It's a beautiful week at Unpaving Paradise! Iris, borage, calendula and artichokes are bursting forth. Pollinators and birds are buzzing, and appreciating the bird baths. Here are a few pictures from around the garden this morning. 

Iris

Pansies!

Boarge,with a ladybug friend

A carpet of greens

Anemone next to a very popular bird bath

Newborn poppy!

Those irises!

Artichoke crown

Calendula

California poppies

The early bird gets the bath! Robin

Dotty DeCoster Remembered

Dotty courtesy of the Capitol Hill Seattle Blog

"It is not only in a park; in some ways it is the park. This means we are on public display all the time, and it means that every time you garden you are likely to find yourself answering questions by visitors. (Plan a little extra time for each gardening session.) The park and the p-patch were organized, developed, and designed together by neighbors of the park (some of whom are current gardeners) in collaboration with both the P-Patch Program and the Parks Department. There are other features to the park besides gardening, including skate boarding, grilling, sketching, photographing, and just hanging out. So there is often company while you are gardening. Summit Slope Park is an urban oasis and we're so lucky to be able to garden there."
-Dotty



As you may or may not have heard, one of our P-Patch founders, Activist, Writer and long-time Capitol Hill resident passed away at the end of January.  Dotty joined the Unpaving Paradise effort in 2009 and volunteered to be on the Communications Committee in 2010.  She helped put together and completed much of the work to create a protective barrier for the Patch for our first winter.

Dotty became our site coordinator in January of 2013 after a unanimous vote.  She devoted immense energy and time to the garden working on the maintenance committee, compost committee chair, maintaining the Garden map and our communications.  She was also responsible for authoring the Park's By-Laws and was a constant advocate for the Park, the P-Patch, its attendants and inhabitants.  She will be irreplaceable.

Dotty Remembered

Dotty stitching together the garden blanket

"During  the first year of Unpaving Paradise I fondly remember seeing Dotty seated on the floor of the nearby church basement floor. She was earnestly stitching together some of the 500+ burlap coffee bean bags which were going to blanket our pristine new soil from the cold winter. It was a big job and I felt encouraged by her significant time and effort." 
-Shawn (gardener)

"She was with Unpaving Paradise from the beginning, and put up with a lot...for the sake of the garden community.  I will always appreciate her patience and fortitude."

-Jen (gardener)

"Dotty bent over backwards to hear everyone out and be as fair and impartial as possible.  She took the well-being of the park, p-patch, and gardeners - and the experiences of park visitors and neighbors - very seriously...Over the two years that Dotty was our site coordinator many gardeners told me that she did a wonderful job.  One person told me she was "the perfect person for that job."  It meant a lot to us to have her keeping the big picture of the site in mind, and I think it meant a lot to her to have a part in building and maintaining a beautiful park and p-patch in the middle of the city, in the neighborhood she spent so much of her life in, and gave so much of herself to.  She will be missed and remembered."

-Bruce (gardener)

"Dotty was a tireless advocate in the creation of both a p-patch  at Summit Slope park as well as 7 Hills Park.  Attending all of the parks planning meetings for the two parks she helped bring the community/gardens into the plans.  Once established and getting garden space at Unpaving Paradise Dotty took on a leadership role. Dotty's history of work in the community paid off and she was an important person to p-patch staff helping mediate and help the garden run smoothly and become the asset it has in the community.

We will miss her wise perspective and calming nature"

-Sandy Pernitz - Community Garden Coordinator

Dotty at a work party

Capitol Hill Seattle Remembers Dotty DeCoster

Fall Harvest, Flowers and More....

-Did you know a number of our gardens donate food to Northwest Harvest and the Cherry Street Food Bank?  This year we have had a great harvest and have been able to donate quite a bit.  http://www.northwestharvest.org/cherry-street-food-bank

-Although we have a lot of vegetable gardeners, there are also some amazing flowers.  This Dahlia, grown in our garden, is just one example of the variety of flowers our gardeners have planted this year.   Please come visit but please remember to leave the flowers behind for others to enjoy!

-As the summer turns to fall, many of our gardens will be putting in cover crops, some of which will be edible.  Did you know that an edible cover crop can provide vital nutrients for your garden's soil?  http://extension.oregonstate.edu/gardening/node/911

Seattle Tilth Harvest Fair

Urban Pollination Workshop

Urban Pollination Project visits Unpaving Paradise

On Thursday, July 24th, the Urban Pollination Project ( http://nwpollination.org ) came to Unpaving Paradise and spoke with those of us able to be there at 3 in the afternoon about bees.   Gardener Jeff Stallman had organized the workshop, and Tessa Forbes lead a small group of urban pollinators in presenting.  They brought some photographs and a box of specimens, gave a presentation, and then walked us around the community garden stopping to visit pollinators in action.

