Sustainable Crown Hill

Check out the details of this new film, A Chemical Reaction, to be viewed on Sat. Feb 20…hosted by Seattle Tilth and COOL.  Event details are at the bottom of this post.

COOL (the Coalition of Organic Landscape Professionals http://www.organiclandscapers.org/index.html) and Seattle Tilth (http://www.seattletilth.org/) are presenting the compelling documentary “A Chemical Reaction” as part of an afternoon event at Lake Washington Technical College in Kirkland on Saturday, February 20th, from 2-6pm. The event will also feature keynote speaker Paul Tukey, the nationally-known gardening host who is the executive producer and narrator of the film. Tukey is also the founder of the regional gardening magazine “People, Places & Plants”, author of best-seller The Organic Lawn Care Manual, and founder of SafeLawns.org, a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting natural lawn care and grounds maintenance. The event will feature displays and resources from The Garden Hotline and several other environmental organizations, books for sale, refreshments, and a question-and-answer session and book-signing with Paul Tukey after the movie screening. Proceeds from this event will be contributed to http://safelawns.org/

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City Fruit offers a series of fruit tree care classes starting in January 2010. Register at Brown Paper Tickets (links from www.cityfruit.org) or send a check with the name of the class and your contact information to City Fruit, PO Box 28577, Seattle 98118.  After registering, you will receive confirmation and the address of the class. If you can’t afford a class but really want to learn, email us at info@cityfruit.org. The Phinney Neighborhood Association serves as City Fruit’s fiscal sponsor and is the co-sponsor of these events.

Feb 6 Fruit Varieties for the Pacific NW . 1 – 3 pm.  UW Botanic Gardens.  $20/$15 (members). Sam Benowitz is the owner of Raintree Nursery, a nursery specializing in fruit trees and other edibles. Whether it’s plums, apples, pears, or berries, Sam knows what varieties do best in any particular situation. He will discuss the best fruits for the Northwest, why rootstocks are important, and how to determine how big a tree will grow.

Feb 20 The Art of Espalier. 1 – 4:30 pm. UW Botanic Gardens. $30/$25 (members). Dave Conners, former president of the Seattle Tree Fruit Society, has been training 18 different antique apple varieties on his city-sized lot for more than a decade and has been teaching “The Art of Espalier” at the UW’s Center for Urban horticulture for many years.

Mar 6 Pruning Grape Vines 9 am – noon. Phinney Neighborhood Association and neighboring site with grape vines. $20/$15 (members). Learn to prune and train grape vines and get tips on growing grapes for best production. Larry Davis is a Master Gardener and teaches grape and other fruit production classes for the WSU-King County Master Gardener program.

Mar 20 Planting and Caring for Young Fruit Trees 10 am – noon. Orca School Environmental Learning Center. $20/$15 (members). Find out how and where to plant your new fruit tree and how to keep it healthy. John Reardon, vice president of the Seattle Tree Fruit Society, teaches tree care classes for Plant Amnesty, Seattle Tree Fruit Society and City Fruit.

Fruit tree care classes are also offered by the following organizations. See the City Fruit Calendar at www.cityfruit.org, or their websites for details.

Community Harvest of Southwest Seattle

Friends of Piper’s Orchard

Seattle Tilth

Seattle Tree Fruit Society

Western Washington Fruit Research Foundation

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Fruit Tree Pruning Class

Saturday, January 30, 2010

Offered by City Fruit

Location: Phinney Ridge

10 am – noon

$20/$15 (City Fruit members)

Pruning your fruit tree will improve its health, productivity and appearance. This beginner’s class covers the basics, including pruning tools, reasons for pruning a fruit tree and basic techniques. Instructor Ingela Wanerstrand, Green Darner Garden Design, specializes in edible garden design and coaching and has been pruning fruit trees professionally for 14 years.

Register at http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/91245 or send a check with the name and date of the class and your contact information to City Fruit, PO Box 28577, Seattle 98118. After registering, you will receive confirmation and the address of the class. If you can’t afford a class but really want to learn, email us atinfo@cityfruit.org.

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I read Fresh Food from Small Space by RJ Ruppenthal while nursing a head cold.  I wish I’d been sitting at the computer because there are little website gems tucked throughout the book. Dennis, here’s a sustainable way (http://www.cowpots.com/) for you to do your starts without killing the peat bog!  I’ve always wanted to do sprouts – well, there’s a section on How-To and web references to get you started (http://www.sproutpeople.com/).  He covers fruit trees, bees, chickens, crop rotation, vertical growth, self-watering planter boxes, yogurt, mushrooms, etc.  I don’t want to give it back to the library!

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