Visiting Belltown P-Patch....From mid-September through late October, city vans shuttled passengers between P-Patches and Neighborhood Matching Fund (NMF) projects throughout the city for the first official 2010 P-Patch tours. Tours visited 26 sites from Seattle’s southeast district to the northeast and in between. Nearly 100 people from all over the city attended the tours. Gardeners from each site acted as hosts, covering the history, demographics and community connections of their gardens. People on the tours were intrigued by the back stories at each site, including finding out about the namesake for the “P” in P-Patch. Quite a few people did not know that the “P” is for Picardo, the first P-Patch community garden in Seattle. One of the tour participants wrote, “Each stop was a delight. I know so much more about this city now, making it even more a home to me. How great for all those people with each P-Patch to come and share their time and experiences with us.”

Touring the southeast gardens...We were warmly received at all of the gardens; however some of the sites went the extra mile. At the Interbay garden, Ray Schutte peeled apples with his prized peeling contraption and sliced cheese that we paired with a fine sparkling cider. Barbara Maxwell at Maple Leaf provided t-shirts, treats and a poster board with photos of the pre- P-Patch site. All in all, tour participants felt welcomed by all of the P-Patch hosts.