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Northshore YMCA Community Garden
About the garden
The Northshore YMCA Community Food Garden was created in late summer 2021 and consists of 10 raised beds and two rain barrels that collect rainwater from the roof to provide water for the beds. The food that grows in this garden will be used to help support Northshore YMCA’s Totes to Go program, a partnership with Northshore School District that provides healthy food for students in need. Food grown in this garden will also help support the afterschool childcare program provided by YMCA. Teaching youth about the garden and involving them in the growing and harvesting process helps connect them to where their food comes from.
How the garden came to be
Bothell community members expressed interest in creating a community garden that would provide a benefit to those in need. With the support of Bothell City Council, we were able to leverage our partnership with our two local conservation districts - experts in the field of urban agriculture - to be able to make the community's vision a reality.
Finding a suitable location for the garden had its challenges because it would need a reliable watering source as well as volunteers available to manage it year-round. Using public land wasn’t feasible because of the lack of a watering source, so our partners at Snohomish Conservation District's Lawns to Lettuce program reached out to a number of larger private landowners in early spring 2021 to gauge interest in hosting an onsite garden. We were pretty excited when we learned that Northshore YMCA was interested and met the criteria for hosting the garden!
Scroll down for FAQs about that garden, and watch a video featuring Joe Crumbley, Snohomish Conservation District's former Urban Agriculture Program Coordinator, to learn more.
- Who will benefit from the food grown in the garden?
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Northshore School District students who need food security will benefit from the food grown in the garden. In partnership with the school district, the Northshore YMCA is a Totes to Go program hub where school nurses and social workers can come to pick up discreet bags or backpacks containing meals for students enrolled in the free and reduced lunch program. In addition to non-perishable food, students will now also have access to fresh fruits and vegetables.
The food grown here will also help support students in the YMCA's afterschool programs. By involving youth in the growing and harvesting of the garden, they will become more connected to where their food comes from and get a better understanding of urban agriculture.
- Who will care for the garden?
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YMCA staff will oversee the garden maintenance, which will mainly be done by youth enrolled in the YMCA's afterschool and summer programming.
To reduce maintenance, drip irrigation will help reduce the amount of labor involved in watering the plans, and the gravel surrounding the raised garden beds will reduce the weeds germinating in the soil of the raised beds.
Snohomish Conservation District will provide technical assistance and guidance when needed.
- What components are necessary for a healthy garden?
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A healthy garden requires a combination of these components:
- Healthy soil
- Adding compost and soil amendments helps keep soil nourished.
- Rotating crops helps reduce fungal and bacterial issues for vegetables.
- Sunlight
- Most vegetable varieties need 6-8 hours of direct sunlight in the growing season.
- Leafy greens and root vegetables can often survive with less sunlight, but it depends on the specific variety.
- Adequate moisture
- Most plants do best with at least 1" of water per week in the growing season.
- You can determine how much time it takes to water 1" by doing the tuna can test: Place an empty tuna can near your plants. Turn on your regular watering source (drip irrigation, sprinkler, watering can) and time how long it takes to fill the tuna can. However long it took to fill the can is how long you should water your plants each week.
- Adding compost to the soil surface will increase water retention.
- Watering as close to the root systems of plants as possible will increase the absorption rate. This also helps reduce the chance of blight* affecting vegetable varieties like tomatoes.
*Blight is a disease or injury of plants marked by the formation of lesions, withering, and death of parts (such as leaves and tubers).
- Healthy soil
- Where did the garden's raised beds come from?
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To focus on natural resources conservation, the eight wooden raised beds were made from materials that used to be shipping containers. The practice of using reclaimed materials in a garden space is part of reducing waste, an element involved in permaculture. Using harvested rainwater to feed the plants is also another way to conserve resources.
The garden also has two metal raised beds (similar to animal troughs) that were already part of the garden space before the wooden beds and rain barrels were added. When using metal planters with bottoms that are flush with the ground, be sure to drill some holes in the bottom to allow water to drain and soak into the ground. This helps prevent soil from becoming fungal from too much moisture.
- How do the garden's rain barrels work?
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The garden has two 55-gallon rain barrels that harvest rainwater collected from the roof of the building during rainstorms.
The rain barrels provide multiple benefits:
- They conserve water by storing it to use on plants when they need it
- They limit stormwater runoff during a storm surge
- They help prevent contaminants from entering local waterways
- They help reduce erosion issues and keep water away from the building's foundation
Based on the size of an average roof, a 1" rainfall could fill approximately 10 55-gallon rain barrels!
- How does the garden's irrigation system work?
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The garden is equipped with drip irrigation using soaker hoses, which work best for low-pressure irrigation systems like rain barrels. Elevating the rain barrels on something like cement blocks increases the pressure generated from gravity.
- What can be grown in the garden?
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Bothell is located in Planting Zone 8b. Planting zones help determine what vegetable varieties will be the most successful for each month. This takes into account the first and last frost dates for that region. In this zone, we have a long growing season. Most vegetable varieties are able to mature before the first frost date of December 1. The last frost date is April 1.
Use this chart to determine what grows best in our region and when, and visit the vegetable planting calendar guide for more details.
- How long do certain crops take to grow?
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Growing times depend on the vegetable variety. Beans, lettuce, spinach, summer squash, broccoli, cucumber, radish, and beets can take about 70 days. Peppers, carrots, cauliflower, peas, cabbage, garlic, tomato, winter squash, onion, and pumpkin usually take about 120 days.
Starting your vegetables by seed indoors will quicken the growing process once you transplant them outside. Typically, most seeds will germinate (sprout) within two weeks if you start them indoors.
- What is "overwintering" and why is it important?
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Overwintering involves adding a cover crop like certain kinds of clover varieties or crops from the legume family (beans, peas, etc.) to your garden beds during the non-growing season. Doing so helps provide nitrogen to the soil to keep it healthy for the upcoming growing season.
Adding compost or mulch to the soil surface during winter can also help improve soil health because it makes it harder for nutrients to leach out of the soil during extreme weather conditions.
- Where can I learn more about the YMCA Community Food Garden?
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Check out this educational video we made with Joe Crumbley, Snohomish Conservation District's Urban Agriculture Program Coordinator.
- What is the Lawns to Lettuce Program?
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Snohomish Conservation District’s Lawns to Lettuce program provides education and support for landowners who want to convert their lawn and grow edibles in a way that builds healthy soil, protects pollinators, minimizes pesticide use, reduces runoff, and conserves water.
If your garden space grows more vegetables than you need, consider donating them through the Plant A Row campaign.
- How can I learn more about the Lawns to Lettuce Program?
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Visit Snohomish Conservation District's Lawns to Lettuce website to learn more about the program.
Want to grow your own food at home?
Snohomish Conservation District’s Lawns to Lettuce program provides education and support for landowners who want to convert their lawn and grow edibles in a way that builds healthy soil, protects pollinators, minimizes pesticide use, reduces runoff, and conserves water.
If your garden space grows more vegetables than you need, consider donating them through the district's Plant A Row campaign.
Whether you're an avid gardener or new to growing edibles, consider joining the Lawns to Lettuce Facebook group to share tips, opportunities, and stories along the way.
Watch a video to learn about the garden!
City staff worked with Snohomish Conservation District's former Urban Agriculture Program Coordinator, Joe Crumbley, to create an educational video to explain more about the garden, what can be grown there, how to care for the garden, how the rain barrels work, and more. Check it out!
Here's a short write-up on Snohomish Conservation District's website about the garden and event photos from the unveiling on November 16, 2021.
Questions about the garden?
Northshore YMCA
Snohomish Conservation District
Contact Snohomish Conservation District