TULALIP — If you can volunteer to check in or cheer on walkers, or pass out food, you can help people living with multiple sclerosis on Saturday, April 13, when the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, Greater Northwest Chapter, conducts its annual Walk MS in Snohomish County.
The Chapter is looking for volunteers — individuals and groups alike — for the event, which begins at 9 a.m. at the Tulalip Amphitheatre, located at 10400 Quil Ceda Blvd. in Tulalip.
Funds raised by this year’s Walk MS will support direct services for the more than 12,000 people living with MS — as well as their families — in Alaska, Montana, and Western and Central Washington. Proceeds also fund national MS research, to find new treatments and a cure for this chronic disease of the central nervous system.
“Volunteers are the backbone of this event,” Chapter President Patty Shepherd-Barnes said. “People can help with planning weeks before the Walk, as well as by setting up during the weekend, registering walkers, monitoring the route, and cleaning up or cheering on walkers. There is a place for everyone’s time and talents.”
For more information or to volunteer for Walk MS 2013, contact Volunteer Coordinator Cara Chamberlin of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, Greater Northwest Chapter, by phone at 800-344-4867 — press 2, then dial 40205 — or via email at cara.chamberlin@nmss.org. You can also log onto www.walkMSnorthwest.org.
Kayla Dowd, 16, a junior at the International School of Communications at Marysville Getchell High School, is the volunteer public relations organizer for the upcoming Marysville-Tulalip Relay for Life fundraiser for the American Cancer Society. The event will be held the last weekend of June. Photo: Genna Martin, The Herald
Marysville student is organizing fundraising event for her community
MARYSVILLE — Raising money for the American Cancer Society is a major focus of volunteer efforts in Snohomish County. During May, June and July, there are 10 Relay For Life fundraisers scheduled.
Marysville Getchell High School junior Kayla Dowd is one of the hundreds of people planning the Marysville-Tulalip event and those elsewhere.
Kayla, 16, is the public relations chairwoman for the relay. As a student in the International School of Communications at Marysville Getchell, Kayla hopes to use some of her new-found writing and speaking skills to let people know about the fundraiser.
The Marysville-Tulalip Relay for Life, like all the other relays, is an overnight event during which teams of people take turns walking or running laps around the field. Each team keeps a member on the track at all times. Relay for Life celebrates those who have survived cancer, helps people whose loved ones have died from cancer, raises money for cancer research and encourages people to fight cancer in their own lives, Kayla said.
Last year, the Marysville-Tulalip relay had 50 teams, honored 100 survivors and raised about $155,000. This year, organizers have set a goal to honor 150 survivors, involve 80 teams and raise $200,000.
“I think we can do it,” Kayla said. “Interest is growing each year. I’m involved because I’m one of those people whose life has been touched by cancer.”
A few years ago, Kayla lost her maternal great-grandmother to cervical cancer. Then her grandfather, Pat Dowd, 67, of Smokey Point, was diagnosed with stage-four lung cancer.
“He overcame that, but two months ago we learned that my grandpa has brain cancer. Recently we found out that his tumor has gotten a little smaller,” she said. “So, this has been a journey of ups and downs for my family. Grandpa is so dear to my heart. He is a go-getter and a role model for me. The money we raise at this remarkable event can help keep alive mothers, fathers, grandparents, sisters, brothers and friends.”
Kayla leads her own Relay for Life team of elementary school-age students, who raised $1,200 last year. When not working on fundraising, Kayla spends Tuesdays after school helping at the food bank in Marysville. She hopes to attend Washington State University and would like to study to be a nurse.
Raising awareness about cancer research in the state and Cancer Society services to cancer patients is big part of her job, Kayla said.
And Kayla’s just right for the task, said Kristin Banfield, the chairwoman of the Marysville-Tulalip Relay for Life. In her day job, Banfield is the public information officer for the city of Arlington.
“It’s really exciting to see a young woman, a teenager, stepping up in her community,” Banfield said. “This is a great experience for Kayla and we’re already getting a lot of good work out of her.”
Kayla said she is happy to help with Relay for Life.
“It’s a worthwhile thing, because everywhere you look, there is cancer,” Kayla said.
Kyle Thiessen, the state of Washington’s code reviser, looks at a shelf of pending legislation in his office on Jan. 30 at the Capitol in Olympia. Photo: Ted S. Warren, Associated Press
By Rachel La Corte, Associated Press
OLYMPIA — In Washington state, dairymen, freshmen and even penmanship could soon be things of the past.
