Mirrormont Pea Patch
The Mirrormont Country Club has generously leased the land for the Pea Patch to the Mirrormont Community Association.
Over the past year, we’ve made significant progress in preparing the site for our community garden behind the tennis courts, and we’re planning on planting this Spring.
During work parties from April 2009 through January 2010, we cleared blackberries, removed debris from the site, pulled stumps, leveled and rototilled the ground, harvested a lot of rocks, installed a French drain, sheet-mulched, and built 24 raised beds. While the thorny blackberries fought back, we emerged scratched but victorious. We have a small grant from King County Partnerships and Grants, which is a matching grant designed to save the county money by depending upon volunteer labor to accomplish the project.
So far this year, members of seventeen families have contributed 427 hours at work parties, and over 176 hours to research community gardens and materials, write the grant, plan and organize the project. Plus, we collected almost 100 tennis balls, which are making the neighborhood dogs happy. Our next projects will be putting in a gravel access road from the gravel road into Mirrormont Park, installing an irrigation system, and putting up deer and rodent fencing.
Project Managers
- Blackberry clearing and stump removal: Linda Shepherd
- French drain & Children’s Garden: Meg Wade
- Raised beds: Betsy Dahlstrom & Kevin Mashek
- Irrigation: Liz Bromley
- Sheet-mulching: Terry Garrido
- Deer & rodent fencing: Ray Garrido
Donations
We are grateful to Terry Meyer, a Mirrormont resident and owner of U.S. Diversified Services, Inc., who donated time and expert use of his backhoe to remove stumps from the plot, for about what it would have cost to rent the equipment, and to finish the French drain. He’s a full-service general contractor, and a wonderful resource for remodeling, additions, decks, patios, preventive maintenance and repairs. Call (206) 295-3787 for a free estimate; see http://www.usds-inc.com/
Jasen Braun at JB Tree Service (800-840-2733) generously donated his time to chip huge piles of debris that Pea Patch volunteers hauled out of the plot. Wood chips for sheet mulching were kindly donated by Mariotti Tree Company (253-632-1705), Matt’s Tree Service (425-369-8733), and Eastside Tree Works (206-396-9998). Please consider calling one of them for free estimates for hazardous tree removal, limbing, thinning, stump grinding and other tree services, including pet rescue. They also offer free wood chips! Issaquah Cedar and Lumber donated 20% off the price of lumber for the raised beds. We’re also grateful to Kevin Mashek and Boyd’s Coffee for burlap bags.
We welcome donations of: Garden tools wheelbarrows hoses watering wands hose nozzles picnic tables outdoor chairs stakes compost bins $$$
If you are interested in Pea Patch gardening, volunteering or donating, please contact Linda Shepherd at peapatch@mirrormont.org.