Mirrormont Pea Patch: our organic community garden
The Mirrormont Country Club has generously leased the land for the Pea Patch to the Mirrormont Community Association.
Our first annual plant sale brought in $492, which will go toward a storage shed, along with the last $400 from the grant. Many gardeners contributed perennials and bulbs from their home gardens as well as vegetable plants they’d started from seeds at home. Thanks to all of you who helped with the sale, as well as those who bought plants!
We have been busy planting seeds — and beginning to harvest lettuce, spinach, broccoli raab and radishes. Diane and Kevin Mashek, who have dedicated a plot to the Issaquah Food Bank, made their first donations the end of May and first week in June. Upon making their second delivery, they discovered that Issaquah’s Food Bank only accepts donations on certain days, so they donated the produce to the Seattle Soup Kitchen for the homeless. These donations also included produce from the gardens of Reita Gunderson and Renée Kristof.
Meg Wade started weekly gatherings of Junior Gardeners, and they have planted strawberries, blueberries, potatoes, peas, and sunflowers in their plot. The girls also created signs and scarecrows with skirts. Come see the ScaryGirls!
Robin Spicer donated a picnic table and chairs; Heidi & Larry Paradis donated a second picnic table. They make the Pea Patch feel very homey. The Junior Gardeners used the tables to plant (and taste!) sunflower seeds and it’s a great place to relax and chat after digging in the dirt.
Several gardeners have remarked that they’ve met more neighbors through the Pea Patch than they have in the past one to twenty years. In addition to other gardeners, walkers are frequently touring the Pea Patch to see what’s happening. Feel free to come and visit. All are welcome!
In June 2009 we were awarded 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. Over the past year year, members of twenty families have contributed 1113 hours at work parties, and 192 hours to research community gardens and materials, write the grant, plan and organize the projects. Twenty-two families have plots, and we now have a waiting list.
During work parties in 2009, we cleared blackberries, removed debris from the site, pulled stumps, leveled and rototilled the ground, installed a French drain, and harvested a lot of rocks. While the thorny blackberries fought back, we emerged scratched but victorious. So far in 2010 we have built raised beds, installed deer and rodent fencing, filled our plots with Cedar Grove Vegetable Garden Mix generously donated by Cedar Grove, and installed a drip irrigation system.
Remaining projects include building a shed, compost bins, worm bin, work tables, bulletin board and signs. We also plan to create a Community Herb Garden outside the front entrance to the Pea Patch in cooperation with the Park Committee (plans have already been approved by the Mirrormont Country Club).
Project Managers
- Blackberry clearing and stump removal: Linda Shepherd
- French drain & Children’s Garden: Meg Wade
- Sheet mulching: Terry Garrido
- Raised beds: Betsy Dahlstrom & Kevin Mashek
- Deer & rodent fencing: Joe Lapping
- PeaPatcher Potluck Parties: Maryfrances Lignana
- Cedar Grove Compost: Diane Mashek
- Irrigation: Liz Bromley
- Shed: Renée & Joe Kristof
We welcome donations of:
garden tools bulletin board sturdy work tables compost bins
$$$
If you are interested in Pea Patch gardening, volunteering or donating, please contact Linda Shepherd at peapatch@mirrormont.org. Checks can be made out to Mirrormont Community Association.
Donations
For significantly stretching our grant dollars, we are incredibly grateful to the following for their generosity:
- Issaquah Cedar & Lumber gave us free delivery and a 20% discount on lumber for raised beds. We recommend their helpful and knowledgeable staff for your next woodworking project (http://www.cedarexperts.com/ ; 5728 East Lake Sammamish Parkway; 425-392-3631)
- Cedar Grove Compost munificently donated 60 cubic yards of Vegetable Garden Mix. Cedar Grove has diverted 4 million tons of organic material from landfills, and has many excellent products for increasing the tilth of your soil and producing lush plants (http://www.cedar-grove.com/ )
- DripWorks has given us a 30% discount on a drip irrigation system. Their expert staff will work with you to design a complete system to meet your needs. (http://www.dripworksusa.com/ )
- Terry Meyer, a Mirrormont resident and owner of U.S. Diversified Services, Inc. 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. He also donated time toward the French drain and putting in the access road. 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/
- Boyd’s Coffee donated 1500 burlap bags used for sheet-mulching.
- Jasen Braun at JB Tree Service (800-840-2733) 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) donated wood chips for sheet-mulching. 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!