Over the past six years, state officials have engaged in the onerous task of changing the language used in the state’s copious laws, including thousands of words and phrases, many written more than a century ago when the idea of women working on police forces or on fishing boats wasn’t a consideration.
That process is slated to draw to a close this year. So while the state has already welcomed “firefighters,” “clergy” and “police officers” into its lexicon, “ombuds” (in place of ombudsman) and “security guards” (previously “watchmen,”) appear to be next, along with “dairy farmers,” “first-year students” and “handwriting.”
“Some people would say ‘oh, it’s not a big thing, do you really have to go through the process of changing the language,”‘ said Seattle Councilmember Sally Clark who was one of the catalysts for the change. “But language matters. It’s how we signal a level of respect for each other.”
About half of all U.S. states have moved toward such gender-neutral language at varying levels, from drafting bills to changing state constitutions, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Florida and Minnesota have already completely revised their laws as Washington state is doing.
The final installment of Washington state’s bill already has sailed through the Senate Commerce and Labor Committee with unanimous approval. The nearly 500-page bill has one more committee stop scheduled before full Senate debate.
Crispin Thurlow, a sociolinguist and associate professor of language and communication at the University of Washington-Bothell, said the project was admirable.
He said that as language evolves, such efforts are more than symbolic.
“Changing words can change what we think about the world around us,” he said. “These tiny moments accrue and become big movements.”
Clark and former councilmember Jan Drago — the Seattle City Council has long eschewed the terms councilwoman or councilman — brought the issue to Sen. Jeannie Kohl-Welles in 2006 after they came across references to firemen and policemen in the mayor’s proposed budget, as well as in state law dealing with local-government pensions.
Clark and Drago’s findings sparked the initial gender-neutral language law that was passed in 2007, immediately changing those terms and directing the state code reviser’s office to do a full revision of the rest of the code. A 1983 Washington state law had already required all new statutes to be written in gender-neutral terms, so state officials were tasked with going through the rest of state statutes dating back to 1854 to revise the rest.
As in past bills on the issue that have tackled sections of the state code, some revisions were as simple as adding “or her” after “his.” Others required a little more scrutiny. Phrases like “man’s past” changes to “humankind’s past” and a “prudent man or woman” is simply a “prudent person.”
Kyle Thiessen, the state’s code reviser who has been working on the project along with two attorneys since 2008, said that the work was not without obstacles.
Words like “manhole” and “manlock” aren’t so easily replaced, he said. Substitutes have been suggested — “utility hole” and “air lock serving as a decompression chamber for workers.” But Thiessen said those references will be left alone to avoid confusion.
Republican state Rep. Shelly Short, of Addy, has voted against earlier gender-neutral language bills and said she plans to do the same this year.
“I don’t see the need to do gender neutrality,” she said, adding that her constituents want her to focus on jobs and the economy. “We’re women and we’re men.”
Kohl-Welles, who has sponsored each of the gender-neutral language bills, said that while this project hasn’t been her top legislation every year, “overall, it has important significance.”
“I believe,” she said, “that the culture has changed.”
OLYMPIA — Here’s a look at terms being considered in a final installment of a move to revise more than 3,500 Washington state statutes in order to make them gender-neutral.
Brakeman: brake operator
Chairmanship: position of chair
Dairymen: dairy farmers
Draughtsman: drafter
Ex-servicemen: add “or ex-servicewomen”
Fireman (The 2007 bill took care of the firefighters who work for fire departments and put out fires. This fireman reference is for railway employees who tend fires in steam engines): fire tender
GRANITE FALLS — Authorities still are asking for help finding the person responsible for the deaths of four bald eagles last month near Granite Falls.
A recent donation brought the reward money for information leading to an arrest and conviction up to $20,250, wildlife officials said Monday.
The last $6,500 was donated by The Campbell Group, a Portland, Ore.-based timber company that owns property near where the eagles were found Jan. 9, said Sgt. Jennifer Maurstad with the state Department of Fish and Wildlife.
“We are shocked and offended by this crime, and support the efforts of state authorities to investigate and prosecute this case,” Campbell Group spokeswoman Liz Fuller said in an email Monday.
The eagles’ bodies were floating in a lake east of town. Investigators aren’t disclosing the exact location.
They believe the eagles, three of them grown and one a juvenile, were shot with a small-caliber rifle.
Investigators are waiting on forensic results, including possible ballistics, Maurstad said Monday.
They’ve gotten a few tips but nothing has panned out, she said.
