You can eat fresh, delicious salads all summer long, said local Master Gardener Jon Griffin, if you plant and tend a 4-by-8 foot garden box commonly known as a “raised bed.”
To help you get things off the ground, and out of it, Griffin has built a bunch of garden boxes for participants in a workshop he will teach this week on raised-bed gardening.
For Cowlitz County residents who don’t own a truck, Griffin said he’ll deliver the boxes.
A teacher who worked in Alaska’s Department of Contracts, Griffin and his wife, Sue, moved to the Oak Point area in 2009. He immediately took the Master Gardener training offered every other year by the local WSU Extension Office.
He’s been spreading gardening know-how like mulch ever since.
“I look at the needs,” said Griffin, who has grown vegetables for 25 years. “How do you teach about gardening and make it fun?”
At plant seed clinics and speaking engagements, he has tried to “help people out in the least intrusive manner. We don’t say, ‘You have to grow an organic garden.’ We show why it’s a good thing to do. We also have resources to help.”
Master Gardeners are always learning themselves, he said.
At the first clinic they offered on how to save seeds from you own plants for the next growing season, “35 to 40 people showed up and we were unprepared” with seed trays. The next time, we were prepared. It was so smooth.”
When you do buy seeds, he said, try to buy in quantity. “What are you paying for in a $3.29 pack of Burpees?” he said. “Packaging.”
At the raised-bed workshop, Griffin will give a 15-minute presentation and then answer whatever questions people have.
“I want them to see how much they can grow with a little bit of thought. “I’m hoping to create a situation where we can do more each year.”
The basics — seeds, soil, light and water — seem simple enough, but there are so many variables and so much experience that goes into a successful garden, he said.
Master Gardeners, who complete 90 hours of training, commit to volunteer 90 hours of service in the two years following the training. This year in Cowlitz County, 65 Master Gardeners will each contribute 60 years of service, including clinics like Griffin’s.
“We’re a volunteer organization,” he said. “We try to help in the best way we can. Most of us love it.”
Chat with a passionate gardener for 20 minutes and you get that idea.
Griffin said we’ve all been gifted with a water meter in our hands.
“Put your finger in the soil. If it comes out something on it, the soil if moist enough. If it comes out clean, that plant may need a drink.
There are tricks to keeping plants moist, he said, including the strategic use of furrows (little ditches dug around plants) and mulch, a protective cover of some kind to prevent weeds and preserve moisture and nutrients. One coda: Don’t use wood chips, Griffin said, especially cedar chips — they’re toxic.
Group shade-loving plants together — in the shade. Put the sun-worshippers in the same spot, too. Grouping like this also makes it easier to get the right amount of water to the right plants, he said.
“Three to four layers of grass clippings” between rows of plants will keep soil from drying out and help control weeds, Griffin said. “We love TDN,” he added, referring to newsprint from the local paper. “You use soy-based ink, so it’s not poisonous to the soil.”
When you thin your rows of plants, leaving about three finger-widths between each seedling, don’t throw away those delicate ones you remove, Griffin said. “Toss them in a salad. Wow, what a good move — those thin radish sprouts are delicious.”
Weeds always stir up lively conversation, and again, the Master Gardener said some things are effective but nobody will ever eradicate “centuries of seeds” that teem in the earth.
Read seed packets and books and online information so you know “what is the nature of a plant. What do they need and not need? Once you get them in the ground, you don’t have to bother them all summer long.”
Most of all, learn from each other, the Master Gardener said. “Talk to the old guy at the end of the road who has a great garden.”
Griffin loves to talk tomatoes, rhapsodizing about Polish Linguisas, a hunky roma variety that slices up like a beefsteak and makes great sauce.
He also mentioned the Black Krim heirloom tomato, a gift he received from Community Garden supporter Joan Lemieux, and San Marzanos.
Griffin can share tips on simple homemade greenhouse covers for earlier and longer growth seasons, what plants can go in the ground earlier than others, what grows best in raised beds and what needs more space, how to deal with clay soil and the best wood to use if you build your own garden boxes (Western red cedar, NO chemically treated wood).
“Raised beds are so handy,” he said. “They’re neater, more compact, you have more control of the soil and the moisture and the fertilizer, and they keep the soil several degrees warmer.”
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