Sustainable
Garden Practices:
Keeping your garden really
"green."
The Brewer Garden
For some of us, gardening is a passion. Creating environments with trees, shrubs and plants rewards us with great pleasure for the senses. In Ginny Brewer’s case, the process is even richer. Ginny’s large, stunning garden is all cared for in a 100% natural way. When you arrive at this garden, pause for just a moment to take in the remarkable beauty around you, the various “rooms” that Ginny has created. Then smile broadly as you realize that this whole wonderful garden utilizes no toxic pesticides or herbicides! Stop by the Natural Landscapes Project booth to learn about natural garden care. And look for a demonstration on one of the special solutions that Ginny relies upon, compost tea.
The Dewey Garden
On Bainbridge, trees in the garden are often an essential element. After all, Bainbridge Island’s natural habitat is forestland. Here at the Dewey garden, tall trees serve as a magnificent backdrop. Stop and visit resident tree experts: plant pathologist and consultant, Dr. Olaf Ribeiro, and Jim Trainer, certified arborist and founder of Treez, Inc. Find out how you can keep your trees healthy, especially since trees do much to keep our environment healthy. You will enjoy learning about our fascinating heritage trees in Kitsap County. You might even want to hug a tree while you’re there.
The Picha Garden
One of the very special features in the Picha garden is the orchard. Over thirty fruit trees grace this garden. They are mostly apples, but include peach, pear, Asian pear and plum. The challenge here is to grow fruit that is delicious and free of the effects of small but devastating insects. The Picha’s are planning on utilizing a clever method to ward off the apple maggot, without the use of toxic sprays - a small, mesh “sock” on the apples, preventing the maggots from damaging the fruit. While visiting this garden, look for a demonstration from the Peninsula Fruit Club on safer approaches to pests on fruit trees. Apple socks rock!
Also in this garden, you can see a demonstration on the importance of bees in our gardens. Bees are in serious trouble right now, which means that science is scrambling to find answers. Learn about our precious pollinators, and gain an appreciation for what they do for us. Local beekeeper Dale Spoor will be on hand to answer questions. Maybe you will want to put up a Mason orchard bee box in your own yard and play host to these pollinators.
The Everett Garden
Every gardener has a story about weeds. Here in the Pacific Northwest our mild climate allows for many invasive weeds to flourish, especially in our gardens. In addition to the more obvious weeds like the Himalayan blackberry and Scotch broom, many relatively new invaders were introduced as garden ornamentals. Responsible, sustainable gardening involves making good choices about garden plants that are not invasive and do not require extensive efforts to control and contain them. In the Everett’s garden, the family has successfully underaken the removal of much of the blackberry and replaced it with a variety of lovely plants that behave themselves and provide habitat to birds and wildlife. Information about invasive plants, and alternatives to invasive plants in the garden will be displayed at the Everett garden in the Weed Warrior’s booth.
For more information, contact us at BIAHC, 206.842.7901,
or email admin@artshum.org.
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