“It’s just important to do the right thing,” Maurstad said. “This was such an egregious act, that if somebody has information, they shouldn’t hang onto it. They should do what’s right, and I’m hoping that $20,000 will give somebody the initiative to do so.”
Killing an eagle is a misdemeanor under federal law. It is also a state crime with a maximum penalty of $1,000 and 90 days in jail. Also, under state law, there’s a $2,000 fine per eagle.
There are about 850 nesting pairs of bald eagles in Washington.
Anyone with information should call 1-877-933-9847 or email reportpoaching@dfw.wa.gov.
Reward money also was donated by the Stillaguamish Tribe, state Fish and Wildlife, the Humane Society of the United States and Conservation Northwest.
EVERETT — Between 2005 and 2009, billions of oyster larvae began dying at hatcheries around the state before anyone knew what was going on or could do anything about it.The state’s $270 million shellfish industry, which employs about 3,200 people, is in danger.
One oyster farm, Goose Point Oysters in Willapa Bay, has begun raising oyster larvae in Hawaii because it can no longer grow them here.
The reason, scientists say, is ocean acidification.
“The problem’s not going away,” said Ian Jefferds, general manager and co-owner of Penn Cove Shellfish in Coupeville.
On top of pollution and loss of habitat, rising acidity in Washington waters is the latest hazard faced by marine life, including the lucrative shellfish and fishing industries.
Acidification of marine waters is caused primarily by the ocean’s absorption of carbon emissions, scientists say. Other human activities, such as agricultural runoff, contribute. The oceans are rapidly becoming more acidic after thousands of years of stability, scientists say.
The Northwest is particularly vulnerable to the problem because it receives naturally upwelling carbon-laden water from deep in the Pacific Ocean.
Terry Williams, commissioner of fisheries and natural resources for the Tulalip Tribes, was concerned enough about the phenomenon to be one of several people to approach former Gov. Chris Gregoire in 2011 to form a panel to study the problem.
The 28-member panel, called the Washington State Blue Ribbon Panel on Ocean Acidification, included scientists, representatives of environmental groups, tribes and the business community, and current and former government officials.
Reducing the effect of human activities is one place to start, the panel concluded. Carbon emissions represent a much broader and tougher challenge.
The problem of ocean acidification “is not going away,” said Ian Jeffereds, general manager and co-owner of Penn Cove Shellfish.
Still, work has to begin now, experts say.
“Godzilla is still small. Let’s not wait until he’s big,” said Brad Warren, director of the Global Ocean Health Program, a Seattle-based group formed to address ocean acidification and its effect on fisheries.
Warren, a member of the state panel, spoke at an informational meeting on the topic in Everett last Thursday.
About 120 people attended. Panel members have been conducting the meetings around the state by request of local officials.
The committee made several recommendations, including reducing agricultural runoff into local waters; investigating water treatment methods to control the problem in targeted areas, and ultimately, finding ways to reduce carbon emissions from fossil fuels.
Rep. Norma Smith, R-Clinton, served on the state panel. She’s convinced ocean acidification is a legitimate threat and is concerned for Penn Cove shellfish.
Still, she would have liked more effort to involve the agricultural community before recommending that farm waste be reduced.
“You have to look at this holistically,” Smith said. “We need to recognize that we need both; we need aquaculture and we need agriculture.”
Smith said the panel’s call for stricter regulations on pollutants, while not yet specific, are getting ahead of the game.
“That’s backwards,” she said. “You build solid models, you create a solid scientific foundation, then you move forward with the regulatory practices that are warranted.”
Some people still look at ocean acidification with the same skeptical eye as they do at climate change, Warren said. While both conditions are caused by carbon emissions, they’re not the same thing, said Terrie Klinger, an associate professor in the school of marine and environmental affairs at the University of Washington, a member of the study panel who spoke at the Everett meeting.
Scientists are just scratching the surface about ocean acidification, but a few facts have been established, according to scientists on the panel.
About 30 percent of carbon emitted into the atmosphere from human activity is absorbed by the oceans, Klinger said.
High acidity reduces calcium carbonate levels in the water, preventing mollusks from properly forming their shells.
Acidification is known to affect pteropods — tiny, plankton-size snails — along with krill and some types of prawns that are staple foods for fish, whales and other sea life.
“These species are known to be sensitive to acidity and they’re a large part of local food webs,” said Shallin Busch, a research ecologist for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Seattle. She’s also a member of the study panel.
