Trellis Forum, January 18, 2020

[David Bach]

Seven Trellis members met for an enthusiastic discussion of a variety of gardening topics.

A. Regarding predators

• Darien has anti-snail beer recipe that snails can't resist
• Consider physical barriers to deter beneficial insects
• Use sticky traps to capture and remove flea beetles and other flying pests
• Cucumber beetles are carriers of bacterial wilt

B. About raised beds

• It is difficult to get good soil - we must create it over time
• May require more watering
• Don’t deter slugs

C. Soil health

• Determine mineral levels with soil tests  - Logan Labs - Mallick 3 test for Steve Solomon’s Intelligent Gardener approach
• NW Concentrates, Oregon- prices for bulk supplies of organic minerals for soil amendment: https://concentratesnw.com

D. An interesting organic farm operation: Mother Earth Farm on property leased by Nora near Puyallup: https://www.efoodnet.org/get-involved/farm/

E. Some aspects of garden  planning 

• Crop rotation – change your layout around to avoid persistent fungi and diseases
• Online garden planner - growveg.com/ linked to from from other seed suppliers, for example Territorial seeds  - requires the Flash plugin
• Planting calendars  (check the growing zone) from a number of seed suppliers
• Use a soil thermometer to judge planting time for germination of direc-seeded crops

F. Seed sources

• Resilient seeds: www.resilientseeds.com
• Uprising seeds: uprisingorganics.com
• Adaptive seeds: www.adaptiveseeds.com
• West Coast Seeds: www.westcoastseeds.com
• Nichols Garden Supply www.nicholsgardennursery.com/store/
• Territorial Seeds

G. Gardening resources

• WSU horticultural gardening website - search
• Info on starting Seeds - Nanci Bubel - germination rates, etc.
• trellis.ning.com is our website. Join to receive a monthly alert to upcoming events.

H. Upcoming events

• February 8: Snoqualmie Valley Seed Exchange  at Cedarcrest High School, Duvall
• February 15: Soil, Food and Climate Change workshop at Chief Kanim middle school: https://events.r20.constantcontact.com/register/eventReg?oeidk=a07e...
  • Requires a fee and pre-registration is suggested.
• February 15: Next Trellis session TOPICS: Your favorite seasonal vegetables, and benefits of companion plants