Fall Northwest Natural Yard Days offers free workshops, retailer discounts

2005 Archived News

Fall is time for planting and time for the annual Northwest Natural Yard Days! This promotion offers discounts of more than 20 percent on environmentally friendly gardening products, and free workshops to encourage gardeners to plant this autumn. The program is throughout King County September 1–30, 2005.

Northwest Natural Yard Days encourages people to practice five steps to natural yard care: build healthy soil, plant right for your site, practice smart watering, think twice before using pesticides and practice natural lawn care. Healthy soil leads to healthy lawns and gardens, and fall is an excellent time to feed and protect soil by fertilizing, adding compost and applying bark mulch.

"Practicing natural yard care can help you save money, time, and the environment," said Gerty Coville of the King County Solid Waste Division. "It also protects your family's health, and makes a healthy, beautiful yard without working too hard!"

For a healthier lawn and garden, Coville offers the following planting suggestions:

Use organic fertilizer to provide plants a square meal to keep them looking better longer. Organic fertilizer doesn't wash off into streams and lakes as easily as "quick release" chemical fertilizers. Quick-release fertilizers generally are high in nitrogen and highly soluble in water—rain can wash them right down the storm drain, directly into our waterways. Too much nitrogen causes algae to grow and uses up oxygen, suffocating aquatic wildlife.

Compost is another key ingredient to building healthy soil. Layered on top of the soil as a mulch, it helps keep soil warm and encourages roots to continue growing through the cold months. When spring arrives, these stronger roots can take full advantage of spring growth and need less water. When compost is dug into new planting beds, it has opens up soil particles improving both air and water penetration.

Bark mulch is used as a surface cover on garden beds. It helps moderate winter temperatures and conserve moisture.

King County, the City of Seattle and 39 other agency partners support this program to encourage residents of King County and surrounding areas to purchase and use environmentally preferable yard care products.

This year's promotion includes 13 new retail locations, additional discounted products and free fall gardening classes at selected nurseries. Classes offered at several participating nurseries will cover topics such as which plants have fall and winter beauty, how to get soil and plants ready for fall and tricks to removing a lawn and replacing it with a garden.

For more information on Northwest Natural Yard Days, a list of the 45 participating retailers and a schedule of fall gardening classes see: http://www.yarddays.com