Master Gardener plant clinic gives home gardeners a little inside knowledge
JOEL MARTIN | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 2 years, 2 months AGO
Carmen Rimple, left, talks with WSU Grant-Adams Master Gardeners Bobbie Bodenman and Mary Love about desert-friendly native plants for Rimple’s lawn. The master gardeners have held a plant clinic at the Grant County Fair all week, answering questions and offering gardening tips.
JOEL MARTIN/COLUMBIA BASIN HERALD
The WSU Grant-Adams Master Gardeners plant clinic at the Grant County Fair offered information about several different methods of composting and low-water gardening.
Joel Martin has been with the Columbia Basin Herald for more than 25 years in a variety of roles and is the most-tenured employee in the building. Martin is a married father of eight and enjoys spending time with his children and his wife, Christina. He is passionate about the paper’s mission of informing the people of the Columbia Basin because he knows it is important to record the history of the communities the publication serves. | August 16, 2024 1:00 AM
MOSES LAKE — The WSU Grant-Adams County Master Gardeners have been at the Grant County Fair this week, answering questions from the public and offering tips for more eco-friendly gardening.
They weren’t quite as busy this year as last, said Mary Love, who was staffing the booth with Bobbie Bodenman, because the weather wasn’t as hot.
“Last year, people came in and they went ‘whew!’ and they were looking for excuses to stay,” Love said. “They would come over here and they’d think of something to ask us so they could stay (in the air conditioning) longer.”
The master gardeners were ready to answer questions of all kinds and had displays about worm composting, sheet composting and something called Hugelkultur, a method of growing a garden without irrigation or fertilization that’s popular in Germany and Eastern Europe. They also had lots of information about bees and how to encourage bee-friendly plants.
“These are from the (Washington State) Noxious Weed Board, and we give them out,” Love said, holding up a seed packet. “These are flowers that pollinators like … We’re trying to make sure that we still have bees. It’s pretty important for our food supply, and flowers too.”
The packets contained seeds for blanketflower, arrowleaf balsamroot, wild sunflowers and purple prairie clover, among other plants. The blend of plants, called “Bee-U-tify,” was specially designed for eastern Washington, the packet proclaimed.
Gardening with limited water is an important focus of the Master Gardener program in this area, and master gardeners have given symposia the last couple of years on how to reduce or eliminate water use in a garden, using plants that are native to our desert climate. That was something that was on Carmen Rimple’s mind when she stopped by the booth.
“Is there native grass that I can plant in my yard instead of the regular lawn?” Rimple asked. She had already stripped out her front lawn down to plain dirt, she added.
“I have 8-foot basalt columns, like five or six of them, and I put out a big old hill of dirt mixture so my grandson can play on it,” Rimple said. “I’ve got little basins that collect water. So there’s lots of stuff I could do. I don’t want to just plant grass.”
“I’ve got good news for you,” Love said. “Columbia Basin Conservation District, they have a gal (who) does design. At no cost to you, she’ll come out to your yard, get an idea of what you want and then come up with a plan for you.”
Pollinators were another topic Rimple was interested in.
“You know those big fat bumblebees?” she said. “I want the kind of stuff that makes those guys come around.”
“Globe mallow,” Bodenman recommended. “They love to nestle right in there.”
“They like a lot of things,” Love said. “I have a lot of bumblebees in my yard.”
The master gardeners were also looking for new members, and by the time the conversation was done, Rimple had signed up to volunteer.
“The nice thing is, we have enough people that everybody pitches in and you find your niche,” Love said.
The WSU Grant-Adams Master Gardeners plant clinic at the Grant County Fair offered information about several different methods of composting and low-water gardening.ARTICLES BY JOEL MARTIN
Endless battle
Noxious Weed Control Board works to keep invasive plants under control
MOSES LAKE — Some of the nastiest plants in Grant County were the topic of a class led by Jay Johnson, a consultant with the Grant County Noxious Weed Control Board, Tuesday. The Noxious Weed Control Board, as its name would suggest, is tasked with keeping weeds under control in Grant County. That’s not a small job; the board’s website lists 129 species of noxious weeds that are found around Grant County. A noxious weed is defined as an invasive, non-native plant that threatens agricultural crops, local ecosystems or fish and wildlife habitat, according to the Noxious Weed Control Board. Washington state law requires that these weeds be identified and their spread kept to a minimum, if not completely eradicated. “We’re one of those agencies a lot of people don’t really understand,” Johnson said. “We’re a county office and … our funding is tax-based assessment. When you get your tax bill and you look down at all the expenses that you pay for, there we are.”
BASIN EVENTS: Oct. 16-24
COLUMBIA BASIN — Whether you feel like shopping, crafting, learning or seeing a show, there’s something happening for you this week in the Basin. Oct. 16 ‘My Family (Mi Familia)’ screening Spanning three generations, “My Family (Mi Familia)” is a heartfelt drama that follows the Sánchez family as they build their lives in East Los Angeles. Through love, hardship, triumph, and sacrifice, the film explores the immigrant experience, the strength of family bonds, and the traditions that connect one generation to the next. Lowrider show and taco truck before the screening. Sponsored by Columbia Basin Allied Arts, EDUBS C/S and the Moses Lake Creative District. $12 per person. Doors open at 6 p.m., film begins at 7 p.m. at the Moses Lake Civic Center Auditorium, 401 S. Balsam St. Tickets and info: www.cba-arts.org.
Moses Lake author encourages women to look beyond church culture norms
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