Calendar


May
7
Sun
2023
Pollinator Paradise!
May 7 @ 11:00 am – 1:00 pm

Learn to Create a Beautiful Garden by Starting Pollinator-Friendly Plants!
with Birgitt Evans

Sunday, May 7th, 11AM - 1PM, Alameda location will be provided to registrants.

$5 materials fee.

Bees, butterflies and other pollinators have been struggling because there are not enough food plants for them. Learn how to start seeds and plant beautiful, butterfly and bee attractive plants, including California Natives, to create your own Pollinator Paradise! The plants we will start will be free of insecticidal neonicotiniods common in nursery plants so you can be confident that you will be feeding, rather than poisoning the pollinators you are trying to attract and nourish.

In this class, we will learn how to start seeds of Sunflowers, Cosmos, Tithonia (Mexican Sunflower), Nigella, Yarrow, Columbine and other flowers that will attract and feed pollinators and other insects. Participants will leave with seeded 6-packs of beautiful, insect-safe plants to raise and grow in their own gardens. And your new, seed starting knowledge can be used to grow other plants, including vegetables.

Presenter: Birgitt Evans

Birgitt Evans has grown her own food on a large scale for the past 35 years and created a successful garden and nursery business. She is passionate about growing and raising food and creating healthy, self-sustaining ecosystems with food and shelter for a variety of wildlife. She gardens in four different Alameda County locations and starts 90% of her plants from seed. She has been an Alameda County Master Gardener since 1999 and has taught classes on a variety of topics for the MGACs for over 20 years now, both to the public and for the master gardener training class. She has also been on the board of Alameda Backyard Growers since 2013 and is currently the Volunteer Coordinator.

Advance registration required. Spaces going fast! REGISTER HERE.

Seed starting and planting for pollinators

Jun
11
Sun
2023
Learn About Raising Bees in Alameda
Jun 11 @ 10:00 am – 11:00 am
Learn About Raising Bees in Alameda

Bring Pollinators to Your Yard! Learn About Raising Bees in Alameda

FREE EVENT – June 11, 2023, 10 am to 11 am

Thank you Andre and Silvia Kruglikov! Many thanks, Andre, for your fun, highly-informative Alameda backyard talk about bees and honey. We all learned something new from you and your Twin Bee Apiaries hives. Big thanks also to Silvia for using your honey to bake us all some delicious Honey Muffins. (Find the recipe here: www.browneyedbaker.com)

Original event listing: This month we’ll continue our pollinator theme and learn about beekeeping from Andre Kruglikov, longtime Alameda beekeeper. Andre will share with us:

  • How he got started and progressed in beekeeping.
  • What happens in a hive over the course of a beehive’s year and how it affects the beekeeper. Each season brings its own challenges, especially winter!
  • The different bees in a hive – queens, drones and workers – their roles and natural history.
  • Varroa mites – the main scourge of bees and beekeepers – and how to manage them.
  • Harvesting honey.
  • Questions and answers, and much more!

About our presenter: Andre Kruglikov started keeping bees twelve years ago, in an effort to improve pollination of his fruit trees. His hives now number about twenty and his Twin Bee Apiaries sells delicious honey. He’s learned a lot over his time beekeeping and will share his knowledge with us.

We have room for 30 people, and we know that more will want to attend. We will keep a waiting list. Should you find yourself unable to attend, please let us know no less than 3 days before the event.

The event will take place outdoors in the City of Alameda. Location provided to registrants after registration.

Jul
22
Sat
2023
Learn About Drip Irrigation @ Lake Merritt Gardens
Jul 22 @ 11:00 am – 12:00 pm
Learn About Drip Irrigation @ Lake Merritt Gardens | Oakland | California | United States

Thank you to participants who attended this event! For an information sheet on what was discussed at this demonstration click here.

Save water and still meet the needs of your plants! Two Alameda County Master Gardeners will show you how.

Our speakers will provide an explanation of the drip irrigation system used at the Master Gardeners’ site at the Gardens at Lake Merritt in Oakland. This presentation will demonstrate how to construct a drip irrigation system that waters plants with different water needs. The water requirements for various plants growing in Oakland and surrounding cities will also be covered.

Then join us for a tour of the Master Gardeners’ Trials /Demonstration Gardens showing the different ways drip irrigation can be used. This event is part of a series of summer garden talks by the Alameda County Master Gardeners at the Master Gardener site at the Gardens at Lake Merritt.

About Our Speakers: Hugh Globerson (ACMG class of 2019) and Margaret Wong (ACMG class of 2014) are both active long-term volunteers at this garden.