Okay, Here We Go

Kathryn Wadsworth

Well, we did it! Last week we held the first event of our book tour with a talk at the Northwest Flower and Garden Show. There may be no better place to get inspired for the road ahead.

Display gardens at big shows always have an idea or two that can be incorporated into small gardens and home landscaping. Vendors always have enough stuff to sink several container ships, yet they also make attractive displays, offering useful tools, lovely plants, and often, solid information. We visited with the folks at Seattle Tilth and the Northwest Horticultural Society. We admired some of the new, more ergonomic pruning and digging tools.

We particularly appreciated the well-executed designs of two displays: “A Family’s Little Farm in the City,” designed by Jessica and Noah Bloom. NW Bloom( www.nwbloom.com) and Seattle Tilth (www.seattletilth.org) collaborated on the installation; and “Crops for Clunkers,” designed by Colin McCrate, Brad Halm, and Noel Stout of the Seattle Urban Farm Company (www.seattleurbanfarmco.com)

Jessica Bloom’s design provided detailed views of the many creative ways for any home gardener to grow their own food in a small urban or suburban setting. Using recycled materials, one can create a raised bed out of almost anything.

Crops for Clunkers, from the Seattle Urban Farm Company displayed the most creative use of recycled material. The installation also demonstrated extremely useful techniques for any small space garden. We saw a very clear example that you can use almost virtually anything as a container. Techniques such as the vertical planting bed along the side of the truck illustrate what you can do on the side of a building, on the balcony of an apartment, or in containers indoors (if you choose the right plant material, of course).

Gardens also provide refuge, and we often venture into the greenworld to seek serenity.

Wherever we have lived – the Desert Southwest, the Pacific Northwest, and Hawaii – David and I have always grown our own food. We also experience our garden as the gateway to the natural world. We combine food, medicinal herbs, and flowers for ourselves and beneficial insect partners. We grow polycultures for both sustenance and beauty.

We invite you to share your stories of the greenworld, and welcome you to join us at one of our stops on the road. See our events page for all the details (www.ddandkw.com/events)