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RECENT POSTS:
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

Dark Days Week 13: Twice baked potatoes  February 14

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    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.
     

    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.

    ...
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    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. ...
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    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. ...
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    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. ...
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    Dark Days Week 13: Twice baked potatoes

    Posted at 9:36 pm by Jessi Loerch

    Comfort food.

    I think twice-baked potatoes is my favorite Dark Days meal yet.

    These potatoes were something I was craving for a late night dinner, and they came together wonderfully.

    If you have never made these, I strongly suggest you do.

    Here's how I made them. I took five medium-sized potatoes and stuck them in a 450 degree oven. I let them cook for a good long while, until the center were soft when I stabbed them with a fork and the skins were nice and crispy.

    While I set the potatoes aside to cool, I cooked up some bacon and then sauteed leeks in the grease.

    Once the potatoes were cool enough to handle, I cut each one in half and scooped out the center. Since I had cooked them at a nice high temp, the skins were extra crisp and held up well as the little bowls I needed.

    I added the center of the potatoes to leeks, bacon, shredded cheese, butter and milk. This is not an exact science, just add what you like to taste. Use the milk to thin it enough to make the consistency of thick mashed potatoes. Then simply scoop the mixture back into the empty skins and stick the whole thing back in the oven (go ahead and lower the temperature now, I dropped it to 350.)

    Bake until the mixture has warmed back up. If you want an extra crispy top, turn on the broiler for a minute or two.

    Every ingredient was from within Washington state, with the exception of the bit of sour cream I added to the top. That came from Oregon.

    Once again, I used the milk from Golden Glen creamery that comes in the glass bottles. I love this milk and am entranced by the little bits of cream that gather on the top of the bottles. I also want to just save the bottles because they are so attractive, but it of course makes much more sense to return them for the deposit.

    The cheese was from Beechers in Seattle, I used the Flagship cheese. The nice bold taste of the cheese came through beautifully in the potatoes.

    I have some of these left over, and I can't wait to turn them into my lunch. These are a fantastic winter meal that's both easy and adaptable. ...
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    Older Entries
    New raised beds bring visions of sugar snap peas, pumpkins!  February 9
    Local garden pros win big at Seattle flower show  February 3
    Flower show pictures are here!   February 3
    Gardens at Seattle flower show full of surprises!  February 2
    Dark Days Week 10  January 24
     

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