HeraldNet: Mudrakers



RECENT POSTS:
• Dark Days Week 17: Quiche March 18 • More upcoming gardening events March 4 • Ciscoe to speak for free in Snohomish March 8 February 25 • Flower show results continue! February 23 • Swapping seeds February 22

Archives:



Twitter Updates


LINKS:
Blogs • The Whistling Gardener • Whistling Gardener Blogspot Green Thumbs Unite • Evergreen Arboretum & Garden • Northwest Horticultural Society • Northwest Perennial Alliance • Plant Amnesty • Seattle Tilth • Seattle Tree Fruit Society • Snohomish County Master Gardeners • Sorticulture • Washington Native Plant Society Know & Grow • Compost • Great Plant Picks • House plants • Master Gardener Magazine • Natural Lawn Care • Oregon State University Extension • Plant Search Tools • Soil • WSU Extension Online Grapevine • Dave's Garden • Garden Rant • Veggie Recipes

RELATED ARTICLES:
• Your deck may need attention in spring March 18 • Plant pick: Pieris japonica March 18 • Home & garden calendar March 18 • Nuts and bolts: Architecture tour spotlights beauties on Bainbridge March 18 • Minnesota transplant settled into Northwest life March 14 • How to attract hummingbirds to your garden March 11 • Home & garden calendar March 11 • Plant pick: dragon’s head bamboo March 11 • Tulips to bloom early in Skagit Valley March 11 • Snohomish County garden clubs March 11


ADVERTISEMENT <script language=JavaScript src="http://ads.heraldnet.com/servlet/ajrotator/169233/0/vj?z=heraldnet&ct=122081&dim=169231&abr=$scriptiniframe"></script><noscript><a href="http://ads.heraldnet.com/servlet/ajrotator/169233/0/cc?z=heraldnet"><img src="http://ads.heraldnet.com/servlet/ajrotator/169233/0/vc?z=heraldnet&ct=122081&dim=169231&abr=$imginiframe" width="160" height="600" border="0"></a></noscript>

Mudrakers

Jessi Loerch, Sarah Jackson and Debra Smith E-mail \| Subscribe
Get into gardening with Jessi Loerch, a greenhorn gardener who also keeps several chickens in her Everett backyard; Sarah Jackson, a recent master gardener grad, is trying to stay on top of a huge yard in Edmonds while chasing around a toddler; and Debra Smith, a master gardener who often can be found in her Everett oasis harvesting vegetables and fearlessly relocating shrubs more than twice her size.

March 18

Dark Days Week 17: Quiche

Posted at 2:18 pm by Jessi Loerch

I can not believe it's taken me this long to make quiche. What's wrong with me? I have three hens in my backyard, and we are almost always getting three eggs a day.

So, this week, I got it together and finally tried quiche. I loved it.

I started with eggs from the backyard (about as local as you can get.) I added in cream from Bow, cheese from Seattle, leeks from Mount Vernon and mushrooms from Granite Falls. The ham I have written about before, so I'll hold off on praising it yet again.

The crust I made with flour milled in Fairhaven and olive oil from, well, most likely Italy. Not quite local. However, I did learn that you can get olive oil from Oregon. Not sure if there is a source any closer than that. I'll be picking some up the next down I'm down there.

I used this recipe for the crust, and it was as simple as can be. It was also delicious.

For the quiche, I as usual looked at recipes, and then used them all as suggestions. I ended up using four eggs and a little under two cups of half and half. To this I added the ham. Then I stirred in the leeks and mushrooms that I had cooked in a bit of butter (from Bow. Again.) It turns out this was my one mistake. The leeks and mushrooms held onto a too much butter, and I should have drained them well before stirring them into the quiche mixture.

I popped it all in the oven for about 45 minutes.

The quiche tasted great, and was even better for breakfast the next day.

(I have a photo off the quiche, but you're going to have to use your imagination. It looks nothing like something you would want to eat. Thankfully, looks are deceiving.) ... [Read More]

E-mail | Print | Comment

March 4

More upcoming gardening events

Posted at 5:31 pm by Jessi Loerch

The gardening season is here. I can not resist the pull to get outside and play in the dirt. If you're feeling the same way, here are some events to help kick off the season.

The Everett Home and Garden Show is from Friday to Sunday. You'll find a variety of exhibitors and speakers at the event.

Plant sales

The Conservation District plant sale is Friday and Saturday. They'll have an impressive selection of plants for sale, including trees, shrubs and ground covers. Check out this PDF for more information.

