Flower power

Longtime Moses Lake resident waters downtown planters

MOSES LAKE - One woman asked Jim Turner if he'd water the flowers in her yard.

"This keeps me busy," Turner said referring to his job watering plants in downtown Moses Lake.

Turner, a resident of Moses Lake since about 1953, began watering the plants this season.

"It's a nice, early morning job," he said. "I enjoy getting up early. Where else can you have a job that you can hot rod downtown in a John Deere Gator?"

Turner responded to the Moses Lake Business Association's call for someone to tend to the plants downtown.

A member of the business association is working on a fertilizer system to determine how much to give and what to do, Turner said.

Turner waters and looks after the general health of the plants.

"And then I pull garbage out of them, which is sad," he said. "How do you politely tell people, 'Keep your butts out of the flower pots?' How do we tell people, 'Please, please do not use them as garbage dumps?' They're here for their pleasant viewing, to beautify downtown."

Each pot is supposed to get a minimum of a gallon of water, but the weather has dictated conditions such that Turner waters every other day.

"I try to conscientiously keep a pattern to some degree," he said. "I try to weave in, around, and I try to make it fun. There's a responsibility, but still, if we can't enjoy what we're doing, then it's not going to turn out right."

Turner begins on the outer streets which have cement planters, Broadway Avenue and Fourth Avenue, then moves to the side streets and then along Third Avenue.

"We've had different kinds of situations," he said of the varied states of the plants downtown. "We've had weather. When they were first put in, we had that really hot weather. That was a challenge. A lot of people planting, and so we had variable planting conditions. New soil versus last year's soil. There's a lot of variable conditions, that's why people see variable conditions in the plant growth."

The flower planters are financed through the state's Main Street Tax Incentive program, put on through the association.

"This expense is not because the businesses downtown increase their prices," Turner explained. "The businesses downtown have to pay a (business and occupation) tax. For city beautification, they can get a rebate on it."

Turner arrived in Moses Lake from Seattle when he was about 5 years old.

"Those that are older than me might have to verify, but it seems like, my recollection is there was only one paved street at that time," he said.

Turner's parents decided they wanted to farm, so they moved to the area.

"Grew up on a farm out in Block 40, and that's where I live now," he said. "Tried to move away a couple times from Moses Lake, but no: Family's here, my wife's family's here. The children don't live that far away in the state, you know, five kids and they're all married."

Turner's wife of 38 years, Dianne, was born in Moses Lake, but the couple met in Seattle.

"We've raised five children out in the country, we really liked it," Turner said. "And so we decided we wanted to stay there so our grandchildren can come out in the country and run and play. That's really important, is families getting together. I think, in our country today, if there was more emphasis on families, we'd have a lot less problems."

Today, Turner works on a 125-acre farm with his son-in-law and his younger son.

"I thought I'd like to retire, but I found out after building a new home, I can't retire," he said. "But you know what? I see and feel more and more older people are keeping busy doing something."

Turner would like to see his job watering the flowers downtown continue.

"It's early in the morning and my other work is flexible," he said. "Not everybody likes to get up early. People get up early because they have to. I just enjoy it. I don't know that I want to get up early, but I wake up in the morning, 'Let's get started, let's get going.' I don't know that I could think of any better job to start the day with."

What if it rains?

"We haven't had any good, steady rains," Jim Turner said. "We've had cloud bursts."

Because of the way some buildings in downtown Moses Lake are designed, there is not a consistent pattern to the water, he said.

When it "drizzles" all day is another story, Turner added.

"So I kind of watch," he said. "I've got a moisture tester, but until we start getting really, really hot weather, severe, you can pretty well tell what's going on with your plants."