Spring Forth at Garden by the Sea:
Life, like our garden, is constantly changing. Each new season brings forth opportunities and challenges but our hope remains the same: ”May the sunshine always fall upon you. May the rains gently bless all you grow. May the seeds you plant grow strong and sturdy to harvest. And may the deer (only) eat the weeds that dare to grow in your garden and never go near the toil of your hands!”
Yes, Spring is actually on the way. Even that winter rain, snow, and ice storm cannot stop it. Our barely waking early spring bulbs were not phased in the slightest by all the bad weather. The sun peeked out on a couple of days and perhaps all those early spring bulbs took that as a signal. The snowdrops, crocus, and miniature daffodils that I had not expected until mid-March poked out their heads so fast, that the storms were already ancient history. They are all in full bloom now, with buds all over my daffodil garden.
One of the best things about spring is that with it comes, “A New Beginning.” Boy, do we need a new beginning this year. We need to wipe away the challenges of this past winter and move on! That cyclical nature of nature itself along with second chances, are clearly found in gardening. After all the work and rewards of the fall harvest, those failed experiments, and the hibernation of a gray and dreary winter, we get to start anew with a clean and fresh garden bed. You can find just that at Ocean Shores’ own community garden, the Garden by the Sea (GBTS). If you are new to Ocean Shores or to gardening, the community at GBTS offers a great introduction not only to gardening but also to our rather challenging coastal climate.
We are located at 824 Ocean Shores Blvd NW, just behind the Galilean Lutheran Church. The garden itself is completely fenced against our ravenous deer population, and houses several sizes of raised garden beds, available for rent. We also have a Solar Gem Greenhouse that garden members may use for getting an early start on flowers and vegetables.
GBTS is more than just a place to plant and raise your favorite vegetables and flowers. It is a community of experienced and novice gardeners, excited by working with the difficult marine environment at Ocean Shores. We always look forward to meeting other gardeners, to swap information and stories.
Got a gardening problem? Chances are that one of our gardeners has experienced that and can offer a reasonable suggestion, or at least has some ideas to try. Ocean Shores is a small peninsula that encompasses at least six entirely different growing habitats, so it is difficult to find help in gardening books. Local garden experience will provide more specific help. That is the best benefit GBTS can offer.
We focus on organic, chemical free gardening and can show you how to accomplish this. Board Members and garden friends are always on the lookout for low-cost gardening tools and supplies, seeds, plant starts, soil, compost, and other garden necessities, which we can offer gardeners in the Ocean Shores GBTS community.
We work in tandem with the Master Gardeners of Grays Harbor and Pacific Counties and maintain four demonstration beds with them, here in the garden. As you come into the garden you will notice two covered hoop beds that the master gardeners use for experimental crops and soil testing. These are relatively new and have been used to grow cover crops as well as plants that like more heat than our climate usually allows such as tomatillos and peppers.
In other beds they are trying to determine the growth potential of various perennial and annual vegetables for our specific climate and growing conditions. GBTS is a registered member of the Million Pollinator Garden Challenge sponsored by the National Wildlife Federation due to our many flower beds around the perimeter of the garden. The master gardeners also have a pollinator bed which has been quite successful in bringing bees, butterflies, moths, birds, and other pollinators into the garden.
The garden is composed of raised beds built on top of the sandy, native soil and filled with good garden soil, enhanced with compost. The standard on-the-ground beds are 4 x 8 feet (and 4×10 feet), 11 inches deep, we also have taller vinyl beds that are 4 x 4 feet, 22 inches deep and 36 inches tall. The taller beds can be worked standing up and are great for “creaky backs” and “noisy knees.”
If you are interested in a garden plot or further information about Garden by the Sea, feel free to email us at: Info@gardenbytheseaoceanshores.org.
