Calendar


Feb
10
Sat
2018
Gardening 101 with Jeff Bridge
Feb 10 @ 2:00 pm – 4:00 pm

Stay from 2-4pm for Gardening 101: Everything You Need to Know as a Beginner Gardener taught by Jeff Bridge of Ploughshares Nursery. You will learn how to: choose soil, watering tricks, avoid common mistakes, and the basics of fertilization. Bring your questions and garden conundrums for Jeff to answer after the demonstration. Tickets are $10 in advance or $12 at the door.

May
12
Sat
2018
Intro to Urban Permaculture
May 12 @ 2:00 pm – 4:00 pm

Permi-curious? Hear stories from real, on the ground, projects showing ways we can meet our needs while being beneficial to all life. Hear stories about Permaculture design. If you love good food, regenerative farming, natural building, community building, renewable energy and are curious about a design system that ties it all together then come check out this free introduction.

We’ll discuss practical ways you can use permaculture design in your life to grow your own healthy food, harvest and clean your own water, build your own home, transition your career, reduce your carbon footprint and increase your carbon rootprint while building lasting, quality community relationships with people that share your values.

Taught by David Cody of the Urban Permaculture Institute. To learn more about permaculture design trainings in the SF Bay Area, visit the Urban Permaculture Institute at www.UPISF.com.

Jun
9
Sat
2018
The Art of Pruning
Jun 9 @ 2:00 pm – 4:00 pm

Take the mystery out of tree pruning with this hands-on workshop! Learn the basics and leave with skills you can start using immediately.
Topics covered include:

  • How trees grow
  • Why pruning keeps trees healthier
  • How trees react to pruning
  • Seasonal pruning
  • How to prune properly
  • Common pruning mistakes
  • Identifying a properly pruned true
    and more!

The workshop will also include a show-and-tell of different types of wood, branches, branch collars, compartmentalization of decay in trees. Bring your questions and come prepared for a fun interactive learning experience.
Tony Wolcott is a Certified Landscape Horticulturalist, Certified Irrigation Designer, Board Certified Master Arborist, Master Composter, and Bay Friendly Designer. His work experience includes being the urban forester at the Cities of Albany and San Francisco, non-profit work with Friends of the Urban Forest, Our City Forest, and arborist representative with Bartlett Tree Experts. Currently he is professor of Arboriculture within the Horticulture division of the Biology Department at Diablo Valley College.

Jun
23
Tue
2020
Tour of Italo’s Garden at the Alameda Boys and Girls Club @ Alameda Boys and Girls Club
Jun 23 @ 6:30 pm – 7:30 pm

Italo's GardenAlameda Backyard Growers invites you to attend a

Self-guided Tour of Italo’s Garden 

Tuesday, June 23 2020
Italo’s Garden (ABGC)1900 3rd Street, Alameda, CA, 94501  

6:30-7:15pm 20 people/tickets
7:15-8:00pm 20 people/tickets

More information on the ABGC Garden

In 2012 the Alameda Boys & Girls Club had a vision to transform a neighboring ¼ acre urban lot into a thriving healthy foods and habitat garden that would support the nutritional health and develop the ecological literacy of Club youth. In summer of 2013 the Club hired its first Seed to Table Director, Kristen Getler. Italo Calpestri, together with other Board Members and ABGC staff, began fundraising and reaching out to community partners like GoDaddy to enlist in help with projects such as building and filling the raised beds. His background as an architect and experience on the board was instrumental to the garden’s successful and accessible installation. A keystone of the Club’s Health and Wellness Initiative, the garden provides a living, outdoor classroom where youth steward the garden using organic practices to grow annual and perennial food crops. A complementary culinary education program teaches our youth how to prepare the garden-fresh produce into healthy-foods recipes they are able to share with their families. Current Seed to Table Director Gretchen Doering took over in March 2015 and continued the installation of fifteen additional planter beds, a bioswale, greenhouse and outdoor classroom. The garden continues to grow with support from local Eagle Scout projects, the Alameda Garden Club, Alameda Backyard Growers, invaluable volunteers, and other generous donors.

Click here for a downloadable map of the garden tour. 

Click here for the downloadable Alameda Boys & Girls Club – Italo’s Garden Master Plant Descriptions

Click here for a downloadable list of plants in Italo’s Garden.

Alameda Boys and Girls Club garden

Eric Kos and Italo Calpestri look on while Marla Koss and Gretchen Doering teach kids how to plant a fig tree.

Jan
15
Fri
2021
Container Gardening Presentation
Jan 15 @ 1:00 pm – 2:00 pm
Container Gardening Presentation

Container Gardening Presentation, January 15 at 1:00pm via Zoom

Are you interested in learning more about container gardening? With limited space, container gardening gives you the opportunity for cost-effective, manageable gardening. Jeff Bridge, Ploughshares Nursery Manager, will be discussing container gardening in a meeting hosted by the Alameda Branch of the American Association of University Women (AAUW). Jeff’s presentation, followed by questions and answers, is expected to last one hour.