The ocean’s surface pH level — which measures the acidity or alkalinity of an environment — was about 8.1 for millennia, as far back as carbon dating tells us, Klinger said. The lower the number, the greater the acidity.
Just since 1850 it’s fallen to 8.0, and at the current rate will hit 7.8 by 2094, she said.
When it comes to acidity in the water, one-tenth of a point is a big difference, Klinger said.
“It’s dropping like a rock,” she said.
In measurements taken at Tatoosh Island on the Washington coast in 2000, the level was 7.5, Klinger said.
There are some unknowns as well. Some species, such as the Suminoe oyster native to Asia, are comparatively immune to the effects of acidification, Busch said.
In inland marine waters such as those in Western Washington, it’s difficult to measure acidity with consistent accuracy because of the influx of river water and substances in runoff, experts say.
“We need more sophisticated instruments,” Klinger said.
Penn Cove Shellfish grows mussels near Coupeville and at another site on the Hood Canal.
“We’ve seen some incidents in our Quilcene Bay site and at Penn Cove that we don’t have an explanation for,” Jefferds said.
Specifically, some of the mussels have been having trouble clinging to the mesh socks on which they’re grown. The company has enlisted NOAA to study the problem.
Tulalip tribal fishermen have been noticing a decline in fish and shellfish populations for more than a decade, Williams said.
It’s hard to tell, though, how much of the decline is caused by pollution and loss of habitat and how much it might be because of ocean acidification.
That’s why the tribes plan to hire scientists to do detailed studies of local waterways to try to learn more, Williams said.
One thing everyone seems to agree on is that getting started working on solutions is important.
“This is the first state in the country to launch a comprehensive attack on this problem,” Warren said.
“Being Frank” By Billy Frank, Jr., Chairman, Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission
OLYMPIA – Allocation is being confused with conservation as the states of Oregon and Washington move to restrict non-Indian commercial gillnet fisheries on the lower Columbia River.
The states’ plan to move gillnetters off the main stem and prioritize sport fishing by reallocating their wild chinook salmon harvest impacts to anglers. Of course the states can allocate their share of the salmon resource however they like, but true conservation doesn’t happen just by reallocating salmon harvest between commercial and sport fisheries.
The decline of salmon across our region has nothing to do with how we catch them, whether with a net or rod and reel. Salmon are in trouble because of lost and damaged habitat. The key to recovery is to restore and protect that habitat, combined with conservative harvest and careful use of hatcheries.
All types of fishing – including mark-selective sport fisheries targeting fin-clipped hatchery salmon – kill non-targeted fish . Harvest is managed on the basis of fishery impacts from all fishing methods, both sport and commercial. Reallocating these impacts from commercial to sport fisheries does nothing to rebuild the resource.
Allocation is not conservation. Conservation must come first. We need to focus on restoring salmon populations to abundance – mostly by restoring and protecting their habitat – instead of fighting battles over who gets to catch how many fish. Imagine if all of that time, energy and money was spent on true salmon conservation instead.
Whether sport or commercial, most fishermen are conservationists at heart. Neither group is more conservation-minded than the other, and neither wants to catch the last salmon.
The debate between sport and commercial fisheries allocation on the lower Columbia now appears to be headed to the courts, and that’s too bad, because this fight distracts us from the real work at hand – restoring salmon populations to abundant levels. In the end, these allocation battles are self-defeating because they undermine the broad-based cooperation that we need to recover salmon.
After decades of hard work, cooperative salmon restoration efforts in the Columbia basin have started to make a difference. Spring and fall chinook, sockeye and coho populations are growing. That kind of success doesn’t happen on its own. It comes from a shared willingness of many people to work together with common interest toward a shared goal of conserving, protecting and restoring salmon populations on the Columbia and throughout the Pacific Northwest.
Note: A more comprehensive history of the Coastal Conservation Association is available at: http://go.nwifc.org/history
Sateshon Rian Conway, 8, was born July 17, 2004, and went to be with the Lord, in the arms of our ancestors on January 29, 2013. He was raised on the Tulalip Reservation, attending both Tulalip and Quil Ceda Elementary to third grade, where he was just named Star Student of the week. He belonged to the Tulalip Tribe and the Kiowa Nation from Oklahoma.
Sateshon’s love for his family, friends and community was shared through his motivation for playing basketball, baseball, and all sports, as well as time spent at school and at the Boys and Girls club; play time at home with neighbor boys; participation and support for his family’s cultural, spiritual, and religion. His battle with Asthma became a limitation at times but his “little man” strength persevered. Sateshon was a confident young man. He was always there to lend a helping hand. Some say he was born with an old soul. He was a diehard OKC fan. He was a master chef, known for his microwave egg sandwiches with tons of ketchup.
