Yes, Fall is in the air but most days continue to be sunny and warm here in Bremerton, Washington.   A drenching rain over the weekend was very welcome!  The Anna Smith Master Gardeners are nearing the ‘finish line’ and will be buttoning down the garden by late October.   During our last work party we reviewed the successes this season.  The Fiskars grant most certainly played a large role!  Our tool shed is full of wonderful new Fiskar’s tools, our demonstration beds sport interesting and much needed signage,  we sponsored a well-attended series of educational children’s events at the park, and our new butterfly habitat has been the subject of several newspaper articles and has been enjoyed by many, many visitors!   We’ve received multiple kudos from community members.  Thank you once again Fiskars for honoring us with the Project Orange Thumb grant award!

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Our last children’s event of the summer was a great success.  Forty children arrived to learn about sedums and succulents.  As part of the lesson, each child created a whimsical planting by using sedums and shoes or boots.   Many happy faces were observed as the children collected their art work to bring home.

The demonstration beds are at their prime by the end of August.  The dahlias are gorgeous.  The vegetables are at their peak.  Each demonstration bed is a sight to behold.  Fall is  in the air though, and we will soon be sowing winter rye and red clover in many of the demonstration beds.  Thanks to Fiskars this has been an especially enjoyable season for the Master Gardeners and the public!

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Silverdale, Washington has seen some record-breaking highs this summer and what seems like day after day of sun.  The Master Gardeners are working hard to keep the Anna Smith beds watered.  The garden is truly lush this year.   

Local children enjoyed a Worm Bin class recently where they built and populated small worm bins to bring home.  The combination of dirt, children and worms made for a 4 star class.    The gigantic worm bin and the compost system at Anna Smith garden impressed them as well. 

Our new butterfly habitat continues to be a wonderful focal point drawing community members to the garden and delighting the Master Gardeners as well.  The pathway to the habitat will be lined with bricks painted and decorated by kids and adults throughout the summer!

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The Anna Smith Garden is in full gear this August with wonderful weather and lots of activities.  Our vegetable beds produced a trunk load of produce for the Food Bank, and little harvesters were pleased to be able to pull carrots and radishes from their one foot square beds.  

Our local Noxious Weed Coordinator led the children’s event last week and was able to make weeds quite exciting!  Dana Coggin explained the damage done to the environment by noxious weed invasion.  She showed the children how displacement of native plants by noxious weeds ultimately affected bugs, fish and other wildlife in a negative way.   

Master Gardeners spent most of last week making the garden especially attractive for our guests at the annual Open House.  Tours were given during the Open House and a ribbon-cutting ceremony took place to celebrate the inclusion of the new butterfly habitat in our Children’s Garden.   All in all a successful and gratifying two weeks for the Master Gardeners and our visitors!

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We had wonderful turnouts at Anna Smith Park during the last 2 weeks for our butterfly and bird events.  Local children ages 4 through 12 learned about the life cycle of butterflies and moths and how our gardens support this cycle with plants that serve as hosts and provide nectar.  Plants that attract birds to our gardens and provide food for the birds was discussed during the bird lesson at the park.  Students worked with Master Gardeners to build nests for their own backyards.   Our Anna Smith Garden comes to life each week when the lessons are presented.  The Master Gardeners find it most gratifying that we are able to attract so many local folks.  The new butterfly habitat, made possible with assistance from Fiskars, is one very important reason for the number of visitors.   Thanks again Fiskars!

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Our Wednesday summer classes for youth began July 1st.   Several eager planters painted pots to mark their very own one foot square vegetable garden and then happily planted radishes, carrots and beans.  A team of Anna Smith Master Gardeners presented plant life cycle information and helped the little ones sow seeds and water the plots.  We hope to see the little gardeners return regularly to observe the progress and eventually harvest their vegetables.    We’ll encourage them to donate some to the Food Bank. The Master Gardeners are currently supplying the Food Bank with wonderful lettuce, radishes and beets!�
Another highlight for the week at ASG was the installation of some of our newly acquired and sorely needed Demonstration Garden signs.   Park visitors will greatly appreciate these informative additions.
Our new Butterfly habitat is fully planted and populated and we eagerly await the 2nd summer class next week where the habitat will be the focal point!

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Our ‘Salad Garden’ produced enough for a donation to the Food Bank this week!  All the demonstration garden beds have grown dramatically and are being lovingly tended by the Master Gardeners.   Screen doors and plastic streamers have been added to our new butterfly habitat doorways and the chrysalides have taken up residency among the plants.  Preparation for weekly garden lessons for children is well underway and we are especially eager to share the butterfly habitat with the kids.   School is out this week in Kitsap County and we anticipate a steady stream of  little visitors throughout the summer.

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Our garden has burst into glorious color!  Rhododendrons, azaleas and dogwood are blooming!    We’ve enjoyed several weeks of warm weather after an especially cold winter and spring.  The Master Gardener team is hard at it planting and grooming the Demonstration Garden beds at the Childrens park.  School will be out soon and we are all looking forward to the many little visitors who will attend weekly garden lessons, explore the new butterfly habitat, and peruse the gardens.  The Master Gardeners are very close to completing the  habitat, and have planted many things that will delight the butterflies throughout their life cycle.   In preparation for our busy summer visitor season,  the hopscotch mat was placed in one of the steppable groundcover beds and the bean teepee was assembled.  Our vegetables and berries for the Food Bank are off to a fine start.  Thanks to a devoted team, we’re well on our way to meeting our Grant objectives.

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The butterfly habitat is near completion after much hard work by a dedicated crew. Planting of the habitat will take place in the next few weeks. We can’t wait to share this wonderful learning adventure with our young visitors! A walk through the screened habitat as part of a butterfly life cycle lesson will be a thrill for any child. The Master Gardeners at the Children’s Park continue to work diligently rain or shine. Most vegetables have been planted and only a few have become ‘lunch’ for deer, slugs or birds. We’re hoping for a bumper crop for the Food Bank this year. Planning for weekly garden learning events for children is well underway!

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Anna Smith Children’s Garden reopened in April for spring cleaning and planting.  The Master Gardeners are very excited about our Grant award!!!   Creation of the Butterfly habitat has begun.  Vegetables and flowers are being planted in the demonstration beds.  The tool shed got a good cleaning as we labeled and stored all of our wonderful new Fiskars tools.  An early season visit by a group of pre-schoolers on April 28th was a pleasant surprise for us.  We all noted that the group just happened to be wearing orange T-shirts!!!

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