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P-Patches of the Burke-Gilman Trail: A Bicycling Tour
Need a break from your P-Patch? Hop on your bike and visit your fellow community gardeners. You can check out trellis techniques, ogle garden art and chat with your counterparts. Below are suggestions for using your pedal power on a tour of 10 P-Patches along the flat, well-traveled Burke-Gilman Trail (“the B-G”), a paved, off-street trail that runs from Ballard east to Kenmore at the north end of Lake Washington.
Let’s start with the low-hanging fruit: gardens adjacent to the B-G. Access to these gardens requires virtually no hill-climbing and little or no riding in traffic.
The Magnuson P-Patch is just a couple of blocks off the B-G in the city’s northeast quadrant. Take the trail to NE 65th St., turn west and go down the hill a scant two blocks to the stoplight on Sand Point Way. Enter the park here and turn left onto 62nd Ave. NE, a road through the park that leads to the north section. Turn right at the community center and find the garden on your left beyond the amphitheater.
Just west of the B-G crossing at 40th Ave. NE, turn south off the trail into the Burke-Gilman Playground area. Follow the short side trail around to the left of the ravine to find the Burke-Gilman Gardens on Mithun Place behind the park’s rest rooms.
The next trailside garden is just west of the University Bridge. When the trail meets NE 40th St., turn right onto 40th, then left onto 8th Ave. NE and ride a half-block to visit the University District P-Patch.
The Fremont P-Patch is four blocks north of the B-G on Woodland Park Ave. NE. Turn north onto Stone Way just west of Gasworks Park, then west onto 35th Ave. NE at the light, and right onto Woodland Park.
Finally, Greg’s Garden in Ballard is very near the B-G route. The B-G currently ends at the corner of 11th Ave. NW and NW 45th St. and transitions to a street section through Ballard. Turn north onto 11th and cycle nine flat blocks through the warehouse area, then turn left and come to the garden in one block.
A handful of other gardens can be reached by straying a bit further from the B-G and taking to the streets. Expect to exert more effort on some incline or hills and be riding in traffic for part of the trip.
Picardo Farm can be reached by departing the B-G at the University Village shopping center. Turn north onto NE 25th St. where the trail crosses this busy arterial. You’ll ride in heavy traffic for four blocks, but north of NE 55th St., bikes share the right lane with parked cars, except during rush hour. A steady, but not extreme incline will bring you to Picardo in 15 blocks. The ride back to the trail is a nice coast downhill.
To visit University Heights P-Patch on The Ave, turn north off the B-G onto Brooklyn Ave. NE, just west of the University of Washington. Again you’ll ride an incline through the University District, but Brooklyn has much less traffic than University Avenue. Turn right into the farmers market lot north of NE 45th St., and find the garden in its northeast corner.
The Good Shepherd P-Patch requires a climb through Wallingford. Where the trail meets Stone Way, turn right onto N. 34th St. and ride east for three blocks, then turn north onto Wallingford Ave. N. Cycle up the significant, steady grade to N 45th St., jog left around the QFC, then right in one block onto N 46th St. Turn left onto Meridian Ave. N., then right onto N. 48th St. The garden will be on the left at the dead-end of Bagley Ave. N. in one block.
There’s no easy way to get to Linden Orchard from the B-G, but if you’re at the Good Shepherd, continue north to cycle around Green Lake. Head west from the north edge of the lake on Winona Ave. N. to cross Aurora Ave. N. at the Green Lake PCC, then climb Linden Ave. N. for six blocks to reach the garden. To return to the B-G, continue south on Linden, go under Aurora onto W. Greenlake Way, then head south to Stone Way to meet the trail.
Completing the Trail Tour by making a visit to Ballard P-Patch. It’s pretty far from the B-G, but worth the effort. Turn off the B-G at 8th Ave. NW and ride north in the bike lane that’s available on much of this wide street. Turn left onto NW 80th St. and ride west to a right turn onto 24th Ave. NW. Turn left onto NW 85th St., then right onto 25th Ave. NW, and the garden is on the left. To return to the B-G, ride south on 24th and make your way through the Ballard shopping district to find the trail.
