Come and find the ABG booth on April 20, 2024 from 12Noon - 3PM for our Annual Plant Sale!
Alameda Backyard Growers volunteers had so much fun offering our selection of organic tomato, veggie, flower and herb starts at ARPD’s Spring Shindig in 2023, we’re doing it again! Join us, rain or shine, along with a field full of vendors, bouncy houses and other activities at the Alameda Point Gym & Field, 1101 W. Redline Avenue on Saturday, April 20th, 2023.
As always, we grow tomato starts that we know from our own experience do well in Alameda. We’ll also offer cucumbers, zucchini, green beans, winter squash, peppers, basil and sage. Our selection of neonicotinoid-free flower starts will attract bees, butterflies and other pollinators to your garden; this year we’ll be offering starts of scabiosa (pincushion flower), tithonia, cosmos, marigolds, nasturtiums, sunflowers and more.
A coloring book table will keep kids busy (or give them a quiet moment after the bouncy houses!) while you peruse the plant starts and get caught up in typical gardening conversations.
Please bring a container to carry your treasures home.
Let's celebrate another winter of plentiful rain (and Sierra snowpack!) and gardening – for ourselves and our families, for the sake of Mother Earth, or just for the sheer pleasure of it all!
Tora Rocha, co-founder of Pollinator Posse and formerly Parks Supervisor for the City of Oakland, will lead a tour of the various pollinator habitats at the Gardens of Lake Merritt and help us learn how to keep a healthy ecosystem thriving in our own gardens.
The Pollinator Garden is located next to the Bonsai Garden, just northwest by a few steps. On Google Maps, it’s labeled “Bee Hotel Garden.”
There is a fee for parking.
This event is hosted by the Master Gardeners of Alameda County.
Join us for a tour and work party with our partner, the Alameda Food Bank!
Since 2011, to feed our neighbors and reduce food waste, Alameda Backyard Growers has encouraged local fruit tree owners to request that our volunteers pick their excess fruit. In those 13 years, ABG volunteers have gleaned and delivered more than 66,000 pounds of fresh fruit to the Alameda Food Bank. This ongoing, mutual collaboration between these two not-for-profits remains strong to this day. Together, we still reduce food insecurity and food waste. If you’ve never had the chance to visit the Alameda Food Bank or volunteer for them, here is your chance to do just that.
We will learn how the AFB operates, who is eligible to receive food there, how to volunteer, etc. We’ll do miscellaneous chores including cleaning shelves, restocking food, sorting food, etc.
Wear warm, comfortable clothes and closed-toed shoes.
Restrooms, drinking water, camaraderie are available.
Space is limited to 20, so sign up here!
After this work project event, you are welcome to remain at Alameda Point to socialize with your fellow volunteers at the nearby Firebrand Bread, Almanac Beer Co., etc. on West Tower Avenue.
From the UC Master Gardener Program of Alameda County:
Learn how to water your vegetable garden, landscape plantings and containers using gardener-friendly drip irrigation. Master Gardener David Blood will walk you through the how-tos and answer your questions. FREE; no registration required. The garden is located in the Gardens of Lake Merritt, at Lakeside Park, 666 Bellevue Avenue in Oakland. Enter at Gate 4, across from the Boathouse. There is a fee for parking.
ABG’s June Program is a FREE Tour of Ploughshares and a presentation by its manager, Jordan Taylor, on How to Care For Your Tomato Plants. This informative session will be held Saturday, June 29 from 1:00–3:00 pm. Learn lots more about how to grow tomatoes and pick up your current plant supply needs while there.
Born and raised in New York City, Jordan Taylor never imagined a world covered in dirt, happy insects, and happier plants. Since 2019, Jordan has spent countless hours of hands-on research and trial error to become an avid gardener and an advocate for food sovereignty. Beginning as a novice on the nursery sales floor, Jordan is a true testament to how falling in love with gardening can propel a person into a more fruitful life.
During our tomato workshop we will cover tomato nutrient needs, favorable conditions, common pests, and helpful tips to get the most out of your tomato harvest.
