Ridgecrest plant exchange, Seattle Tilth, and neighborhood meeting

Plant exchange
Photo by Carl Dinse

Plants lined the gym at Ridgecrest Elementary on Wednesday night, May 2, as members of the Ridgecrest Neighborhood Association met to exchange plant starts and hear from a Seattle Tilth speaker on pollinators in the garden.

Laura Matter from Seattle Tilth discussed insects in the garden and their role in carrying pollen from one plant to another. Even hornets have a role.

She talked about all the different kinds of bees and reminded the audience that pesticides kill the good along with the bad. When you destroy something in the garden, she said, you are simply providing an opportunity for something else to come in.

Aphids aren't all that bad and she suggested using a spray of water to knock them off the plant. She provides a beer trap for slugs in her garden - a cottage cheese container buried in the dirt with an inch aboveground to keep the beetles (good in a garden) from falling in. Keep about an inch of beer in the container and your slugs will die happy.

Mary Kay Doyle and Phyllis Moll, neighborhood volunteers
Photo by Carl Dinse

Ridgecrest held its annual meeting and elected officers for the next year: Chair - Stefanie Gendreau, Vice-chair Dick Nicholson, Secretary, Patty Hale, Treasurer, Phyllis Moll.