Calendar

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

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!

Our final seed packing party of 2024 will be held on Sunday, August 11th from noon – 2pm. More info to follow.

In partnership with the Alameda Free Library

Held in the Library Community Room, 1550 Oak Street, Alameda

Civilization began when humans began to save and plant seeds. Come and learn about the seeds of common food plants we eat today. We’ll talk about the history of seeds, explore the different sizes and shapes of seeds, and explain how to grow plants for seed, including harvesting for viable seeds and collecting those seeds. We’ll focus on five seeds that are easily saved by the home gardener – beans, peas, lettuce, tomatoes and peppers.

The talk will be followed by a hands-on exercise where participants will extract the seeds from a variety of different plant materials and package them up for both themselves and the seed library at the Alameda Free Library. SPACE IS LIMITED TO 50 PARTICIPANTS

Birgitt Evans has grown her own food on a large scale for the past 40 years and created a successful garden and nursery business. She is passionate about growing and raising food and seeks to encourage and educate others so they can also share the benefits of fresh, healthy, homegrown food. She grows vegetables in three different Alameda County gardens and starts 90% of her plants from seed. She has been an Alameda County Master Gardener since 1999 and served on the board of Alameda Backyard Growers for 10 years.

Kristen Smeal (she/her) is a Master Gardener (2018) and volunteer for the Alameda Backyard Growers. In her role as the Garden Science teacher at St. Philip Neri School in Alameda, she is passionate about teaching children how to grow food and to care for the Earth and each other.

Photo: Eve Holguin

Join Master Gardener Guy Duran to learn how to turn your kitchen scraps into Black Gold! Vermiculture is the process of maintaining composting worms to create your own worm castings. Worm castings are pricey to purchase, but actually cheap to make. A small initial investment can return a payoff for years. Free at Farm2Market at Alameda Point (2600 Barber’s Point Road, Alameda, CA 94501).

After discussing the basics of vermiculture, there will be a ‘gather round’ presentation where Guy will bring his ‘4 stage’ active worm bin to demonstrate the stage by stage progression of worm activity. We will also fabricate a similar worm farm as the one being demonstrated.

• Rain or shine  (pop up tents available).
• Families are welcome.
• Porta Potty available.
• Wear comfortable shoes.
• Bring water, sunscreen and a hat.

Marcus Carini, founder of Newfound Foodscapes and board member of Alameda Backyard Growers, lead a hands-on Family Seed starting Workshop designed to empower families to grow their own food and cultivate a lifelong connection with nature. This interactive session demystified the seed-starting process, and provided practical tips and techniques for creating thriving gardens, even in small spaces. Participants learned the basics of seed selection, proper soil preparation, planting depth, watering techniques, and how to nurture seedlings until they are ready for the garden or patio. Participants left with tips and tricks for seed starting and will prepare their own seed trays to take home and watch grow.

This workshop was for families of all experience levels who wanted to enjoy the benefits of fresh, homegrown food and a deeper connection to the natural world. 

What Families Learned & Did:

• Get hands-on experience in seed starting.
• Started seeds during the workshop to take home and grow in your own garden or patio.
• Learned tips and tricks to grow healthy, thriving plants throughout every season.

WHERE: Stafford Meeting Room, Alameda Main Library, 1550 Oak St., Alameda CA

Time: Mar 29, 2025, 9:00 AM – 12:00 PM

Location: Main Street Linnear Park, Main St, Alameda, CA 94501, USA

About The Event

Join 100K Trees for Humanity & ARPD! Help plant a greener future for Alameda and the bay area! 100K Trees for Humanity, a nonprofit organization committed to environmental sustainability, is proud to announce a community tree planting event in partnership with the Alameda Recreation and Parks Department.

• Tree planting
• Free seedlings giveaway
• Acorn seed planting
• Kids zone: sidewalk chalk drawing, coloring books & Kenny the Clown!
• …and more!

Alameda Backyard Growers will once again have a table with our our Spring Plant Sale at this fun community event! ABG volunteers have worked hard and had fun preparing for weeks to be able to offer you a selection of organic tomato, veggie, flower and herb starts!

As always, we grow tomato starts that we know from our own experience do well in Alameda. This year, we took some hints from our February Tomato Poll and selected what you told us you would love to grow. We’re also growing starts of cucumbers, zucchini, squash, peppers, and herbs. Due to last year’s popular demand, we’ve increased our offering of flower starts. Attract bees, butterflies and other pollinators to your garden, secure in the knowledge that our flower starts have been grown from organic seed, and are free of neonicotinoids.

We’ll also have activities for kids, and information on all the programs and projects ABG does around growing and sharing food in our community.

Join us, rain or shine, along with a field full of vendors, bouncy houses and other activities at the Alameda Point Gym & Field and get there early before supplies run out! Let’s celebrate spring and gardening – for ourselves and our families, for the sake of Mother Earth, or just for the sheer pleasure of it all!

Learn the basics of composting and how to turn your food scraps into rich soil for your garden – because compost happens! Lori Caldwell of StopWaste will be doing a hands-on demonstration at Ploughshares Nursery.

Learn:

• How easy it is to transform yard and food waste into gardener’s gold
• The benefits of composting
• How to make, harvest and use composted soil
• Hot and cold composting, Hugelkultur and worm composting.

Join us and have fun!

SAVE THE DATE!

Free Workshop by Daniele Fogel of Yervika Herbs at Alameda’s Mastick Senior Center, Room D.

Learn the benefits of drinking different types of herbal teas, as well as how to blend and prepare a delicious cup!

We’ll have more details and a registration link soon. Only 25 people can attend.