Interbay P-Patch | |
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Location | Seattle, Washington, U.S. |
Coordinates | 47°38′28″N122°22′37″W / 47.641178°N 122.376948°W |
Area | 43,000 sq ft (4,000 m2) [1] |
Opened | 1974 |
Interbay P-Patch, "The Garden Between The Bays", is one of Seattle, Washington's largest [1] and most involved community gardens, and is recognized as an example of resourcefulness and sustainability.[ citation needed ] [2]
Gardeners originally established the garden in 1974 as one of the earliest P-Patch locations in the city. First located on landfill that is now the northwest corner of the Interbay Family Golf Center's driving range, the garden has moved twice.
In 1980 the Seattle City Council passed a resolution that guaranteed an acre for community gardening on the Interbay landfill. In 1992, however, with gardens established for 18 years, Interbay P-Patch gardeners had to move the P-Patch to the northeast corner of the landfill to make way for a proposed golf course. The soil in the new location was heavy with clay and lacked humus. Gardeners labored to build the soil. Garden volunteers used money from a Neighborhood Matching Grant to build the first tool shed and compost bins. Gardeners also added the food bank area, and built raised beds.
Four years later, in 1996, the city announced new plans for a golf course. With the 1980 resolution still in force, and with broad public support, the City Council adopted a new resolution allocating funding to move the Interbay P-Patch and ensure garden plots equal to or better than the existing gardens. The resolution guaranteed gardeners 18 inches (460 mm) of soil, and raised beds.
In 1997 the Interbay P-Patch was established as a permanent site on its present-day location, extending north from Wheeler Street along 15th Avenue West.
City residents may rent up to 400 square feet (37 m2) of space in the garden from the city annually. Each gardener is requires to work at least 8 hours for the good of the garden to retain their plot. Gardeners may grow whatever they wish except for trees or large bushes, and the produce from each plot remains the property of the gardener. Over 4,400 square feet (410 m2) of garden space along the fences are dedicated to food bank gardening, which traditionally furnishes about two tons of produce to community food banks each year. The east side of the garden features an orchard of plum, pear, and apple trees, many of which gardeners moved from the previous garden location. Honey bee hives are nestled in a secure enclosure near the back of the garden.
Recycling is a part of the garden's culture. The main north–south walkway is made from recycled pavers from Alki Beach, and the main walkway includes granite pavers from South Africa that did not meet the standards for Westlake Mall.
The Rowe family donated the greenhouse to the garden in 2000, and in 2003 the city donated the arbor entrances, which previously served as security enclosures for portable public toilets. Interbay gardeners donated a memorial bench at the north arbor entrance in honor of Claire "Pappy" Watkins, Interbay's late "King of Compost".
Ray Schutte designed and built the cobblestone entrance walkway and planter in 2006 from cobblestones first used as ballast in ships before their installation at Seattle's Occidental Park. When the city redesigned the park, Interbay P-Patch was fortunate enough to receive these cobblestones.
The 30-foot (9 m) aluminum flag pole was one of the original 50 poles placed in front of the 1962 World's Fair Flag Pavilion.
CAST design/build designed Interbay's award-winning tool shed/library/kitchen, completed in 2002. The shed and surrounding open space are the focal point for many community events, including Friday night potlucks, Saturday lunches, a New Year's Day celebration, and several garden fundraisers each year. CAST design/build also designed the kiosk, added in 2004. Lease Crutcher Lewis donated materials, and a grant from Starbucks helped pay for the kiosk. Gardener and facilities Coordinator Bruce Swee designed the kiosk's water feature to honor long-time Interbay gardeners Anne and Mac Magruder, who planted the grape arbor.
The "Gathering Bell" at the edge of the garden's plaza was given to Airgas Nor Pac as thanks for its financial support of cystic fibrosis cure research. Airgas wished to share this with the community and decided to donate it to the Interbay P-Patch in 2006.
Bruce Swee designed the Interbay P-Patch flag donated to the garden by John and Vickie Bjorkman in 2005. Garden fundraising events also funded Bruce Swee's design and construction of the steel gates on the chipper/shredder storage shed in 2007.
Volunteers who garden at Interbay built and maintain the structures and community areas at the garden.
Compost is a mixture of ingredients used as plant fertilizer and to improve soil's physical, chemical, and biological properties. It is commonly prepared by decomposing plant and food waste, recycling organic materials, and manure. The resulting mixture is rich in plant nutrients and beneficial organisms, such as bacteria, protozoa, nematodes, and fungi. Compost improves soil fertility in gardens, landscaping, horticulture, urban agriculture, and organic farming, reducing dependency on commercial chemical fertilizers. The benefits of compost include providing nutrients to crops as fertilizer, acting as a soil conditioner, increasing the humus or humic acid contents of the soil, and introducing beneficial microbes that help to suppress pathogens in the soil and reduce soil-borne diseases.
Biodegradation is the breakdown of organic matter by microorganisms, such as bacteria and fungi. It is generally assumed to be a natural process, which differentiates it from composting. Composting is a human-driven process in which biodegradation occurs under a specific set of circumstances.
A sidewalk, pavement, footpath in Australia, India, New Zealand and Ireland, or footway is a path along the side of a road. Usually constructed of concrete, pavers, brick, stone, or asphalt, it is designed for pedestrians. A sidewalk is normally higher than the roadway, and separated from it by a kerb. There may also be a planted strip between the sidewalk and the roadway and between the roadway and the adjacent land.
