Come Visit Ocean Shores’ Community Garden:
As anyone who has tried to coax a flower to bloom or a tomato to ripen in Ocean Shores knows, we have a difficult climate for gardeners. We average 75 inches of precipitation a year (that’s twice what Seattle gets!) with just three inches falling in July and August combined. Our USDA hardiness zone is 9, because our winter temperature rarely gets below freezing. That groups us with Southern California, but unlike California our summer temps average only 65-70 degrees. We just don’t have enough heat for many zone 9 plants to thrive. Our cool winds, sandy soil lacking nutrients and deer that eat everything provide other challenges.
Despite the difficulties, we do have lovely gardens. There are tricks to meeting the challenges, and thriving gardens are possible. That was evident from the eight spectacular gardens on the Master Gardeners Tour here last summer! You’ll discover lots of those tricks where many of the best gardeners gather at Garden by The Sea, Ocean Shores’ Community Garden. Come celebrate Spring and jump into the gardening season at the GBTS Opening.
Garden by The Sea was created from the vision of Sushila and Robert Ravard in 2009. Through the years the Garden has matured and grown but retains its original mission of dedication “to the development of community relationships through people growing garden fresh food while addressing hunger.” It has become a center for all things gardening. Veteran and Master Gardeners gather to exchange ideas, to share their expertise in projects and programs open to the community, and especially to support new gardeners whether they try their hand at any of the raised beds in the Garden itself or on their own properties.
You will find Veteran GBTS members working with the Master Gardeners of Grays and Pacific Counties at Plant Clinics around town ready to answer your plant and gardening questions. Or you might find them wandering around the Garden watering or pulling weeds always ready to talk gardening.
GBTS is located behind the Galilean Retreat Center, on land graciously donated by the Retreat Center and Church. Gardening practices are entirely organic, without toxic chemicals or fertilizers. We are a registered member of the Million Pollinator Garden Challenge, in partnership with the National Wildlife Federation. We actively cultivate the inviting of bees, butterflies, birds, and other pollinators into the garden through the use of plants and flowers preferred by pollinator wildlife.
The Garden maintains WSU Master Gardener demo/test beds. This season we will continue to test various perennial vegetables and perennial pollinator flowers for their viability in the Ocean Shores climate. We will also test root vegetables such as: newer varieties of carrots, parsnips, turnips, and radishes. Last season our beet and garlic test plantings all did well but showed that it did not make a lot of difference if beets were started early or planted directly in the beds. We are attempting to set up one bed as a part of NASA’s Ozone Bio-indicator Project on plant survival in an environment of increasing surface ozone because of climate change.
You will find ideas on coping with our climate here at GBTS. The Garden is fully fenced, protecting it from the deer. We offer for rent 31 raised 4×8 foot garden beds filled with garden soil enriched with compost each season. Five taller 4×4 foot beds for ease of gardening are also available. Eight larger beds are used by the Ocean Shores Food Bank to provide fresh, organic produce during the summer. Four smaller beds are offered to community children.
GBTS offers other activities too. We celebrate Earth Day and watch for summer sessions of Garden Yoga. Our Children’s Art in the Garden projects in late August have always been a hit. We join with Master Gardener projects at the Home and Garden Show in Elma in May and the Garden Tour featuring select gardens in July.
For more information contact GBTS at info@gardenbytheseaoceanshores.org and for questions, comments or more information about this article or gardening in general please contact Dauna at: dauna@gardenbytheseaoceanshores.org
This article was originally printed in The Ocean Observer, March 2020.
