 20', the spaces allow for ample room in which to put several raised beds and still have a walkway. As I wondered around viewing the gardens, I liked the look of this spot the best. With this as a model, I would like to do something similar with my space. I could include a barrel on a stand of some sort for water storage, add a small composting or worm bin, include a container for storage of my hose and garden tools and perhaps even add an old chair for when I want to simply sit and admire my own little "hippy" garden.

Since the Happy Valley Community Gardens is less than a block from what was my father's favorite place to get fresh produce, Joe's Gardens, I couldn't resist stopping there too. What a score I felt I made. Not only did I pick out the most beautiful giant head of pesticide-free red-tipped leaf lettuce that I've practically ever seen in my life (and for only $1.25), I picked up some beautiful bedding plants for my new garden space - again, extremely reasonably priced when compared to the local chain-store garden centers. Acorn squash, spaghetti squash, yellow patty pan squash, an early green cabbage, red cabbage, even artichokes, I can hardly wait to get them in the ground.

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The Happy Valley Community Gardens.

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Blooms in the Garden and the Lake

We all like blooms in the garden and know that soon after comes wonderful fresh vegetables. But what about blooms in a lake? And what if that lake is your water supply? After weeks of record setting heat, a severe algae bloom developed in Lake Whatcom and the water filtration system became so clogged at the Water Treatment Plant making it impossible to produce enough water for our community. First voluntary water restrictions were imposed and then manditory.

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Consequently, even though we're back to voluntary water restrictions, maintaining two gardens has become rather challenging. The little Cordata raised-bed garden is fried, toasted. The garden spots there are small, like raised flower beds and a new garden to the community this year. Initially the beds were filled with too many layers of cardboard and then several inches of a poor quality soil. In spite of all the hard work the neighborhood has put in, as with all new gardening efforts, it will take several more growing seasons for these gardens to become established enough to produce a healthy vegetable crop.

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Some of the gardeners put in plant starts from local nurseries or those that they had started at home earlier in the season, and others started their gardens with seeds. Regardless of how their plants were started, most of the little gardens at the Cordata Gardens have grown extremely slow with many plants suffering some sort of strange dwarfism. Built with treated lumber, the soil in the beds may even have trace amounts of wood-preserving chemicals leaching into the soil as well.

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The plants there, already stressed from just the general conditions at the garden, hardly had a chance once the weather turned so extremely hot. Add the extreme algae bloom in the lake with first a voluntary and then a manditory water restriction imposed, it's really no surprise that the Cordata garden is pretty much finished for the season - already! Other gardeners there have expressed that they have experienced similar results, and for many of us, it really has been a rather disappointing experience.

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Yet at the Happy Valley Gardens, in spite of extreme hot temperatures and water rationing, all gardens seem to thrive. Even by watering my garden spot there only one time each week during this period of extremely hot summer heat and imposed water restrictions, my garden remains healthy. Planted one month after I planted the Cordata garden, my Happy Valley garden continues to grow fast and produces more and more vegetables for my table each day. This garden is a success!

The pea vines are absolutely loaded, and soon I will have way more peas than one girl can possibly eat!
Full of blooms and baby cucumbers, I should have an abundance of garden fresh English cucumbers to share before long as well.

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More pics from the Happy Valley garden today.

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What's my plan to help my Happy Valley garden continue to thrive if there is another algae bloom at the lake and we have another mandatory water rationing? I cleaned out that recycled olive barrel that's been sitting there in my garden spot and filled it full today.

What's being done to protect Lake Whatcom? Contact People for Lake Whatcom to find out.

Water Wise Gardens

On the Rain Garden team for the WSU Whatcom County Extension Beach Watchers, I was invited to join the local Master Gardener Foundation for an educational and fun tour of three water wise home gardens in the Lake Whatcom watershed. The first garden, located on Lake Whatcom in Agate Bay, had undergone a major shoreline restoration project a number of years ago when an old bulkhead started to deteriorate. Now one more beach on Lake Whatcom, the source of drinking water for the residents of Bellingham, is water friendly.The next home garden, a demonstration rain garden located in a residential area of the Silver Beach neighborhood was a combined project constructed by the WSU Master Gardeners, Beach Watchers and Master Composters classes last year. Rainwater from the roof of the house and excess stormwater from the street that were traditionally directed to a neighborhood storm drain were redirected to feed the rain garden. Plants tolerant in both rainy and dry seasons were selected for specific areas of the rain garden based upon the moisture level that those different areas of the garden were expected to maintain.

