'Little Farm in the City' to Charm the Masses at Garden Show

By Katie Pencke, Demonstration Garden Coordinator

Seattle Tilth is partnering with the design/build firm Northwest Bloom to create a display garden for the Northwest Flower and Garden Show, which will run February 3-7.

We will also have a booth close to the garden, in the retail display area. The show delivers the people—60,000-80,000 attendees over the course of five days—so this truly will be an extraordinary opportunity for us to spread the word about organic gardening and our educational programs.

We are no stranger to the show, having created display gardens with the design/build firm Exteriorscapes for three years '03-'05. Recognition for our gardens included winning the People’s Choice, Pacific Horticulture Magazine Award, Exhibitors' Award and Silver awards for the show garden in '05, Gold Medal in '04 and the Bronze Medal and People's Choice Award in '03. These gardens were the first to show greenwalls, greenroofs and water catchment. Our partner NW Bloom has also had great previous successes, winning the Gold Medal in '06 and the Silver Medal and Pacific Horticulture Award in '07.

Cyle Eldred, show garden and features coordinator for the event, says it was this recognition, along with what he calls Seattle Tilth’s “exceptional value in educating the public about natural ways to grow vegetables and plants with wonderful programs for children and the community,” which led him to approach us this year and ask us to get involved.

Cyle believes that “for every person who stops spraying chemicals and starts spreading mulch, our community and world become a better place. One of the best ways to educate people is through face-to-face contact coupled with beautiful visual demonstrations.” That’s a mighty fine endorsement and a great reason for us to be involved!

After trying out a few names, we chose “A Family’s Little Farm in the City” as the title of our display garden. We intend to show how a Pacific Northwest family can use innovative methods to live sustainably on their urban homestead in the city.

Our garden will showcase recycled materials and demonstrate how to work in harmony with natural systems to maximize both function and beauty. We want to inspire people by demonstrating techniques for growing organic food and composting in small spaces, integrating native plants, and harvesting rainwater. Our homestead will demonstrate how a family can learn to enjoy the earth's bounty together, practice principles of permaculture, tend to animals and edibles and learn to become environmental stewards.

The Tilth booth will feature a variety of demonstrations for attendees to learn about growing edible plants organically. We'll have edibles being grown in large pots and containers, an heirloom vegetable seedling demonstration and an active worm bin where worms are busy composting food waste.

Tilth garden experts and authors, including Mary Wingate, Willi Galloway and Bill Thorness, will be on hand to answer questions and talk about their favorite resources for Maritime Northwest gardens.

We’ll be selling items for urban vegetable gardening, including:

• seed kits
• worm bins
• worms
• the Maritime Northwest Garden Guide
• favorite tools
• books about gardening, raising chickens and keeping worms
  

Our class schedule will be available, and people can register for our adult and children’s classes and join Seattle Tilth to support us and receive discounts on classes.

We look forward to seeing you at the 2010 Northwest Flower & Garden Show!