Autumn under Mount Si: No pumpkin patch, but plenty of color at North Bend’s nursery

Published 11:00 am Friday, October 3, 2014

The Japanese maples are turning. Colors are coming out in the fields, orchards and planter boxes at the Nursery at Mount Si.

One fall color is missing from the fields, and that’s pumpkin orange. Two years after the North Bend nursery successfully re-introduced pumpkins after elk destroyed the fields, the crop was hampered this year by a perfect storm of weeds, busted well and hot weather.

The colorful squashes are still to be had, but those for sale are small, just babies. The Nursery sadly had to turn down its scheduled school and preschool U-pick tours this year.

“We just can’t do the patch,” said nursery manager Christine Earl.

It’s unfortunate, as owner Nels Melgaard was counting on his annual tradition.

“It’s the fall festival‚ it gets people out,” he said. “School groups and tours are committed. During the week, we’d have preschools come in with busloads” of children.

So, the nursery turns to its other fall duties. Melgaard had a bumper apple crop this year, so he’s figuring out what to do with the bounteous branches of apple varieties and Asian pears (He’s thinking cider).

“It’s tree planting time,” said Melgaard. “We’ve got people coming in, looking for spots of fall color,” which the nursery can give them.

Fall is also the time to get ready for “the show,” the business’s busy season in April, May and June.

Customers also give the nursery special requests, so Melgaard and his small staff spend the autumn and late summer sourcing new products.

“You’ve got to make your commitments, starting in August, for the following season,” Melgaard said.

The irony of the baby pumpkins is that Melgaard and his team have for years been doing the right thing—going organic, avoiding chemicals.

They’re going to keep their perspective, planting cover crops to feed the soil, tilling and researching an organic weed blocker to knock down the pesky amaranth that grew nearly as tall as the neighboring corn.

“We have to really focus on getting the nutrients back in,” said Melgaard, who is pondering a field pea crop to feed the soil, then an organic fertilizer to help the pumpkins next year.

Gardening can be a challenging business, but it’s also a beautiful place to work. Every season brings something new.

“It’s ups and downs,” said Melgaard.

So, in place of pumpkins, there’s still the burgeoning apple orchard, which Earl has been inventorying. Nels’ wife Anne shares out apples at her school job. The nursery donates them to the local food bank. There are lots of possibilities.

“I know a bunch of people who want to come in and get cider going,” says Melgaard.

• The Nursery at Mount Si is located at 42328 N.E. 12th St., North Bend; call the nursery at (425) 831-2274 or visit www.thenurseryatmountsi.com.

Seth Truscott/Staff Photo

Employees Kate Herlihy and Christine Earl, amid the cornrows at the Nursery at Mount Si in North Bend.