I discovered that I really didn't know much about bees.  I didn't know, for instance, that bumble bees are not only the most common local pollinators but they are also the only bees that can "buzz" (vibrate) tomato flowers to gather their pollen.  Bees seem to prefer blue-violet colored flowers (although tomato flowers are yellow) and don't see the color red at all.  Bees aren't very aggressive, unlike wasps, many of which look a lot like bees.  The bumble bees we saw in the garden use holes in the ground or in tree branches to nest and only make enough honey to feed their young.  I'm not good at Latin, but the U.P. website has lots of information including the proper names of various bees.  It was intriguing to see that there are some very small bees as well as the more familiar honey and bumble bees.

The timing for the workshop (which was open to the public) was pretty much chosen by the Urban Pollinator folks themselves.  (No evening or weekend hours.)  We're hoping we can do this again next year at a time when more people can come.

Birds of Unpaving Paradise P-Patch: White-crowned Sparrow

The song of the  White-crowned Sparrows is one of the most-studied sounds in all of animal behavior; the first time I heard one singing at Unpaving Paradise was on a spring day in 2013 (our p-patch's third season), from a tree that overlooks our garden.

This white-crowned proclaimed its ownership of the area, its health, and its virility  -- incessantly -- in song. Our garden (and the small park it is situated in) is surrounded by apartment buildings, roads, and parking lots. This species of sparrow does quite well in our busy city; still, as the days went by, I couldn't help thinking that he sounded a bit forlorn.  

But suddenly one day, there was a break in the singing --- and now two White-crowned Sparrows where flying and flitting among the shrubs and trees of the park. Soon, the two birds were carrying mouths full of straw, and disappearing with them into a patch of park ground cover (Point Reyes ceanothus).  

A few days later, the steady stream of building materials were being ferried to a new location: the raspberry patch in the plot my partner Tracy and I garden!  A sparrow would dive into the thick mass of raspberry plants with a beak full of straw or twigs, the raspberry canes and leaves would shake for a bit, and them out would fly the bird, with an empty beak. 

Time passed.  There was still occasion for strident singing, as well as chasing Junco's out of the p-patch.  We resisted searching for the nest among the growing mass of raspberry plants, not wanting to worry parents or disturb babies.

Then, on June 1^st, we were admiring our quickly growing vegetables, when Tracy saw a crow staring intently at a spot on the ground next to our raspberries, from the fence that borders the p-patch.  It was watching a featherless baby sparrow, on its back, flailing about, and appearing too young and weak to stand.  We also spotted a second baby on the other side of the raspberry patch, but this one was on its feet, looking older and stronger, and moving toward cover.

We decided that the second baby was ready to be out of the nest, but that the first would likely be lunch for the crow if we didn't intervene.  Parting the tangled raspberry canes, I found an empty nest, gently picked up the fledgling in my gloved hands, and placed it back in. 

We checked the nest the following day. It was empty again.

There is no way to know, but we hope the young bird we put back in the nest that day was one of the three juvenile White-crowns we eventually saw scurrying about the garden that summer.

As the raspberries leaf out and form flower buds this spring, and vegetable seeds and starts are planted; we will listen for the beautiful, and strident song, of the White-crowned Sparrow.

Meet the Gardeners

Aimee and Aaron Collins have been gardening at Unpaving Paradise since 2013.   They had moved from their house in Ravenna to Capitol Hill but wanted an opportunity to continue growing flowers and vegetables.  Aimee is a Commercial Interior Designer at Freiheit and Ho Architects and Aaron is Senior Safety Analyst at Starbucks headquarters.   Aaron's favorite thing to grow is bush beans; Aimee loves her Stargazer lilies.

People Like Us!

Our friends at Metropolitan Gardens recently posted this nice summary of our garden.   Check it out here:  http://metropolitangardens.blogspot.com/2013/07/summit-slope-park-unpaving-paradise-p.html

We also got a small mention in the Capitol Hill Times this fall here:

http://www.capitolhilltimes.com/2013/09/p-patches-offer-community-inexpensive-food-alternatives/

The P-Patch is 40 years old!

Forty years ago a group of neighborhood activists and a city council member decided that fallow farmland in the Ravenna neighborhood should stay as farmland. Thus was born the P-Patch Community Gardening Program, with the “P” commemorating the Picardo Family whose farm became this first P-Patch.  Visit the first P-Patch at http://www.seattle.gov/neighborhoods/ppatch/locations/5.htm

Fall at Unpaving Paradise

Yes the time has come to harvest our crops and prepare our gardens for winter.   Someone, however, forgot to tell the flowers.  Don't forget fellow P-Patchers that we have one of two upcoming meetings next week.  Please refer to our calendar for times and locations.

Build your Block Challenge Finalists!

Unpaving Paradise is a finalist in the Umpqua Bank Build Your Block Challenge. Submit your vote in the Capitol Hill branch at the end of Broadway and help our P-Patch build a tool shed and composting center!

You can vote once a day until May 20.

More details on the Umpqua Bank facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/capitolhillumpqua



Thanks for your support!

