Volunteers really made the Presto Garden happen for the White Center Food Bank. The event, sponsored by Sustainable West Seattle transformed a plot at Westcrest P-Patch into a source of food in a single day.
UPDATE June 20:
Just to show you how fast gardens really grow if built well, fertilized and maintained the Sustainable West Seattle "Presto Garden" had its first harvest on June 20 and they collected 15 pounds of lettuce and spinach. It all goes to the White Center Food Bank. See photos below.
Original post May 18
Community means cooperation and that's what was in evidence May 18 as Sustainable West Seattle and some willing volunteers came together at Westcrest Park to create what they called a Presto Garden.
With donations of perennial vegetables from Village Green Nursery, compost – provided by Alki Bike and Board, Vegetable starts – from West Seattle Nursery and Seeds – provided by the Community Orchard of West Seattle the effort was to transform, in a single day a patch of weeds into a food producing garden.
The food produced by the garden will all go to the White Center Food Bank.
Getting a garden going is about more than just tilling the soil and waiting for the harvest so part of what the organizers wanted to include was an educational component. Learning how to garden naturally by tilling weeds back into the soil.
The method they utilized was a layering style that included the existing weed cover, some mulch and some topsoil. Soon enough, their efforts will pay off with a lot more fresh food for those who need it most.