Register in advance for this presentation here.

Jan
21
Thu
2021
StopWaste SWEET Online Course Deadline
Jan 21 all-day

The deadline to register is January 21, 2021!

StopWaste SWEET Training

Apr
20
Tue
2021
Build Healthy Soil by Sheet Mulching
Apr 20 @ 7:00 pm – 8:00 pm

Lori Caldwell

Sheet mulching is an easy and efficient technique for saving water, recycling resources, suppressing weeds and building healthy soil. Please join Lori Caldwell as she discusses the steps for this process as well as her own tips and tricks for how to sheet mulch. Please bring all your questions!

Lori Caldwell is an Alameda County Master Composter, self taught edible gardener and residential sheet mulch maven. Her mission is to “connect people to the soil and all that it provides”. She has been happily teaching sustainable gardening classes and transforming yards in the San Francisco Bay Area since 2007.

Register on Eventbrite

Jun
26
Sat
2021
Alameda Free Library presents Edible Garden Basics, a virtual gardening program
Jun 26 @ 11:00 am – 12:00 pm
Alameda Free Library presents Edible Garden Basics, a virtual gardening program

The Alameda Free Library invites you to attend Edible Garden Basics, an exciting virtual gardening program.

UC Master Gardener Susan Fritz will review the importance of selecting a planting site for sun/shade, improving and preparing your soil, watering, mulching, fertilizing, deciding what to plant, and keeping pests at an acceptable level. Making the right decisions about all of these items will lead to a plentiful harvest! Join our fun gardening event and learn the essentials to be a successful vegetable gardener.

Susan became a Master Gardener in May 2014, and has led the Speaker’s Bureau for five years. She enjoys teaching the public about gardening and how they can improve the methods they use to make their gardens more sustainable.

The event will be hosted by the Alameda Free Library via Zoom. A brief Q&A will follow the presentation.
WHAT: Edible Garden Basics, an exciting virtual gardening program
WHERE: Zoom!
WHEN: June 26, 11:00 am
HOW: Register online before the event to receive a link to the event
Please contact Jenny Gillette at refdesk@alamedaca.gov with any questions. For more information about library programs, please visit www.alamedafree.org/Events-directory/Calendar or contact the Main Library at 510-747-7740 during Library Takeout hours, Monday 2:00pm-7:00pm and Tuesday-Friday 12:00pm-5:00pm.

Nov
14
Sun
2021
Seed Saving Class @ Healing Gardens
Nov 14 @ 11:00 pm – Nov 15 @ 12:30 pm
Seed Saving Class @ Healing Gardens | Alameda | California | United States

Seed Saving Class
Sunday, November 14, 11am
Healing Gardens (Taylor/Webster) in West Alameda

Class Description: Civilization began when humans began to save and plant seeds. Come and learn about the seeds of common food plants we eat today. We will talk about the history of seeds, explore the different sizes and shapes of seeds and how to grow plants for seed, harvest for viable seeds and collect those seeds, focusing on five seeds that are easily saved by the home gardener. The talk will be followed by a hands-on exercise where participants will collect the seeds from different plant materials and package them up for both themselves and the seed library.

Birgitt BIO: Birgitt Evans has grown her own food on a large scale for the past 30 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 four different Alameda County gardens and starts 90% of her plants from seed. She has been an Alameda County Master Gardener since 1999 and was on the advisory board for 14 years. She has been on the board of Alameda Backyard Growers since its inception and is currently the Treasurer.

Kristen BIO:
Kristen Smeal (she/her) volunteers and serves on the Board of 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.

Nov
27
Sat
2021
Wreath Making Workshop
Nov 27 @ 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm

Do you prefer homemade to store bought? Then now is just the time to create a decorative holiday wreath for your home or a gift. You might even want to use some of your own harvested fruit, veggies or herbs!

Welcome to ABG’s fun, outdoor, in-Alameda wreath-making workshop Saturday, November 27 from 1-3 pm. We will use harvested, gathered and purchased items to craft beautiful wreaths of various sizes for your table, wall or door. ABG will provide the instruction, wreath backings, floral wire, hot glue and light refreshments. We ask attendees to gather and bring supplies of your choice including some of the following:

  • pine boughs
  • pine cones
  • grapevines
  • magnolia leaves
  • gingko leaves
  • seed pods
  • shells
  • feathers
  • grasses
  • dried fruit/herbs/veggies
  • ribbons, bows and trinkets.

The workshop fee is $25, masks will be required and we can only accommodate 20 adults

Registration is required. Click here to register. Once you register we will let you know the location for this event.

wreath making workshop