The last home garden on our tour, also located in the Silver Beach neighborhood, was on top of a hill and utilized a number of water-friendly features with walking trails throughout its obviously healthy natural habitat.

More photos from our water wise garden tour.

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MORE UPCOMING GARDEN TOURS! Want to go on a garden tour yourself? If so, you might consider the upcoming tour of community gardens located in Whatcom County sponsored by the WSU Whatcom County Extension Community First Gardens Project on July 18th and again on July 25th from 10:00 a.m. until 1:00 p.m. This is a self-guided tour and master gardeners will be at each site to help provide information. The following community gardens will be open to the public for the tour:

• Fairhaven Community Garden, 10th Avenue and Wilson, Bellingham
• Happy Valley Community Garden, 32nd Street between Taylor and Donovan, Bellingham
• Lakeway Community Garden, Lakeway Avenue and Woburn Street, Bellingham
• Shuravloff Garden, 1815 Texas Street, Bellingham
• Miller Garden, 1005 East Illinois, Bellingham
• West Garden, 2527 Pacific Street, Bellingham (open the 18th ONLY)
• Outback Garden, On WWU campus off of South College Drive and Fairhaven College, 25th Street north of Bill MacDonald Parkway, Bellingham
• Broadway Youth Center Garden, Broadway and Dupont, Bellingham
• Spring Creek Apartments Garden, 196 East Kellogg Road, Bellingham
• Cordata Community Garden, at northern dead end of Cordata Parkway, Bellingham
• First Christian Church Garden, 495 East Bakerview Road, Bellingham
• Ferndale Friendship Garden, Ferndale Road, Ferndale
• North City Community Garden, 8844 Bender Road, Lynden
• United Methodist Garden, 14th and Main Street, Lynden
• 5 Loaves Farm, 514 Liberty Street, Lynden
• Sumas Community Garden, 399 Frost Rodeo Drive, in the H. Bowen Memorial Park, Sumas
• Everson Community Garden, Kirsch Road across from library, Everson
• Maple Falls Community Garden, Mount Baker Highway next to the Harvest Moon Bakery

A map of Whatcom County showing the location of each of these participating gardens is available on the Community First Gardens website at - Whatcom County Community Garden Tour. I have a small raised-bed garden at the Cordata Community Gardens and a 10-foot by 40-foot garden spot at the Happy Valley Community Gardens. I will be available at my Happy Valley garden during the tour on the 25th. Maybe I'll see you there!

Calendula Body Butter

It feels absolutely wonderful to slather myself with freshly whipped calendula body butter made using some of the flowers from my Happy Valley garden.

Pretty calendula, also known as the pot marigold, and chamomile flowers were picked just a few hours earlier and truly made this a luxurious mixture. Easy to grow, I planted the calendula in my garden this year by directly sowing the seeds in amongst a bed of other flowers. Although an annual, once established, will tend to reseed itself year after year. The chamomile, a plant tucked in a corner of my herb garden and another flower bed at my Happy Valley garden, is another one of those annuals that when once established will continue to reseed itself for years to come.

An edible flower, a pinch of calendula petals adds pretty color to a tossed salad, and I especially like the spicy flavor they add to vegetable dishes. The flowers and leaves possess medicinal qualities as well. Calendula extract has anti-viral and anti-inflammatory properties and used topically, it is soothing to irritated tissue. Chamomile, also considered a medicinal plant, is said to have healing properties. Shea butter, extracted from the fruit of the West Afican shea (karite) tree, quickly penetrates deeply into the skin to help restore elasticity, moisture and protects the skin. It doesn't clog pores and is naturally rich in vitamins A, E & F, some of the essential vitamins needed for good skin balance. Extracts of herbs rosemary and sage are also soothing to the skin. The lemon essential oil with natural dissinfecting and astrigent properties is used in aromatherapy to relieve mental fatigue, improve alertness, reduce stress, revive, energize and calm. I quite simply like its fragrance.

