Photo by Sara Bruestle

Master gardeners Richelle and Rob Taylor stand inside a tunnel made of hog wire to be used to grow peas and beans vertically in the Mukilteo Community Garden.

 

Photo courtesy of Richelle Taylor

 Above is an example of a straw-bale garden, four of which are to be added to the Mukilteo Community Garden.

With the popularity of P-Patch and community gardens growing in today’s economy, so too are the use of techniques so that gardeners can grow their produce up – as in, vertically.

 

Mukilteo Community Garden master gardeners and volunteers are revamping the garden with several vertical-gardening techniques.

 

“You can take a space that isn’t pretty or is small in diameter and go up and get vegetables out of it,” said master gardener Michelle Duncan, a member of the community garden.

 

Fellow members Rob Taylor, Jim Godwin, Sam Lord and Rob’s grandson Nathan Taylor are leading the project.

 

“It’s for the new age, because there are small houses, so you haven’t got the yard. Go up,” Rob Taylor said.

 

They started the project in January, made possible by donations, and hope to finish sometime in May, with the help of more volunteers.  The garden is scheduled to open for the season on Feb. 19.

 

As part of the project, members recently converted 15 garden beds reserved for food banks into P-Patch beds for community use.  About a dozen beds are available for rent.  Call 425-263-8199 or e-mail admin@mukilteogarden.org to sign up.

 

In their place, they are busy developing the back third of the garden for growing produce, using a variety of “cutting-edge” techniques for vertical gardening.

 

All of the techniques were borrowed from the Snohomish County Master Gardeners Demonstration Garden at Jennings Park in Marysville, and include the use of trellises, tunnels, upside-down planters, teepees, straw bales and skinny beds.

 

Last year, the garden at Jennings Park donated 3,000 pounds of food to the Marysville Food Bank.

 

“We’ll grow anything up that has a vine,” said master gardener Richelle Taylor, Rob’s wife.  “We’ll grow pumpkins straight up and squash straight up. Cucumbers prefer to be up.”

 

The benefits to vertical gardening includes better air circulation and sunshine for plants, the ability to growing more in less space, less likelihood of pests and diseases, and easy accessibility for elderly or disabled gardeners.

 

“Right now it’s just something exciting; it’s something a little bit different,” Rob Taylor said.  “We’re trying to pull in some new people, some young people.” 

 

Duncan sees the additions to the garden as an opportunity to teach the community about urban gardening – or gardening in the city and in small spaces.

 

“We have a lot of raised beds in our garden, but in order to grow more food for the food bank, we need to grow more vertically,” she said.

 

The garden annually donates at least 1,000 pounds of produce to the Mukilteo Food Bank, Everett Women and Children’s Shelter, Northshore Christian Church Pantry, Cocoon House, and the Everett Gospel Mission – but with the added vertical-gardening techniques, that could double.

 

Some of the garden’s vertical-gardening additions:

 

Rob and his helpers are adding trellises to existing and future garden beds, so that gardeners can grow their produce up.

 

They also are adding a tunnel, 10 teepees, four skinny beds, four straw-bale gardens and several upside down planters.

 

The tunnel is made of hog wire and rebar, about 6 feet wide and 7 feet high.  They are ideal for growing beans and peas, and make for easy picking either inside or outside of the tunnel.

 

Teepees are going to be made from bamboo tied together at the top, with trellises up their sides and soil at their bases.  As many as 10 plants can grow on a teepee, and kids can play inside.

 

The skinny beds are 2-by-4 beds with a trellis, which are designed for the easy dividing and picking of plants, navigation between beds, as well as better use of the garden’s sloped terrain.

 

Vertical gardening in skinny beds is going to be much more efficient, said past MCG president Lois Brown.  Normally, she said, you’d be able to plant four summer squash in a 10-by-10 bed, but you’d be able to plant 5-6 in just one skinny bed with a trellis.

 

 “This is the way to optimally use the land and increase production for our food bank, which we really need,” Brown said.

 

Straw-bale gardens are going to be made of 10 bales each, with bales lining the perimeter of a raised garden – perfect for when the land is too rocky or malnourished to produce.  In the center, where there are no bales, will be soil.  Soil will also be on top of the bales.

 

The upside-down hanging planters are going to be made from five-gallon buckets and hang from a post.  They’ll grow tomatoes upside down with lettuce growing right-side up – when the lettuce starts to wilt it’s time to water.

 

For more information on the Mukilteo Community Garden’s garden beds, classes, workshops, work parties and more, visit the garden at 44th and 76th Streets or www.mukilteogarden.org.