The Northwest Perennial Alliance presents its March Madness plant sale on Sunday at the Bellevue Botanical Garden. According to NPA's site, the sale offers "an outstanding selection of spring ephemerals and treasures not readily found elsewhere."

The Northwest Horticultural Society offers a plant sale on March 12 at the Center for Urban Horticulture in Seattle. The sale will feature 15 specialty growers.

Seattle Tilth is holding its first Early Spring Edibles plant sale on March 20 in Magnuson Park, Seattle. Check out their site for more info, including what plants will be available and how to get into the early bird sale.

Class

Sunnyside Nursery will demonstrate how to make a living wreath out of hardy succulents on March 13. The class is $30. You can find that class and others on their class Web site.

... [Read More]

E-mail | Print | Comment

February 25

Ciscoe to speak for free in Snohomish March 8

Posted at 1:42 pm by Sarah Jackson

Here are two great, free gardening events to check out on Monday, March 8.

All ye free-wheeling weekday folks might have to make a day of it, seeing Sharon Collman in the afternoon and Ciscoe Morris, speaking in Snohomish, in the evening!

The Snohomish Garden Club will celebrate its 75th anniversary with a free talk by local gardening celebrity Ciscoe Morris at 7 p.m. March 8 as part of its regular monthly meeting at Snohomish High School, 1316 Fifth St., Snohomish.
Morris will speak on design ideas for your garden.

Local dignitaries will speak and past presidents and contributors to the club will be
acknowledged.

Festivities will include cake and a video presentation highlighting past club activities, which began with the election of the first officers on March 25, 1935.

The mission of the Snohomish Garden Club is to stimulate knowledge and love of gardening, to aid in the protection of native trees, plants and birds and to encourage civic planting.

Meetings are on the second Monday of the month from September through May.

Annual dues are $20. For more information, see www.snohomishgardenclub.com or call 425-374-8622.

The Monroe Garden Club, meanwhile, will feature a talk by horticulturist Sharon Collman with Washington State University Snohomish County Extension at 1 p.m. March 8 as part of its regular meeting.

The event will be at Monroe United Methodist Church, 342 S. Lewis St., Monroe.
Collman’s talk, “Who’s Who in Beneficial Bugs,” is open to the public.

Members and guests are invited to bring donations of food or funds for the Sky Valley Food Bank. Call 425-870-4597 for more information. ... [Read More]

E-mail | Print | Comment

February 23

Woodinville Florist

Flower show results continue!

Posted at 1:34 pm

The Northwest Flower & Garden Show in Seattle earlier this month included numerous award winners from Snohomish County.

Two escaped my notice, however, including Susan Browne Landscape Design of Everett, which took home a gold award for “A Garden of Complements,” a black-and-white display garden created with Pamela Richards Garden Design of Seattle.

Oriana Hammerstrom, a 1987 Everett High School graduate who co-owns Woodinville Florist with her husband, Matt, won first place in the People's Choice floral competition with her creation, “Spheres of Influence.”

Other previously unannounced awards include the Ethel Moss People's Choice Award, which went to N.W. Bloom EcoLogical Landscapes of Mill Creek and Seattle Tilth, which partnered to create “A Family's Little Farm in the City,” a display garden featuring mostly recycled construction materials, edible landscaping, chickens, goats, a tunnel and other kid-friendly features.

This year's show was the first under the new ownership of O'Loughlin Trade Shows of Portland, which bought the 21-year-old event in June 2009 from the show's founder, Duane Kelly, owner of Salmon Bay Events of Seattle.

Attendance at this year's five-day event was roughly 53,000, right in line with recent years under Kelly's ownership, said show spokesman Barry Bartlett.

See the full list of award winners at tinyurl.com/nwfgs2010awards. ... [Read More]

E-mail | Print | Comment

February 22

Swapping seeds

Posted at 3:10 pm by Jessi Loerch

I am the proud new owner of a nice batch of seeds, all free and all with a fun story attached.

I recently spent a weekend with a friend of mine. While I was there, she invited over her gardening friends, and we enjoyed a seed swap.

If you've never done this, I highly recommend it. We had a great time. As we passed around seeds, we also shared advice and stories.

We separated our seeds into tiny plastic bags, and slipped bits of paper with the variety and general growing directions into each bag. Hopefully this method will prevent me from growing "cucumbers" that turn out to actually be pumpkins.

By then end of the night, I had a nice variety of seeds to start this year.

Now I just need to get out to the garden and get the first seeds in the ground. First up, peas. ... [Read More]

E-mail | Print | Comment