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Containing many of the wonderful ingredients often found in a healing salve, it really is no wonder that my whipped calendula body butter feels so very good! Here's how to make it.

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Calendula Body Butter Recipe

2 Cups Olive Oil

1 Cup Calendula Blossoms

6 Chamomile Blossoms

1/2 Cup Beeswax

1/4 Cup Shea Butter

2 Small Sprigs Rosemary

1 Small Sprig Sage

Few Drops Lemon Essential Oil

Carefully remove petals from calendula flowers and gently wash them with the chamomile blossoms and fresh sprigs of herbs. Dry completely then place in a saucepan with the olive oil. Heat, stirring frequently, until the boiling point. Remove from heat, cover and let steep for at least a thirty minutes. Strain the oil, squeezing as much of the oil as possible out of the flower petals and herbs. Stir shea butter into hot oil until it dissolves. Add beeswax and stir continually over a double boiler until the wax has melted. Remove from heat and stir in the lemon essential oil. Cool. Once the mixture is cool, place in a food processor and process until the mixture is creamy and somewhat fluffy. Fill jars and cap with lids. With no artificial ingredients or preservatives, whipped calendula body butter will keep for up to one year when stored in the refrigerator. Because it is whipped soft and fluffy, it instantly melts when applied to the skin and feels very refreshing. Makes four 8-ounce jars. Enjoy!

Knowing where all the ingredients in this body butter comes from feels good too. The flowers and herbs, from my Happy Valley garden. The olive oil, a popular organic brand from a grocery store within walking distance of my home. The shea butter, beeswax and lemon essential oil, from Otion, a reputable shop in downtown Bellingham that carries the Bramble Berry soap and lotion making supplies and products.

Oh so soothing!

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Click here - Purchase Calendula Body Butter - to buy an 8-ounce jar of this yummy calendula body butter for yourself.

Haricot Vert and Sharing the Harvest

Soon, very soon, we will be harvesting green beans from our little garden plots at the Cordata Community Gardens. A long, thin French bean, haricot vert, was planted in B3, and blue lake beans planted in B2. Each variety are compact bush-types since the garden rules at Cordata forbid absolutely anything - plants or supports - being over four feet tall in any gardener's raised bed. Both types of beans are loaded with blooms and have lots of small, not quite ready to pick sized beans throughout their compact vines.

I planted organic blue lake pole beans in my garden at Happy Valley about a month after the beans at the Cordata garden were planted and they are growing fast. Already with their third sets of leaves, soon they should be vining up their support trellis, blooming and, hopefully, providing us more fresh garden beans once those at the Cordata garden have finished bearing.

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Today's garden pics.

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Tonight at the Happy Valley Community Gardens there was a homeless guy setting up his little camp there for the night. The gardeners on the corner gave him part of a beer and a couple of bottles of water before they left, and the gal with the prayer flags flying over her garden told him her carrots were ready and he was welcome to as many as he liked. All of the gardeners had left before I was finished watering my space so he came over to let me know that he was just passing through Bellingham and was going to spend the night there at the gardens. He went on to say that if I was uncomfortable with him being there while I was alone that he could go up by the road and wait until I left. I suggested he be the garden guard while I finished watering. Then I asked if I could take his picture and his reply, "sure, I guess." Here he is, leaning on the outside of my garden fence.

Interestingly, while walking by the composting area at the Cordata gardens tonight, I couldn't help but notice that some gardener had added a bunch of perfectly fine, fresh and crisp spinach leaves, beet greens, Swiss chard and radishes to the top of the "green" compost heap.

Also interesting is this sign that we are greeted with every time we open and close the gate to the Cordata Community Gardens.

