Additional Resources for Local Gardeners

Important Community Resources:

These are keys to a low-cost, sustainable gardening method

Tagro:

Tagro is our city’s soil resource, offering affordable blends made from composted botanical material and wastewater biosolids (yes, poop). This is a hot topic of debate in local gardening forums- to use Tagro or not.

Personally, I love the stuff and it’s totally okay with me if you think that’s gross! For new garden beds, I’ve used the topsoil blend with great results and that or the potting soil are what I recommend (not the mix or the free pile). You can buy it and haul yourself or it can be delivered by dump truck for an additional fee.

For prices, hours, and location visit the website: https://tagro.com/

Chip Drop:

Chip Drop is a service that matches arborist companies with folks who need wood chips. This is awesome because it’s free! It is also sometimes a surprise because the customer cannot specify the type of chips or the size of the load. Read more here: https://getchipdrop.com/expectations/

Tacoma Tool Library:

Now located at the Tacoma Public Library Main downtown branch, the tool library is an excellent resource for borrowing gardening tools. If you need shovels, rakes, weeding tools, or a wheelbarrow, they’ve got you covered. Check out their inventory here: https://tacomatoollibrary.org/inventory/

Smelter Plume Considerations:

The soils of Tacoma were contaminated by the copper smelter that operated at Point Ruston for many years in the 20th century. Arsenic is the major concern and you may qualify for free soil testing if your home is in certain areas of high contamination. My house is located outside the boundaries of the “Soil Safety Plan” and has an estimate of less that 20 ppm of arsenic.

Here is more info on the smelter plume:

https://ecology.wa.gov/spills-cleanup/contamination-cleanup/cleanup-sites/tacoma-smelter

Map of contamination in Tacoma:

https://apps.ecology.wa.gov/dirtalert/?lat=47.250239&lon=-122.484361&zoom=13