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December Work Party – Saturday Dec 15 2012, 10am-2pm

By on December 5th, 2012

We will have the only work party of December at CUH on Dec 15th 10-2. We’ll plant perennials in bed #1 and cover the north end of the bed with landscape cloth to discourage Equisetum. If it’s dry enough we will continue to remove paving squares from bed #2 and we’ll mulch another of the Bressingham beds. We only mulched one of them earlier.

 

Bring clothes for the weather, gloves, and weeding and planting tools. We’ll have lunch at Burgermaster after the work party for anybody who wants to join us.

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Holiday Party – Sunday December 16, 3-7 pm

By on November 30th, 2012

Bring Pot luck food and wrapped White elephant gifts. Lynne will provide the beverages (wine and cider). The rule on white elephant gifts: you cannot bring back what you received last year; but you can bring back something you received two years ago, or earlier.

 

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November Work Party – Potting Up for the Spring Plant Sale

By on November 1st, 2012

Saturday, November 3rd, 10am-2pm

We had a successful planting party last Saturday. Some of us cleaned the daffodils while others weeded the Equisetum out of the bed. Then we planted over a thousand daffodil bulbs. Won’t it look lovely in the spring!

Now we’re planning a potting up party at Kandy’s. We have bulbs to pot up from our bulb sale, and clumps of plants to pot up, both for our spring plant sale in April. We also need to prep the nursery area for winter. If it rains we can do the potting up in Kandy’s garage and greenhouse and keep out of the rain, and leave the prep of the nursery for a dry day.

We’ll be at Kandy’s 14555 Stone Ave N, Shoreline. Park along the street. Bring clothes for the weather, pruning shears, gloves, etc. Kandy’s is one block east of Aurora on 145th. Take the NE 145th exit from I-5 and head west towards Aurora. Just before you get there, turn right onto Stone Ave N. Kandy’s house is at the bottom of the hill. Park on the street.

Any questions call Pam 206 999 3092

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General Bulb Planting Notes

By on October 28th, 2012

General Notes

General

  • Bloom seasons are always approximate due to weather variations. E = Early EM = Early to Mid-season, M = Mid-season, ML = Mid to Late, L = Late
  • Almost all Tulips and Narcissus are packaged 5 bulbs per bag. See label for all other bulbs, for bulb-count per bag.
  • Always remove spent flowers from Narcissus and Tulips, but not the whole stem as stems also feed next year’s bulbs.
  • Feed all bulbs with a bulb food or vegetable food, or a balance of NPK like 5/10/10 when tulips are up about 2-3”. This will feed next year’s bulbs well.
  • Most bulbs should be planted as deep as 3X the diameter of the bulb, although it can be shallower if mulched after planting.
  • Plant small bulbs first, then Narcissus and Tulips last (they root the fastest). It is best to plant no later than November 1st.
  • If bulbs are rooted well, they will not be damaged by freezing.

    • Narcissus

  • The last Narcissus to bloom is Pipit.
  • Narcissus class Jonquilla tend to get about 5” taller than labeled, in the PNW.
  • Narcissus colors are listed perianth / cup.

    • Tulip

  • The last Tulips to bloom are the Lily-flowered and Viridiflora.
  • Tulips form a new bulb or bulbs each year and need full sun and heavy feeding to grow a bulb up to flowering size. Usually they form 2 or 3 undersize bulbs in pots or in the garden. Most who get tulips to Perennialize have a dry summer garden in full sun. The species will perennialize easily, but must have these conditions.

    • Crocus

  • Dutch crocus are the large flowered crocus. Do not mix yellow with the other colors as they are a bit weedier when planted en-masse.
  • To plant crocus, plant them about 2-3” deep, mulch, water in well, and cover with mesh or boards for about 3 weeks. The squirrels cannot smell them as easily if they have begun to root.
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October 2012 Work Party Schedule

By on October 2nd, 2012

Oct 6/7

  • Bulb Sale Work Parties … no work on CUH beds

Oct 13th Saturday 8:30-11:30am

  • ALL HANDS ON DECK! – Mulch and edge the Bressingham beds on Saturday the 13th. So bring sharp shovels especially straight bladed ones, and edging clippers that day.  Assuming we have enough workers, put down cardboard and mulch bed #2 under the large Magnolia. Also remove the rest of the paving tiles from bed #2 and move to bed #1.

 Oct 18th Thursday 1-4

  • General maintenance
  • (No Crew Leads)

Oct 27th Saturday 8:30-11:30am

  • ALL HANDS ON DECK! – Assuming it has rained, and we have approval of our bed design from CUH – COME HELP US PLANT BULBS. We bought hundreds of Narcissus bulbs for bed #2 to plant in large drifts.  We will also have to finish any prep-work like final weeding.

Bring your own tools. Shovels for the mulching day, or whatever you use to spread mulch. Trowels, hori-horis or whatever you use to plant bulbs for the bulb planting day.