Having just witnessed such generousity by the gardeners at Happy Valley to that homeless man, I couldn't help but remember the Gardener's Use Agreement we all had to sign in order to garden at the Cordata Community Gardens.

"In the spirit of community, I will freely exchange varieties from my plot with my neighbors and contribute some of my plot's production to our garden basket for the less fortunate."

I've noticed perfectly good fresh produce tossed onto the top of the compost heap there before, and the Cordata gardens appears to me to be a very neat and tidy garden without any serious sign of being overrun by weeds. So, why are some of the Cordata gardeners throwing freshly harvested produce onto the compost heap rather than sharing it with those less fortunate? Perhaps it would be more appropriate for that entry gate sign to state something about not wasting good vegetables but to share them with those less fortunate. And just where is that garden basket?

Happy Valley Grows

The weeds are growing fast, but fortunately all those vegetable and flower plants that I planted in my Happy Valley Community Gardens garden spot seem to be growing faster.With common weeds like dandelions and grasses to keep up with, the most prominent of weeds throughout these gardens seem to be the horsetail plant and comfry. I spent a little time pulling those little weeds today and now my garden looks great again.

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More pics from my Happy Valley garden.

I was not sure if this was a weed or a flower, but there were large stocks of it as tall as me growing around the big clump of lupins in my garden. I've been watching them as they formed masses of yellow buds and their stocks were getting out of control and beginning to impose into the walkway through my garden. I found their fragrance rather unpleasant too, so I decided to pull them out and break them down to add to my compost bin. Out of curiosity as to what they actually are though, I left a couple of their stocks near the back of that particular bed so that I'll have a sample for identification once they bloom. I think they actually are a weed of some sort that has simply grown out of control.

Do you know what they are?

My Happy Valley Garden

Everything is growing so fast at my Happy Valley garden! Seems the plants have doubled in size in just the last two weeks. The sunflowers, now much taller than I am.The peas have grown so fast that they are now in need of an additional trellis. And the squash patch, its about to overflow its borders.

Recently planting a mixture of purple, red, yellow, white and orange carrots, very soon I will be eating those fancy new carrots.

Plucked fresh from the vine, I ate these sweet raspberries.

Today's harvest, English cucumbers, zucchini and fresh peas to shell - plus a few sprigs of fresh rosemary to add to a batch of plum jam.

More pics of my Happy Valley garden.

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Blueberries and Rhubarb

What once was filled with squash in my Happy Valley Community Garden now grows blueberries and rhubarb. I had not given much thought about what to do with that space since pulling out the squash plants, but suddenly a plan came together. The daughter of a friend of a friend was taking out the garden in their newly purchased home in Bow and I had been invited to dig what I wanted. The first day of fall and such beautiful weather, it was the perfect day for a drive through rural Skagit County as I headed to Bow. I couldn't help but notice how the sky was so much more blue than this barn. I dug a variety of perrenial flowers to transplant into my cutting garden at the Happy Valley Gardens, then saw the rhubarb and instantly began to think about all those crisps, pies and cobblers I could make if I took some rhubarb starts too.

When I spotted the two blueberry bushes, I knew they would be great additions to my garden. They were still small plants, but their tags indicated they would grow to be 5 to 6 feet high and quite round. I immediately thought about that space where I had just removed all those squash plants and decided that would be the perfect space for them. They were each a different variety of blueberry, but I didn't think that would make any difference (at least I hoped it wouldn't). The tag on one said they were bigger and rounder and juicier than most, and the other indicated it would be a big producer. Blueberries are one of my favorite summer fruits. It will be so cool to pick blueberries that I have grown myself.

Once I determined where my new plants should be placed in my garden and had finished planting them, I gave them all a good watering. Then, picking raspberries and a few peas from my garden for my dinner, I reflected on my afternoon of gardening efforts, knowing that I was already looking forwad to the next season.

Reminded that it really was the first day of fall, a big pile of pumpkins greated me as I stopped at my favorite vegetable stand, Joe's, to pick up some tomatoes on my way home. More pics from my drive through rural Skagit County to get my new plants and my Happy Valley Garden.

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