Ballard P-Patch

After Winter, Spring

Dan — Thu, 09 May 2013 04:00:52 +0000

Of potential interest to our gardening community is the film After Winter, Spring, a documentary out of France chronicling the changing lives and culture of a rural farming community. The film will be screened as part of the Seattle International Film Festival on Sunday May 19th at the Harvard Exit at 4:00PM and again on Monday May 20th at the Uptown SIFF AT 8:30 pm.

Thanks to Roy Bueler for the tip!

After Winter, Spring – a film by Judith Lit from Judith Lit on Vimeo.

The Best Early Spring Feast: Sprouting Dinosour Kale

Amy Ockerlander — Mon, 25 Mar 2013 20:44:58 +0000

Dinosaur kale (a.k.a. Dino, Tuscan, Lacinato, or Black Palm kale) is definitely one of the must-haves in Northwest gardens. Of all the kales, it is arguably the sweetest and most tender. And it’s sweetness, like most hardy greens and root vegetables, is intensified by a touch of frost. If you plant it in the spring, Dino kale usually reaches mammoth proportions by fall (3 feet tall is not uncommon) and having just one in the garden provides plenty of greens in the dark days of winter. Once spring has sprung, the leafy plant starts to send out flower sprouts and the yellow blossoms give way to seed. Once seed is formed, the plant finishes out its life as a biennial vegetable. In fact, most gardeners pull the plant out of the garden in full flower, to make way for early spring crops.

Look at all that food!

But did you know—those flower shoots are incredibly delicious? Yep, that’s right! Picked before the flowers open up, these shoots resemble the expensive broccolini we find at store. In fact when these shoots—sometimes referred to as “rapini”—are harvested straight from the garden and sautéed lightly with some butter or oil, they taste more delicious than any broccoli you’ll ever find. Over the years, I have come to look forward to this tasty treat and the “rapini” have become more of a reason to grow Dinosaur kale for me than the leaves.

Headed for the saute pan!

So harvest those shoots before they flower and within a week’s time, you’ll have even more coming up for another meal. One plant may provide you with half a dozen meals before you are ready to move on to something else. And if you are really lucky, diligently removing those flowers may actually keep your plant going another season. Just ask Diane, her plants have been producing for two years straight!

And here’s more:

Kale is a member of the brassica family. Also known as the cabbage family or cole crops, many other members of this vegetable family send out flowering shoots this time of the year as well. Brussels sprouts, collards, mustards, other kales, cabbages, and turnips are all flowering. And like the Dinosaur kale, these shoots are also quite edible and even, dare I say, delicious! And don’t worry, if you miss the window before the shoots open up, pick the flowers—they are sweet and peppery and make a great “in-the-garden” snack.

Here’s to sprouting kale and the arrival of spring!

Like what you read here? Want more? Beginning Sunday, April 21st we’ll be giving free hands-on garden tutorials in our very own Ballard P-Patch Learning Garden! Meet us there every Sunday from 4 to 5PM. We’ll cover topics in season–so what you do in the learning garden you can do in your own garden that very night! Hope to see you there!

Check Out Our Photos!

Dan — Sun, 24 Mar 2013 20:16:07 +0000

Hello again P-patchers,

In addition to the appearance changes you’ve no doubt noticed, we’d like to introduce a new page on our website, Our Photos. Here you’ll find bunches of photos from the archives, and new images from the upcoming garden season as well.

If you have a cache of P-patch photos you’d like to contribute for the slideshow, we’d be happy to add them. Just send an email to info@ballardppatch.org to indicate your interest. Special thanks to Amy Ockerlander and Stacia Lee for sharing their photos so far!

Upcoming Website Improvements

Dan — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 04:39:16 +0000

As you may have noticed, changes are underway to update our garden website. We hope to significantly improve the content, functionality, and layout of the site in order to better serve our garden community.

In addition to regular blog posts on a range of garden topics, we’re planning to develop functionality such as:

An updated calendar with upcoming garden events and meeting times
A page for documenting volunteer hours
Useful garden resources such as a planting calendar and answers to frequently asked questions
Links to meeting minutes, in case you missed something

If you have suggestions for additional features you’d like to see, please email the web team at info@ballardppatch.org. In the mean time, please be patient while our site endures some growing pains.

Welcome to the Ballard P-Patch

Dan — Fri, 20 Jul 2012 22:54:00 +0000

We like to call the Ballard P-Patch our secret garden. Nestled a short distance off of NW 85^th St and 25^th NW., one really has to search to find our P-Patch. But once you do you will find a garden lush in beauty and strong in spirit. Founded in 1979, the Ballard P-Patch is one of the oldest in the Seattle P-Patch program. We take pride in a strong sense of community. This spring we completed our Enabled Garden project where others with mobility challenges can now actively garden and with the installation of a permeable hardscape, makes it so much easier to navigate between the beds. We also give back to our community with our Growing for Giving program. Throughout the entire gardening season a team of dedicated folks raise produce solely for the Ballard Food Bank. When you visit our garden be sure to look for the signs of our Giving Garden. You will see plots of beets, carrots, collards, peas, beans and much more. This year we hope to raise over 1500 lbs. of fresh, organic produce for the clients at the Ballard Food Bank.

Thank you to everyone who attended our 12th Annual “Art in the Garden Event” held on August 4th. It was truly an amazing time with talented artists, live music, a pie and silent auction, a bake sale, sign painting and paper marbling. And thank you for supporting our not-for-profit community garden. Your generous donations and support help us to give back to our community by improving the Enabled Gardens and growing produce for the Ballard Food Bank and more. We hope to see you next year, until then have a wonderful summer.

We invite you to visit our Ballard P-Patch community garden anytime, whether it is spring, summer or fall you will always see something growing and even take home a few new ideas for your own garden at our Learning Garden located next to our tool & garden shed.

Thank you for visiting our site and for more information about our garden, check out our website at www.ballardppatch.org or send us an email to info@ballardppatch.org.

Have a wonderful day, happy gardening and remember the most important word in Community Gardening is community.