Summit Slope Park Dedication

Join us Sunday, May 1 for our official grand opening celebration! The dedication of Summit Slope Park begins at noon. There will be a maypole, musicians and Umpqua Bank and Starbucks will provide some goodies. At 1:30 a Seattle Tilth Master Composter will teach us how to compost and build health soil. Hope to see you there!

The Gardening Begins

A few people started planting the day after we chose our plots, but March 19th seemed to be the first big push to get plants in the ground.

All pictures were taken by Shawn Brinsfield.

Taking Care of Summit Slope: UP P-Patch Gardeners and Starbucks Pitch in to Take Care of Park

picture courtesy of Benjamin Benschneider/The Seattle Times

This lovely picture of Judy's peas in our new park and P-Patch is part of a rather gloomy article in the Seattle Times about how the Parks Levy paid for new parks but not for their continued maintenance. While the Parks Department's continued budget woes are certainly of concern, Summit Slope Park and Unpaving Paradise P-Patch have some resources that not every neighborhood park can count on.

First is the dedicated band of volunteers that have worked to plan and fundraise for the park and p-patch over the last three years, many of whom will become gardeners at Unpaving Paradise P-Patch and so stay active in the space's continued care. Second is a pledge by the Olive Way Starbucks to start and head up Friends of Summit Slope Park, a group dedicated to ongoing park maintenance. Many thanks to both groups for being good neighbors and pitching in to keep up our little piece of public land.

Our Patch is Filled with Peas!

THIS WED! Dec. 1st - Burlap Quilting Bee for John and Summit Park

There is an important 'burlap coffee bean sack quilting' get together tomorrow, Wednesday, all day and evening (9am to 9pm) at the nearby Seattle Presbyterian Church.


Unpaving Paradise will be amending the soil at John and Summit Park this Saturday (Dec. 4th at John and Summit starting at 9am) with rich nutritive greens and browns. When finished UP will put the soil to bed for the winter by covering it with mostly pre-assembled quilted-together burlap coffee bean sacks. UP wants to give a 'nice look' to the garden for the local community to admire over the winter months. Therefore getting the 500+ coffee bean sacks stitched together in shapes mirroring and custom fitting the designed plots is important. Not only for appearance but to quickly and deftly cover the soil without walking on the soil and compacting it.

The plan is to have pre-measured template patterns on the church floor and then to quilt together the coffee bean sacks to fit the patterns. Many of the sacks have been already stitched together in strips so as to save time on Wednesday's assembling project.

The stitching is simple and requires no previous experience. We will have all materials ready for you. And feel free to be creative by sewing in thick colored yarn!

Please come and help out even if only for an hour. There are two volunteers so far who are coming. Consider lending a helping hand.

They have free church parking on the north side of the building and you are allowed to park for free from 7 to 9 pm in the pay parking lot just across the Street (Howell). The Church (located just behind the Seattle Central Community College) is a block south of East Denny. The quilting bee will be in the downstairs Fellowship Hall; entrance thru church's north side parking lot.

1729 Harvard Avenue
Seattle, WA 98122-2227

John & Summit Bedspread Work Party - Saturday, Dec. 4th

We have a Bedspread Work Party coming up. This time we'll be spreading coffee chaff, chocolate mulch and leaves on the beds, then covering the whole thing with burlap "bedspreads" for the winter. Come join the fun!

When: Saturday December 4th, 9AM (Rain, snow or shine . . . we're working!)

What: Distributing organic coffee chaff, chocolate mulch and leaves into the garden beds, then covering it all up with our burlap bedspreads

We won't need shovels, rakes and wheelbarrows this time, just small tarps, buckets and gloves. If you have small tarps, please bring them. We have everything else you'll need to help.

We really need your help! Come and bring your friends, too! We'll be moving soil in rain, snow or shine.

Delicious coffee and treats are being provided!

Please RSVP to Barbara at gingergooddog@gmail.com so we know how many to expect.

(Even if you forget to RSVP, come garden with us!)

A copy of a delightful flyer for you to view and post is coming soon.

See you Saturday!

Help fill the John & Summit P-Patch community garden at the

SOIL-MOVING PARTY!

Friday, Nov. 19 @ 11am
Saturday, Nov. 20 @ 9am

We'll work whether rain, snow or shine. Come by and help all day or just part of the day.

We have the tools, but please bring work gloves, shovels, 5-gallon buckets & wheelbarrows if you have them.

Treats and warm drinks will be provided.

We hope to see you there!

Save the Dates!

Please mark these dates in your calendar:

Friday & Saturday, Nov. 19-20

We'll be getting dirty! And we'll need everyone's help.

More Details to come soon, so check back.

Help get P-Patches included in the new Capitol Hill park

You're Help is Needed!

A new park is coming to Capitol Hill at the corner of Federal & Republican. Help is needed to get P-Patches included in the park. If you would like to get involved or stay informed, join the Federal & Republican listserv by emailing FedRepPark-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.