He is survived by his loving parents, Shawn and Jesse Conway, and Johanna “JK” Tsoodle and Chuckie Jones; his grandparents, George and Vickie Tsoodle, Lori Conway, Pete, and Ken Conway; his siblings, Roxanne, Jakeb, Yvonne Ancheta, Dora, Berta Conway, Dalilah Tsoodle-Jones, Zack Jones, Mauricio Vegia-Simpson, Sylus and Zekial Edwards and Isaiah Bagley, George Tsoodle II, Isreal Basingier, Jayson Fryberg, Jessica Tsoodle, Joann and Issaya Ancheta, Candace Reeves, Aarron Miller, Kolby Evins; and nieces and nephews Glabriaz Tsoodle-Myers and Louise Topaum; aunties, Paula and Durthea Tsoodle;, Mel Ancheta, Carrie and Jesse Picard and Rosie, Grover Topaum Jr.
A visitation was held Sunday, February 3, 2013 at 11:00 a.m. at Schaefer-Shipman with an evening service following at the family home at 6:00 p.m. Funeral Services were held Monday at 10:00 a.m. at the Tulalip Tribal Gym with burial following at Mission Beach Cemetery.
Arrangements entrusted to Schaefer-Shipman Funeral Home.
Please join us in the “2013 Watch D.O.G. Orientation, Recognition and Desert Meeting” February 6th Wednesday, 6 to 6:30pm Totem Library
Overview
WATCH D.O.G.S.® (Dads Of Great S tudents) is an innovative program of the National Center for Fathering focusing on preventing violence in our nation’s schools by using the positive influence of fathers and father-figures. WATCH D.O.G.S.® was founded by Jim Moore and joined with the National Center for Fathering in 2006. It serves to inspire and equip men to be the involved fathers, grandfathers and father-figures their students need. For more information, visit the website at www.fathers.com/watchdogs
Who are WatchDOGS?
WatchDOGS are fathers, grandfathers, uncles, and other father-figures who volunteer for at least one day each year at an official WATCH D.O.G.S.® school. During the day, WatchDOGS may read and work on flash cards with students, play at recess, eat lunch with students, watch the school entrances and hallways, assist with traffic flow, mentor students, and any other assigned activities where they actively engage with not only their own students, but other students as well. Their mere presence and assistance is appreciated every day!
Program Recognition
The WATCH D.O.G.S.® program has been recognized by the United States Department of Education and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and has been involved in the U.S. Department of Education’s P.F.I.E. (Partnership For Family Involvement In Education). The program has been recognized on the floor of Congress as a program that “can be a great tool in our efforts to prevent school violence and the improve student performance because it can increase parental initiative and involvement in their children’s education. (Congressional Record, February 7, 2000 page S392)
What Totem WatchDOGS Are Saying?
• 90% thought their experiences in the school was rewarding.
• 90% thought the students were excited to see them in the building.
• Selected comments
o “I participated in one-to-one reading in first grade and liked being with the kids at recess”
o “Seeing my child at school and getting to know her friends.”
o “I gained a new appreciation of what teachers do every day.”
Get Involved and be a WatchDOG today!
• Talk to one of the WatchDOGS at the Dad/Deserts Event. You can also contact Timothy Hall 657-6231 or timothy_hall@msvl.k12.wa.us, Daniel_Natividad@msvl.k12.wa.us
• Commit to one day or more at Totem Middle School during the school year
• Complete the Registration form & Background Check for the district
Bring your calendar and Line Up and Sign Upfor your day.
Photo: Genna Martin / The Herald The 3 p.m. Mukilteo ferry heads toward Whidbey Island on Wednesday. A project is in the works to build a new Mukilteo ferry terminal just east of the current dock.
OLYMPIA — Two hurdles to building a new ferry terminal in Mukilteo should be cleared this spring, but state leaders must deal with a looming lack of money to build it.
After years of efforts, there is a $38 million hole in the budget for a new terminal at the former Air Force tank farm, east of the existing terminal. And there are signs it could grow larger.
Ground won’t be broken until 2015, at the earliest, giving ferry officials time to pull together funds from state and federal sources to cover the $140 million tab.
“I’m confident. This has been too long in coming,” said Mukilteo Mayor Joe Marine. “Everybody knows this project has to be done.”
