Has your garden ever been part of a tour?

Junior, I love your attitude! "We're only going to be able to do what we can and that will be fine." You are SOOOO Right!!!

I would be up for having more than one roundup! And maybe we need to use this forum also as a place for people to organize groups who want to do specific garden tours in addition to the roundups. There are so many tours in this general area, and they would all be lovely. There's no reason why a group of people couldn't meet just to do a tour together and not consider it technically a 'roundup' - if you know what I mean.

pixydish, I like that proposal. They will ALL be new to me so several smaller more casual tours would be great. Some I could get to, some maybe not due to distance, conflicts or cost, but even a few would be nice.

The tour is on June 24th and covers 7 gardens in the Woodinville/Snoho/Duvall area. The tour is open to all and is free. I have a map in jpeg (that's an electronic picture) format with all the gardens marked and a document with additional directions. If anyone would like them, email me and I'll be glad to send them to you.

jb

Darn, that's the same date as the Whidbey garden tour. :(

Gwendalou

I noticed that from reading the RoundUp thread. Darn indeed. Just too much going, eh?

jb

Gwendalou and any other interested,
I said I would post about this quite some time ago. I saw the signs go up last weekend, so here is the info. The Vashon Farm Tour will be on Sunday, June 4th from 11:00 AM to 4:00 PM. The tickets cost $5 and can be purchased at a local mid-island store (Minglement) or at the farms themselves (I presume on the day of the tour). There are 7 farms on the tour this year. I am not among them, having many other commitments and being extremely small potatoes compared to the others. If anyone wants to go on this tour, I will try to get the addresses and directions to farms nearest the ferry you would be coming on, so you can get tickets and continue on the tour. There are ferries to Vashon from West Seattle, Tacoma and Southworth on the Peninsula.

I'd like to try for this, so if you give me that first farm, that'd be great. All I really need is the address and I can mapquest it. I probably won't know til the last second whether I can make it or not but I'm going to try unless some kid-related thing keeps me away. I love farms!

I just got my ticket for the Whidbey Island Garden Tour today and will post details in the RU forum on that RU post in the next couple days.

Gwen

jb...your garden is lovely. all the plants are at that age where you see that they are all perfectly coming together in the landscape design. the landscape looks natural, comfortable, peaceful...like a place you would want to sit down, on a checkered tablecloth, with a glass of wine and a light evening picnic. (...i'm dreaming...i'm slowly working toward a park-like setting on a small (~.27acr) plat, but am still a long way off...)

And to be invited to participate in a tour that covers a multi-city area and includes just 7 gardens is quite an honor. i'd vote: who cares what the neighbors think of heavy-car/foot traffic the first year...they should come on the tour and learn more about it. ;-) do it! what an honor to be asked. i'd like to see it on the tour, if i can make it.

JB (and others that participate in the garden tours):

Congrats on an incredibly lovely yard! I have a small green thumb, but your place is really a work of art and surpasses anything I could ever dream of doing.

I would caution you to review your liability and guest medical coverage on your homeowners insurance policy (I'm an agent, so I know the risks inherent in letting people on your property) and raise them if they are at minimal levels. You just never know what could happen and you don't need someone suing you because they tripped over their own feet. Guest medical (different insurance carriers have different names but it all boils down to the same thing) is a coverage that pays out regardless of fault for emergency medical treatment. That USUALLY keeps people from wanting to sue for damages, but if that fails to keep it from happening, the family liability portion of the policy comes into play. That's a payout if you are determined at fault or if the insurance company would rather settle out of court. Costs are usually minimal to increase your liability coverage and it's always better to let the insurance company pay out versus you -- they have deeper pockets.

I don't mean to be doom and gloom and I'm not advocating my services, I've just seen what can happen... It's a shame we have to protect ourselves to the extent that we do, but it's a crazy world.

That's probably good advice, Marion. I never even thought of something like that. And you never know about others' intent should they lose their footing and feel they should be reimbursed for such.

Gwendalou, Here are some of the addresses of farms on the Vashon Farm Tour:

Green Man Farm- 8800 SW Dilworth Rd. Vashon, WA 98070; Jasper Koster 206-463-4548

k-Jo Farm- 20602 111th Ave SW Vashon WA 98070

Faerie Hill Farm- 10308 SW 204th St. Vashon WA 98070

Have a good time if you choose to go.

I'm not part of the tour, but if you felt like visiting my house, you would be welcome. Holly