Interbay is a neighborhood in Seattle, Washington consisting of the valley between Queen Anne Hill on the east and Magnolia on the west, plus filled-in areas of Smith Cove and Salmon Bay. The neighborhood is bounded on the north by Salmon Bay, part of the Lake Washington Ship Canal, across which is Ballard; on the south by what remains of Smith Cove, an inlet of Elliott Bay; on the east by 15th Avenue W. and Elliott Avenue W.; and on the west by the BNSF Railway. The Ballard Bridge crosses the ship canal from Interbay to Ballard.
The Public Garden, also known as Boston Public Garden, is a large park in the heart of Boston, Massachusetts, adjacent to Boston Common. It is a part of the Emerald Necklace system of parks and is bounded by Charles Street and Boston Common to the east, Beacon Street and Beacon Hill to the north, Arlington Street and Back Bay to the west, and Boylston Street to the south. The Public Garden was the first public botanical garden in America.
Queens Botanical Garden is a botanical garden located at 43-50 Main Street in Flushing, Queens, New York City. The 39-acre (16 ha) site features rose, bee, herb, wedding, and perennial gardens; an arboretum; an art gallery; and a LEED-certified Visitor & Administration Building. Queens Botanical Garden is located on property owned by the City of New York, and is funded from several public and private sources. It is operated by Queens Botanical Garden Society, Inc.
A P-Patch is a parcel of property used for gardening; the term is specific to Seattle, Washington. The "P" originally stood for "Picardo", after the family who owned Picardo Farm in Seattle's Wedgwood neighborhood, part of which became the original P-Patch.
New Farm Park is a heritage-listed riverfront public park at 137 Sydney Street, New Farm, City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It was designed by Albert Herbert Foster and built from 1914 to 1950 by Gladwin Legge & Co. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 7 February 2005.
This is an alphabetical index of articles related to gardening.
Smith Cove is a body of water, the northern part of Seattle, Washington's Elliott Bay, immediately south of the area that has been known since 1894 as Interbay. More precisely, it is the part of the bay that lies north of a line running southeasterly from the west end of Elliott Bay Marina in the northwest to the far northwest tip of Myrtle Edwards Park in the southeast.
A green bin is a large, movable, rigid plastic or metal container that contains biodegradable waste or compostable materials as a means to divert waste from landfills. In some local authorities, green bins are also used to contain unsorted municipal solid waste.
Picardo Farm is a 98,000 sq ft (9,100 m2) parcel of property in Wedgwood, Seattle, Washington, consisting largely of 281 plots used for gardening allotments. It is the original P-Patch : the "P" originally stood for "Picardo", after the family who owned it. The Picardos' land went beyond the present P-Patch; it also encompassed the property of the adjacent Reform Jewish Temple Beth Am and of University Prep, an independent private co-educational, non-sectarian day school for grades six through twelve. The land was part of what had once been known as the Ravenna Swamp.
The Magnolia Bridge is a warren deck truss bridge that carries automobile traffic in Seattle, Washington, United States. It was built in 1930 and connects the neighborhoods of Magnolia and Interbay over the filled-in tidelands of Smith Cove. The bridge is one of only four road connections from Magnolia to the rest of Seattle. It carries W. Garfield Street from Magnolia Way W. in the west to the intersection of Elliott and 15th Avenues W. in the east.
The West Side Community Garden is a privately owned 501(c)(3) garden in Manhattan, New York City, United States. It is located between West 89th Street and West 90th Street in the middle of the block between Amsterdam Avenue and Columbus Avenue.
The Village Roots Garden is a community garden located at 1115 E. Otjen Street in the Bay View neighborhood of Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
The Cobblestone Farm and Museum, which includes the Dr. Benajah Ticknor House is an historical museum located at 2781 Packard Road in Ann Arbor Michigan. The museum gets its name from the cobblestone used to build the farmhouse. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1972 and designated a Michigan State Historic Site in 1973.
Community gardens in the United States benefit both gardeners and society at large. Community gardens provide fresh produce to gardeners and their friends and neighbors. They provide a place of connection to nature and to other people. In a wider sense, community gardens provide green space, a habitat for insects and animals, sites for gardening education, and beautification of the local area. Community gardens provide access to land to those who otherwise could not have a garden, such as apartment-dwellers, the elderly, and the homeless. Many gardens resemble European allotment gardens, with plots or boxes where individuals and families can grow vegetables and flowers, including a number which began as victory gardens during World War II. Other gardens are worked as community farms with no individual plots at all, similar to urban farms.
The San Francisco Mandatory Recycling and Composting Ordinance is a local municipal ordinance requiring all persons located in San Francisco to separate their recyclables, compostables and landfilled trash and to participate in recycling and composting programs. Passed by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 2009, it became the first local municipal ordinance in the United States to universally require source separation of all organic material, including food residuals.
Rockhampton Botanic Gardens is a heritage-listed botanic garden at 100 Spencer Street, The Range, Rockhampton, Rockhampton Region, Queensland, Australia. It was built from 1873 to 1930s. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 23 July 1999.
The North Transfer Station, also known as the North Recycling and Disposal Station, is a municipal waste collection and distribution facility in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is located in the Wallingford neighborhood near Gas Works Park and is one of two transfer stations managed by Seattle Public Utilities.