Every year, thousands of pounds of fruit fall to the ground and rot. Homeowners who grow apples, plums, cherries, pears or other fruit often find that they can’t keep up with their fruit harvest, and they can only give away so much of their bounty to neighbors and co-workers.

The Seattle Times has a good story in today’s newspaper about a volunteer group called City Fruit that helps homeowners deal with the overabundance of fruit growing on their trees. City Fruit offers an added twist — helping homeowners better care for their fruit trees, including how to deal with worms, proper pruning and other tree tips. The Times writes:

City Fruit goes beyond harvesting by offering homeowners instruction in pruning, pest control and harvesting as well as workshops in canning or jam making. The organization also hopes to create a neighborhood network so that anyone seeking harvesting help or workshop information can consult its Web site for citywide options…

There are plenty of groups in Seattle that help homeowners harvest fruit and deliver them to food banks, so there’s no excuse for letting those juicy apples or pears fall to the ground and rot. Solid Ground, a nonprofit in Fremont, for example, runs the Community Fruit Tree Harvest. The group posts a list of food banks and other programs that will accept fruit in 2009 (PDF).  You can sign up as a volunteer to scout neighborhood fruit trees that can potentially be harvested, provide storage for fruit or picking buckets or be “on call” to harvest fruit in your neighborhood.  You can also organize your own harvest party and donate your fruit by calling Seattle Tilth’s Garden hotline at 206-633-0224 or email help@gardenhotline.org).

The June pest of the month is the earwig. This is their peak time of the year. They’re ugly little suckers, and distinctive in their look: dark brown long body with light brown legs and forceps at the rear. (Those pincers are harmless to humans). They’re nocturnal pests, so they come out at night. During the day, they tend to hide in moist, cool shady spots, including under leaves, garden pots, wood or compost piles, mulch. Some feed on aphids, insect eggs and mites, which is beneficial, but they also tend to snack on seedling plants, fruit crops such as strawberries, and flowers such as dahlias, zinnias and marigolds. You’ll find tiny irregular holes in the leaves, or you’ll notice that the leaves have been chewed around the edges.

How do I get rid of them? Trap them. Set out several homemade traps in your yard. One suggestions is to fill an empty tuna can (or other shallow can) with about 1/2 inch of vegetable oil. When the earwigs fall into the oil, empty the cans, refill with oil and set it out again. Another option is to use a moistened rolled-up newspaper or short piece of rubber hose. Put them out before dark and when you get catch some earwigs, shake them out into a pail of soapy water.

Try to eliminate areas where earwigs like to hang out. That means making sure you don’t have piles of yard debris, leaves, wood or other hiding places, especially near your vegetable beds.

Growing herbs indoors or outdoors is one of the most economical benefits of having a garden. Some herbs are no-brainers, like rosemary, Italian parsley, oregano and mint, because they require very little attention and buying sprigs of those herbs can be expensive. Other herbs such as basil and cilantro are a bit more finicky, but not impossible.

oregano

Most herbs require some amount of pinching/pruning to keep them full and happy. Make it a regular part of your harvest and it won’t seem like work at all. I regularly cut back rosemary, mint, parsley and basil as I need it, but sometimes even when I don’t. I want to keep the plants full and bushy.

Rosemary, thyme, sage, oregano and savory can tolerate dry conditions. They’re also great low-maintenance plants for your landscape because they require little water. Basil, lemon balm, dill need a bit more moisture. Mint likes wet soil, and should be planted in containers to prevent them from taking over your garden.

Here are some other tips to growing herbs:

Basil: Likes sun! Pinch out stems to create side shoots, and encourage full, bushy growth. Keep the plants well picked. When flowering starts, pinch off each flowering shoot and the leaf pair directly below. This Oregonian article has a good illustration of where to cut.

Cilantro: Perfect herb for Northwest climates because it doesn’t like hot weather. Cilantro prefers cool but sunny conditions. Too hot and it bolts (flowers). The flowers produce coriander seeds, which are also used in cooking. I seeded some a few weeks after I planted my peas earlier this spring, and have periodically re-seeded it with good success. Great for that guacamole!

Parsley: This herb is easy to grow from seed, but are readily available as starts.

rosemary

Regularly prune parsley and don’t allow them to go to seed. Trim large stems every so often.

Rosemary: A must have in the northwest.  Regularly prune rosemary, cutting off about a quarter or so, to prevent the plant from growing woody. Rosemary loves full sun, and can tolerate dry conditions nicely. In my opinion, you can’t prune rosemary too hard.

One of our neighbors recently got slapped on the wrist from the city of Seattle for putting in some raised vegetables beds in her parking strip without first paying for a $225 permit. She had gotten rid of grass that filled her planting strip — that no-man’s land between the street and the sidewalk — and was getting ready to put in raised beds, when she had to take it down.

