The Seattle Tilth Chicken Coop Tour is one of our favorite events of the year. It is an excellent time to let our little ladies shine in their awesome coop, meet lots of new friends, neighbors, and just to have a great time talking about all of the wonderful changes happening at Stone Soup Gardens. Are you coming?
Seattle Tilth Chicken Coop and Urban Farm Tour Saturday, July 16th, 10 am - 4 pm Several neighborhoods across Seattle Check out our awesome video from last year's coop tour! Here is a fun one! We just completed this excellent addition to a chain link fence. We are using recycled bike wheel frames to create an arbor of sorts that will provide a bit more privacy between the neighbors' yards. It also adds an element of whimsy to an otherwise adorable little backyard garden. The owners love to entertain and have cocktail parties, and this bike wheel fence will be a definite conversation piece! We also retooled the stairs leading up into the garage and back garden area. We are still working on a few last minute touches, but it is coming together nicely!
It's a new year, and those of us at Stone Soup Gardens are right back at it. Before the end of last year we started on a challenging project involving a concrete backyard. The previous owner of our client's home put in a basketball court in the backyard, great for some, but not great if you are a lover of gardening or green space. In December we began jackhammering out the concrete and setting it aside. This is hard work on the body, so it was great to be able to finish that task and have a nice break over the holidays. Here are a few before pictures to give you an idea of what we were facing. Once the jackhammering began, things got messy and loud quick! We started by pulling out large chunks of concrete where the growing space would be, and set aside those pieces to use as a retaining wall around the raised beds. We also carved out a winding concrete path from the existing concrete pad rather than having an added expense of installing a walkway. Here's a few images of us playing with power tools. Now that the holidays are over, it's back to work! This week we are working on building out the raised bed area, as well as continuing to pull out concrete, installing grass, and sculpting the pathways. We've even planted a tree. It's shaping up to be a lovely space. Next, we'll be installing a small swale to catch the roof runoff in the front of the house, doing a bit of planting when the weather is more predictable, and finishing up with some lovely touches in the back. It will be a wonderful garden retreat once finished. Stay tuned for more images!
As a service to our wonderful clients, we sometimes do crazy things like throw a lawn party where we actually dig up the lawn and plant native plants! Recently, we had that opportunity with our client Mary Beth in Ballard. To start the day, Bob Redmond of the Urban Bee Company gave a riveting talk on the important of pollinator habitats, complete with a honey tasting from some of his local bees. Once the tasting was complete, we headed outside and started pulling up sod! We removed the rest of the sod bordering the rain garden towards the sidewalk in order to plant more native species to further accent the rain garden. Between the sidewalk and the street we installed a small raised bed full of native and ornamental pollinators, as well as flowers for all seasons which will be a colorful addition to the area, rather than just grass. Previously we had installed raised beds in the front yard that are full of a wonderful assortment of vegetables. By extending out to the sidewalk we were able to create more planting space which will mature into a lovely scent filled yard for the birthday girl, as well as a great habitat for bees for many years to come. It was a wonderful party, and we were able to complete it in no time with the additional help of family and friends! Interested in a garden party of your own? Contact Stone Soup Gardens today! |
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