Rep. Marko Liias, D-Edmonds, serves on the House Transportation Committee, which is drafting a new transportation budget. The state has made its commitment clear by paying several million dollars for environmental work thus far, he said.
“My goal is to make sure we keep the project on track, because it’s a critical improvement that needs to be done,” said Liias, a former Mukilteo councilman. “We need all the money identified before we start.”
The Mukilteo ferry terminal is among the busiest in the state’s marine highway system. It has not had significant improvements for almost 30 years and frequent users know well the congestion and conflicts between vehicles and pedestrians with the current layout.
Last May, the state chose as its preferred site at the old fuel depot. Of three alternatives, it is the closest to the transit center and Sound Transit commuter rail station. The other options were to renovate the ferry dock at its current location or build at the far east end of the tank farm.
As proposed, the state will erect four new toll booths and a new building and entryway for walk-on passengers.
The final environmental impact statement on the project is expected to be released in April. Then the Air Force can transfer its land to the Port of Everett, which will then give a slice to the state for the ferry terminal.
Agreements need to be reached with tribes regarding protection of cultural resources and treaty rights for fishing. The goal is to wrap those up this year, ferry officials said.
Lawmakers and former Gov. Chris Gregoire only socked away $102 million in the current state transportation budget for preliminary engineering and construction through 2019.
The $38 million hole could grow to $58 million because Washington State Ferries wants to use some of those construction dollars now, knowing that the big checks for the Mukilteo terminal won’t need to be written for a couple of years.
David Moseley, assistant secretary of transportation in charge of ferries, said he’s optimistic that federal money can be secured and, maybe, extra state dollars too if a new transportation funding package wins voter approval in the next couple of years.
“I don’t think we’ll have it solved in 2013,” he said
Purple carrots, heirloom tomatoes, fancy European greens: A whole world of succulent, flavorful produce can be grown in your yard or even on a sunny balcony.
Now is the time to get out the seed catalogs and start planning for that bounty.
Representatives from two Pacific Northwest seed companies shared some tips for choosing what to grow, and some of the hot new items in their catalogs. Both companies offer catalogs packed with growing information.
Irish Eyes Garden Seeds, as the name hints, specializes in potatoes. The Ellensburg-based company also offers a variety of heirloom, organic and nongenetically modified vegetable and flower seeds.
Owner Greg Lutovsky suggested trying a potato called Yukon Gem. It’s a private variety bred by a group of growers his nursery belongs to. The potato is late blight resistant — the fungal disease that led to the Irish potato famine — which means it’s incredibly hard to kill.
The potato is also quite tasty, just like one of its parents, Yukon Gold, Lutovsky said.
“You’d find some right now if you went into my kitchen,” he said.
He also recommended a russet-type potato for baking called Defender, and a purple fingerling called Purple Peruvian.
Lutovsky also offered a general piece advice for gardeners in Western Washington. Pay close attention to the “days to maturity” information listed with seeds. Eighty days to maturity is about the maximum gardeners can get away with in this area, and that’s pushing it without starting plants inside a greenhouse or using other season-lengthening techniques.
Plants bred to grow compactly in containers continue to be a popular trend, said Tim Russell, the marketing manager for Territorial Seed Co., based in Cottage Grove, Ore.
“A lot of people want to get into gardening, but they don’t have a big yard,” he said.
This year, Territorial offers a new cucumber called Patio Snacker. The cuke was bred for containers, as it stays in a tight, semi-bush shape and can be trained to grow up a trellis.
Another new plant for containers and small spaces is a cherry tomato called Lizzano. The plant gets about 20 inches tall and wide, Russell said. He suggested it tucking into a basket in a sunny spot. At 65 days to maturity, it produces relatively quickly for a tomato, a necessity in the cool Northwest.
Territorial began offering a zucchini last year called Patio Star and it proved popular, Russell said. The squash plant stays compact and produces shapely, deep green fruit. Gardeners can maximize space by packing them tightly together or planting among other crops.
The company also is offering plants that have been grafted to different rootstocks to maximize production and improve resistance to disease. Two years ago, the company started offering tomatoes. Last year it was eggplants. This year, gardeners also can try grafted peppers.
Territorial also is now offering seed tape and disks: Seeds, such as radishes and carrots, are embedded into biodegradable paper. The advantage here is gardeners don’t need to thin plants as they grow, and the seeds are perfectly spaced.
The seeds come embedded on long strips of paper intended for row planting. There are also a variety of herbs planted onto paper disks, aimed at gardeners who want to quickly and easily plant a container.