Well, there’s good news today for well-intentioned urban farmers who want to make use of their planting strips to grow edibles. Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels announced that homeowners who want to make use of the strip won’t have to pay the $225 permit fee that had previously been required for pavers, hardscapes or planting boxes. You still need to get a permit, but those are free and can be obtained online from the Seattle Department of Transportation.

“This change makes it easier to plant flowers and vegetables in the strip between the sidewalk and the street. For many gardeners, that’s prime space,” said Nickels. “It’s one of the things that makes Seattle special, and, with planting season upon us, it’s time to get those green thumbs going.”

Check out the SDOT web site for more information, including tips on how to make improvements to your parking strip. Read more from Jennifer Langston, a former P-I reporter, who wrote about urban farming in Seattle.

Lots of people are starting to grow their own groceries. They’re converting portions of their yards to make room for vegetables, herbs and fruits. If you’re new to urban gardening, you may want to check out the West Seattle Edible Garden Fair on Saturday, May 23. The event is 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the South Seattle Community College horticulture buildings, 6000 16th Avenue SW, and offers hands-on workshops to help you get started.

The workshops include how to build healthy soils, garden in small spaces or containers, integrating edibles into your landscape and how to grow warm season crops (like tomatoes and peppers) successfully in our cooler Northwest climate. Here’s the schedule of events.

The event is co-sponsored by the Community Harvest of Southwest Seattle, a very cool group that works to ensure that everyone has fresh fruits and vegetables to eat. The program picks up donations of produce from your fruit trees and vegetable gardens and distributes them to those who need it.

We love the idea of their fruit harvest program. If you have a plum, apple or other tree that bears more fruits than you can possibly handle, consider donating the extras. The Community Harvest of Southwest Seattle can connect you with volunteers to harvest the fruit and donate them to local food banks.  They’re trying to harvest about 6500 pounds of fruit for 2009. Fill out this online form if you’re interested in donating this year.

Want to know what’s killing your dogwood or how to properly prune your roses? Looking for a less toxic way to get rid of slugs, aphids and other pests? Got a tree or shrub that you need help identifying?

Starting this month and through early September, you’ll find gardening experts who can help answer your questions at dozen of Master Gardener clinics throughout King County. Master Gardeners are volunteers who go through a rigorous training program by Washington State University. They provide research-based information on home gardening and pest control.

In West Seattle this summer, Andy will periodically be staffing the Master Gardener booth at the West Seattle Farmers Market, and I can be found at McLendon Hardware in White Center. Here are the hours & location:

West Seattle Farmers Market, 44th Avenue SW and Alaska Street, April 27-September 14, Sundays, 10 a-.m.-2 p.m. (No clinic May 4).

McLendon Hardware, 10210 16th Avenue SW, April 5-September 13, Saturdays, 10 a.m.-2 p.m.

But don’t limit yourself to West Seattle. There are clinics in Ballard, Rainier Valley, Renton, North Seattle, Vashon Island, Lake City, Federal Way, Burien and more. Find the full list of locations and times here.

King County has one of the largest Master Gardener programs in the world. It started here, before spreading to all 50 states and many other countries. To find out more about becoming a master gardener, click here.

There are some great plant sales coming up in the next few weeks. We want to call your attention to two sales in Seattle in early May.

As Master Gardeners, both Andy and I will be volunteering to help the Master Gardener Foundation of King County with its annual plant sale. There’s a huge selection of annuals, perennials, vegetables, trees and more. Many are grown by local master gardeners, while some professional nurseries will also be on hand to sell their goods. Proceeds go toward paying for the Master Gardener clinics, demonstration gardens, youth programs and more. The Master Gardener Plant Sale is May 2-3, 2009 at the University of Washington Center for Urban Horticulture, 3501 NE 41st St, Seattle. Hours are Saturday, 8 a.m.-5 p.m.; Sunday, 10 a.m.-3 p.m.

If you’re into growing vegetables, head to the Seattle Tilth Edible Plant Sale that same weekend. I’ll be volunteering to help out with this sale, which offers the largest selection of organically and sustainably grown vegetable starts in Seattle. You’ll find over 50 varieties of tomatoes and 20 varieties of peppers, rare and heirloom veggie varieties, an extensive selection of culinary herbs, edible flowers, and drought tolerant perennials. The list of starts includes ‘Fairy Tale’ eggplant, lemon cucumbers, golden midget watermelon, ‘Cajun Delight’ okra, ‘Gypsy’ sweet peppers and much more. Find the lists of items on sale here. The sale is May 2-3, 2009 at Meridian Park in Seattle’s Wallingford neighborhood, 4649 Sunnyside Ave. N. Open 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday & Sunday.

