This month’s meeting of the Harstine Island Garden Club featured a presentation from Mason County Master Gardener, Mary Dessel on mason bees. The presentation focused on the benefits of how encouraging these native pollinators to take up residence in the garden can improve your plants. There was an overview of the mason bees lifecycle, reproduction, housing needs, threats to their health, and ways to mitigate those adversaries. Below are some photos from the presentation, and links to more resources on the topic of mason bees.
More resources on mason bees:
Resources on this topic from the Timberland Regional Library:
The topic for the January 2022 Garden Club meeting was Square Foot Gardening, presented by member, Laurie Williams. The HIGC is partnering with Pioneer School District in creating a sustainable garden program. Laurie shared a system that will be implemented in the garden’s raised beds.
Square Foot Gardening is a gardening method developed by Mel Bartholomew to grow a lot of plants in small spaces. In fact, square foot gardening utilizes only 10% of the water of a traditional row garden, making this method extremely efficient. No machinery, fertilizers, or heavy tools are ever needed, and no skills or horticulture experience is necessary.
Some benefits:
Vegetables can be tightly spaced
Weeding is greatly reduced or eliminated
Use less seeds
Grow up to three crops annually in each square (cool weather crop, warm weather crop, and a second cool weather crop)
Conserve water
Easy companion planting to reduce pests and disease
Grow quality produce organically (using Mel’s recommended mix: 1/3 compost, 1/3 vermiculite, and 1/3 peat or coir)