March 2023 Photo Post - King Conservation District Native/Wetland Plant Cooperative Nursery

U P C O M I N G E V E N T S - every second Thursday 11a-2p
Thurs 4/13 - Cottonwood Corner, Green Tukwila Partnership RSVP here
Thurs 5/11 - Cottonwood Corner, Green Tukwila Partnership RSVP here

Native Plant Potting with the King Conservation District

Squad potted up Pacific ninebark / Physocarpus capitatus for growing on in King Conservation District’s wetland plant cooperative nursery. The plant cooperative is a resource for home and landowners who can trade volunteer time in the nursery for native plants to take home. Additionally, KCD has a wonderful annual bare root native plant sale and community festival, it is coming up on Saturday March 14 at the Tukwila Community Center both indoors and out plus food trucks!

We all enjoyed working alongside the Department of Ecology’s Washington Conservation Corps members. The WCC program hires young people to perform a variety of stewardship tasks around the state, at the end of their term they receive an education grant to spend on tuition or trainings.

Frog Egg Masses, Tadpoles and Potting Natives at the KCD's Wetland Plant Nursery

A few wiggly tadpoles around the abundant egg masses delighted at our work party with the King Conservation District. The flooded beds at their Wetland Plant Nursery Cooperative are always popular for investigation in between bursts of potting, mixing soil, watering and snacking.

Bags and bags of adorable bare root conifer seedlings needed potting up as the end of the season is rapidly approaching. KCD utilizes a mix of 50% mineral soil & 50% recycled organic matter so there was plenty of work to be done shoveling, mixing and delivering soil to the covered potting area.

Even though It was drizzly off and on, newly potted plants always need to be watered to help settle the soil down around the roots and reduce transplant stress. These plants will grow in the nursery for a bit before they are ready for restoration projects. Volunteers can earn their own native plants by working at the nursery, $10/hr!

Potting and Suds

Squad's longtime host, the King Conservation District, hosted us at their unique wetland plant nursery in Renton. To top off an already fun day, Squad got to engage in a brand new activity—a sudsy multi-step glove washing station. It perfectly combined useful work to be proud-of with total soapy chaos. (Biodegradable soap naturally.) It was loved by many-a-youngster and everyone else witnessing their joy.

In order to get our gloves dirty we potted over one hundred bare root Indian plum / osoberry / Oemleria cerasiformis shrubs. Interestingly, this is the only species in the genus Oemleria. It is sometimes grown for ornamental purposes in other countries because of its very early flowers on nearly bare stems.

In addition we mixed-up potting soil to KCD's specs by combining 50% GroCo with 50% mineral-based soil. GroCo is a compost that includes Loop biosolids which is comprised of the organic matter left over from our wast water treatment processes. These screened, cleaned and tested solids are a valuable material as they help to conditions soil, are a never-ending resource and are best recycled.

Wetland Plant Nursery Weeding.

Tall Cottonwood / Populus trichocarpa trees prematurely dropped fruiting-clusters on the nursery, perhaps during high winds, they will split open to release the fluffy 'cotton' tufted seeds inside, soon to rain down like snow in summer. 

King Conservation District's Wetland Plant Nursery itself received some weeding this time around. The landscape fabric accumulates debris in the overlapping areas and weed seeds need only the slightest soil environment to germinate in.

Unfortunately the soggy long spring didn't help us view tadpoles in the flooded beds, the steady raindrops and cool weather didn't facilitate good viewing this time around. Before we know it it will be summertime and we can enjoy Squad events with swim spots afterwards!