If you need help finding the right plant to fit into your Seattle landscape, Ecoyards is here to help. We love assisting clients to find the right perennials, trees, even edible plants, to incorporate into an existing landscape or add to a newly-designed landscape. Email us or give us a call at 206-770-7879.

You wouldn’t know it’s April, given the snow and cold weather we’ve been having lately. Despite that, daffodils and forsythia are strutting their stuff, tulips are poking through the cold ground, cherry blossoms are in full bloom, and we just noticed some blooming trillium deep in the woods of Schmitz Park in West Seattle.

Now is a good time to walk around your yard and give your landscape a good once-over: What plants are going well and where? What plants should be moved so they thrive better? Could you add a paver patio or walkway to your landscape to make it easier for people to move through it, or add interest to your landscape?

Here’s what else you can do in the garden this month:

1. Finish cleaning your garden by pulling weeds while they’re still young.

2. Plant annual seeds of asters, cosmos, marigolds, zinnias.

3. Plant cool season crops such as peas, lettuce, radish, and broccoli through seeds or transplants.

4. Fertilize raspberries with ammonium sulfate to lower the soil pH, just as bud swell begins. Apply about 3/4 to 1 pound of ammonium sulfate per 100 feet of row. Give blueberries a spring application of a balanced fertilizer such as 5-10-10.

5. April is Arbor Month so it’s a good time to plant trees. The second Wednesday of the month, or April 8 this year, is the official Arbor Day in Washington state.

6. Plant strawberries, which you should be able to find bare-rooted in most nurseries this time of year. Give strawberries a sunny spot and good drainage and they’ll produce for you for three to five years. Weed the bed, work in a good amount of compost or manure and about 4 pounds of 5-10-10 fertilizer per 100 square feet.

7. Shear winter flowering heather after it blooms.

8. Prune forsythia once it is done flowering.

The weekend brought a fair amount of snow to the lowland areas of the Puget Sound, but there was still enough breaks of sunshine and warmth to think about starting your vegetable garden.

This is a great time to plant some cool season crops, or vegetable plants that are best suited for cooler temperatures, an average of 50 to 65 degree F. Cool season crops include beets, lettuce, collards, radish, peas, leeks and spinach and others. They’re grown in the spring or fall, and often don’t thrive during the warmer summer months (they’ll bolt, which means they’ll go to flower, leaving you with a bitter crop).

By contrast, warm season crops shouldn’t be planted until later because those crops require warmer temperatures to thrive. These crops includes tomatoes, potatoes, cucumbers, squash and corn. In the Puget Sound, warm season crops generally shouldn’t be planted until mid-May. If planted too early in soil that is cold and damp, these seeds won’t grow well and may not set fruit for a long while.

I recommend growing vegetables in raised beds, wherever possible. Your bed could be as simple as a large mounded pile of soil, or as fancy as one made from cedar boards or, as pictured to the left, made from RomanStack blocks. Raised beds help drain water better and warms the soil up quicker so that you can extend your planting season. It helps keep weeds out of the bed, and prevents your soil from becoming too compacted from excess foot traffic. Ecoyards has made several lovely raised beds for clients, including the one pictured at left.

The soil in my cedar raised beds is much warmer than elsewhere in my landscape, so I went out this afternoon, added organic matter to the beds (compost and a little alfalfa meal) and dug it into the soil. I was ready to plant. I planted peas (‘Cascadia’ and ‘Sugar Snap’) spinach (‘Olympia),  radishes and a gourmet blend of lettuce from seed. I also transplanted some collards and broccoli that I picked up at Swanson’s Nursery.

Here are some cool-season crops that you can start outdoors from seed: radish, swiss chard, beets, mustard greens, onions, parsnips and spinach. Here are the cool-season crops that do best when started indoors and transplanted (or you can pick up vegetable starts at a local nursery): cauliflower, broccoli, brussels sprouts and celery.

Western Washington University Extension has some great resources for all aspects of gardening.

There’s an old saying in the Northwest that says you should  plant peas by President’s Day. But if you haven’t gotten around to it, March is a great time to do it. (April is fine, too, but by then try to plant virus-resistant varieties. Peas grown in warmer weather are susceptible to pea enation, a virus transmitted by aphids that appear once the weather warms up).

Peas are a cool season crop that, for me, signals the start of the active vegetable gardening season. They thrive in the Northwest — provided they get sun and are planted in well-drained soil.

Sugar snap peas are a given in my garden. I like “Cascadia” snap peas, an enation-resistant variety developed at Oregon State University.  (Read more here). The peas grow on short vines and produce thick, juicy, sweet pods. “Sugar Snap” is another favorite variety of mine, but since they grow 6 feet tall, they need a strong trellis system. The pods are especially sweet and taste great plucked right off the vine. (Territorial Seed Co. in sells both varieties, and their packets can be found at most Northwest nurseries.

Read more about growing your own peas and beans here.