Walt's Organic Fertilizer Co.

I have a hope that this blog will be useful to somebody. As such I'm going to try to include things I learn about seed starting and gardening as well as product and retailer reviews. Over time this may amount to a large number of posts and later readers might not want to have to read the entire history to discover something useful. The good people at Google have provided a helpful feature to deal with this problem: labels. At the bottom of each post you'll find any labels I've assigned to categorize the content. For instance, this post is labeled "retailer reviews." If you're interested in that sort of thing you should click on the label at the bottom of the post, or, if you're too lazy to scroll down, click here.

Intro completed. This post really concerns Walt's Organic Fertizer Company. Walt's is a small place about a block from the Ballard Bridge in...Ballard. It's on Leary, just west of 15th. I bought a number of items from Walt back in February: germination potting mix, grass seed, organic fertilizer, lime, and coir.

Walt's a very helpful guy. I went in with a rough sketch of my yard so we could figure out which products and how much of each I would need. It's a small place so he doesn't have a ton of stock and variety, but he's got a product for each category of need. Prices are probably a little higher than you might find other places but you're supporting the little guy and the quality is high. Walt only loses points for his limited hours. In the winter he's only open 10-4 on Saturdays. He's now added Tuesday-Friday, 10-6, but with my commute that does me no good. Otherwise, though, thumbs up for Walt's.

Let me explain why I bought the products I did, in case you're curious.

* germination potting mix - There many different types of soil one can buy--I don't really know the difference, to be honest. I gather that the makeup of a germination mix provides an easy path for young roots (isn't too clay-ey) and holds (or draws) moisture well.
* grass seed - We've got some bad spots in the yard. Our soil is probably too compacted in places. It's also dry and (probably) acidic under the pine tree. I raked out the accumulated needles to give grass a chance. We'll see how it goes.
* organic fertilizer - I haven't really made use of this yet. Walt makes his own mix out of things like ground shells and fish meal, or something. I should probably use some on the bad parts of the lawn and I'll probably want some in the flower beds once I get them planted. Interestingly, though, some of my seeds indicate that fertilizer makes the plant grow instead of flower and so you are encouraged to plant them in poor soil.
* lime - We get a lot of rain in the winter here in Seattle. This tends to leach the soil and leave it acidic. Lime reverses this trend. Some plants prefer acidic soil so (as I understand it) it's good to check your soil pH and correct accordingly. But testing acidity is a bit of a pain (you can use testing strips or electronic devices). I need to do it, though.
* coir - This one was new to me. Walt suggested I put coir over my grass seed when I planted it to help keep in moisture. Coir is a product derived from coconut husks and it's being marketed as a more sustainable alternative to peat. Peat, as you may know, takes many, many years to form. Coconuts, as you may also know, do not. This seems like a useful soil amendment and I'll try to use it when appropriate.

Having mentioned the idea of labels at the beginning of the post, I'm wanting to provide a label to indicate that this post has information concerning gardening techniques--that being the use of soil amendments. But nothing is striking me yet. You have any ideas on a category I could apply to posts such as this one? It doesn't fall in the category of seed starting. Hmmm... Leave a comment with your suggestion?

Charley's Greenhouse

So a bit over a month ago Wren was born, and my mother came to visit and help out for several weeks (thank goodness!). While she was here she and I went to the Northwest Flower & Garden Show and the convention center downtown. I hadn't been to the show before and while I wasn't totally blown away it was worthwhile. I'd recommend doing the half-day discount ticket. You have to hurry a bit to see everything, but it's quite doable.

At the show they have "show gardens"--displays set up by local landscaping firms and garden supply centers. Some pretty clever presentations. They also have two big rooms of
retailer booths. I bought several books at the University Bookstore booth as the prices were discounted. There's also a section devoted to plant sales and I finally found the type of blueberry plants I'd been looking for: Vaccinium 'Sunshine Blue'. It's a compact semi-evergreen with bluish-foliage that changes to red in the fall. It's also got a long fruiting season. I found it on the Great Plant Picks list, the topic of a later post (for those who don't follow the link to learn more). I bought the plants from the Raintree Nursery booth. These folks are in SW Washington and specialize in fruits. While I was delighted to find the plants I couldn't help but be a bit disappointed to find larger plants a few weeks later at Sky Nursery when I went there for the first time. Admittedly they did cost a bit more there.

One of the benefits of going to the garden show is that any local establishment in the gardening business is likely to have a booth (as well as many that aren't local). It's a good opportunity to pick up literature and learn what's available in the area. I happened to pick up a catalog for Charley's Greenhouse, a place about an hour or so north of Seattle. I had been researching seed starting and the supplies I would need and it turned out they had the best prices on most of the things I was looking for. In addition they had a number of items on sale and a free shipping special for those who got their catalog at the garden show and had the little sticker with the discount code.

So a few days later I called Charley's up and asked a bunch of questions (since I'm a rank newbie who had been reading just enough to be dangerous). The lady on the line was tremendously helpful. A few items were on backorder but they were sent later without additional shipping cost. It was only 2 days, I believe until the bulk of my order arrived--via FedEx! In my book when free shipping equals FedEx that's generous. So here's a good word for Charley's. I got great customer service on the phone, the best prices I could find and fast, free shipping. Couldn't ask for more...