To join us, register now!
Ploughshares Nursery
We are very pleased to announce that, once again, Alameda Backyard Growers will march in Alameda’s July 4th Parade, and you are invited to walk, bicycle, scooter, rollerskate, or skateboard with us! Feel free to dress up in a costume, or not! We will provide signs to carry, if you wish. We will drive ABG’s Project Pick van in the parade – to offer water and a walking break, should you need it. We will march near the Alameda Food Bank in this historic, and famously long, parade.
The Parade begins at 10:00 a.m., but marchers should join us no later than 9:00 am. We will provide some tailgate refreshments. Bring some water, wear comfortable clothes, shoes, a hat and sunscreen.
Sign up here NOW, so we know who is coming! On July 3 we will email all registrants info about ABG’s numbered place in line.
This talk, which will be given by Master Gardener Laura Cornett, will cover propagating with seeds as well as vegetative propagation via cuttings and division. Preparation of propagules will be covered as well as after care for seedlings. Cornett has been an Alameda County Master Gardener since 2020. She is also part-time faculty as the Curriculum Coordinator and Laboratory Technician in the Horticulture Department at Las Positas College in Livermore. She is involved in the Native Plant Resource Team which is a division of the “Bringing Back the Natives Tour.” Her yard has been on this Tour three times, including this year.
No registration is required. The Master Gardeners’ Trials Garden is located in the Gardens of Lake Merritt, at Lakeside Park, 666 Bellevue Avenue in Oakland. Enter at Gate 4 across from the Boathouse. There is a fee for parking.
Here in the SF Bay Area, annual pruning of Apricot and Cherry trees is carried out in July or August rather than in the winter. This protects these varieties from a specific fungal infection that may occur if pruning cuts are made in cold, wet weather. August is also an excellent time to prune back excess, leggy growth on Plum and Pluot trees. Refresh your pruning skills or learn the fundamentals of Summer Stone Fruit Tree pruning. Marla Koss, our pruning teacher extraordinaire, will lead another great, FREE, hands-on, how-to pruning session in Alameda.
Thank you to everyone who attended!
FREE Talk on Propagating Native Plants
Saturday , October 26, 2024 – 11AM – 12:30PM
Presented by Alameda County Master Gardeners
Thank you to Laura Cornett for her hands-on workshop on California Native Plant Propagation: Seeds, Cuttings and Division. Participants had the opportunity to process cuttings, plant seeds and plant some rhizomes.
This talk focused on different propagation methods for California native plants. In addition to the lecture, there will be a hands- on portion where attendees will be able to sow their own seeds, prepare and stick cuttings and pot up some native plant rhizomes.
Presenter Laura Cornett is an Alameda County Master Gardener and part-time faculty in Horticulture at Las Positas College in Livermore.
When it comes to wreaths, do you prefer homemade to store-bought? Do you like to add your own touch and flare? If you like the DIY method, then please join us to create a beautiful, decorative Holiday Wreath — for your home or for a gift.
ABG’s 4th Annual, FUN, outdoor, in-Alameda Wreath-Making Workshop will be held Sunday, December 8, 1:00 to 3:00 pm, rain or shine! We will use gathered and purchased items to craft unique wreaths for the table, wall or door.
ABG will provide instruction, wreath forms, floral wire, glue, boughs, some natural gatherings, trimmings and light refreshments.
We ask attendees to bring some supplies of your choice such as: boughs, pine cones, grape or other vines, Eucalyptus branches, olive branches, magnolia leaves, ginkgo leaves, seed pods, shells, feathers, grasses, fresh herbs, dried fruit, ribbons, bows, and trinkets. Feel free to bring your own clippers as well.
The workshop fee is $35. Registration on EventBrite is required and we can only accommodate 25 adults. Children 10 years old and up may attend with an adult for an additional fee of $10 to be collected at the event.
Please let us know at least 2 days in advance if you need to cancel, so we can let someone else take your place.
NOTES:
- The workshop’s location will be sent to registrants
- There is a restroom and ample parking.
- It may be chilly so please wear layers.
