Please join us for Alameda Backyard Growers’ Third Annual Garden Tour. This year, we focus on food production. Margie Siegal has made her large yard into a mini-farm. She raises fruit trees, herbs and lots of different vegetables. Margie will show us the innovative techniques she’s used to solve some gardening challenges, and tell us about what didn’t work. We’ll also focus on her tricks for successfully growing the heat-loving vegetables that can be difficult in Alameda, including melons and eggplant.
About the farm: Caution: Most paths are grass, and the ground is uneven. People with mobility difficulties may not be able to access most areas. Please wear low heeled shoes with good soles. The resident feral cat, who controls rodents in the back yard, is terrified of dogs. Please do not bring your dog.
About the gardener: Margie has been gardening for years, mostly learning through making mistakes and reading books. She finds gardening relaxing and enjoys the low stress manual labor.
Because of the size of the garden, attendance is limited to 25 people. Preregistration is required.
If the event is already full when you try to sign up, please email info@alamedabackyardgrowers.org to be put on the waiting list.
DATE: Saturday, July 13
LOCATION: Ploughshares Nursery, 2701 Main St, Alameda, CA 94501
Join us to learn more about Ploughshares Nursery and help Jeff Bridge and his team with fun projects!
Help Ploughshares weed out and plant the propagation area, transplant fruit trees and seed native plants for next year’s sales. Bring work gloves and clippers, it’s going to be fun!
Directions: From Webster Street, turn West onto Willie Stargell Ave. or Atlantic Avenue (Ralph Appezzato Memorial Parkway). Turn Right onto Main Street. Ploughshares is across the street from Svendsen’s/Bay Ship and Yacht.
On Monday, January 13, ABG will present a movie night at Rhythmix, 2513 Blanding Ave. in the city of Alameda , co-hosted by StopWaste! Free popcorn!
Please bring your own container for water to reduce waste.
Trevor Probert of StopWaste will lead a Carbon Farming discussion after the movie.
Our movie, ‘Symphony of the Soil‘ is an artistic exploration of the miraculous “living skin of the earth.” By understanding the elaborate relationships between soil, water, the atmosphere, plants and animals, we come to appreciate the complex and dynamic nature of this precious resource. The film examines our human relationship with soil, the use and misuse of soil in agriculture, deforestation and development, and the latest scientific research on soil’s key role in ameliorating the most challenging environmental problems of our time, including climate change. Filmed on four continents and featuring esteemed scientists and working farmers and ranchers, Symphony of the Soil is an intriguing presentation that highlights possibilities of healthy soil creating healthy plants creating healthy humans living on a healthy planet.
Trevor Probert is a Program Services Specialist at StopWaste and resident of Alameda.
Trevor Probert is a Program Services Specialist at StopWaste and resident of Alameda. He teaches StopWaste’s public workshops on composting, gardening for soil health, and carbon farming. Trevor works with urban farms and community gardens to set up on-site composting systems. He has worked as an elementary school garden teacher, classroom teacher, and landscape contractor, and has bachelor degrees in Geography and Environmental Science and a master’s degree in Education.
ABG Announces Our 2020 Earth Day (Spacial Distancing) Plant Sale!
10AM – 1PM Saturday April 25th. Location will be emailed to attendees.
Every year at Earth Day, we sell hundreds of tomato plants and people come back for them year after year. This year, with more gardeners and fewer seedlings, we have added basil, squash, cucumbers and a few greens to the mix, moved the sale to a private residence and added spacial distancing in the form of time slots to keep the crowds down. But we still have our wonderful tomato plants and other veggies to get you through the summer!
How it Works:
1) Click on this Eventbrite link and select a time slot. The earliest slots will have the best selection, so fill those first. We will email you the location when you sign up.
2) Send one (healthy) person per household, wash hands first and wear a mask.
3) Check out the LIST OF PLANTS we have available and note what you want (with second choices), so you can just pick them up and pay when you get to the sale. (Note: there are limits on how many of each plant you can buy so everyone can have some.)
4) Bring either exact change or a check made out to Alameda Backyard Growers along with a pen so you can fill in the final amount. Any cash you leave in excess of your plant total is a tax deductible contribution to ABG and we promise to use it wisely!
Alameda 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.
Eric Kos and Italo Calpestri look on while Marla Koss and Gretchen Doering teach kids how to plant a fig tree.
October Plant Swap
Sunday, October 25, 2020
Alameda Backyard Growers is inviting you to a socially-distanced, outdoor plant swap.
Please arrive at 1pm.
- Masks must be worn and a distance of 6ft or more maintained.
- Everyone must use provided hand sanitizer prior to entering the plant swap area.
- Attendees must bring at least one plant to donate to the swap.
- Make sure plants are clearly labeled. Plants should be in good health and in healthy soil, to minimize the possible spread of garden pathogens.
The location for this event is in West Alameda and will be announced 48 hours prior via email reminder. Please be sure to register with a valid email address that you are able to check.
You may also bring other garden related items: books, magazines, tools (no broken tools), and seeds to place on our FREE table.
Tickets for this event are limited. Click here to register.
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.
The deadline to register is January 21, 2021!
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.
Registration will begin in April and we will send the link in early April.
On April 25th, we will host our 2nd annual plant sale at a private residence featuring our “Alameda Famous Tomatoes”, 19 carefully curated varieties packed with flavor and designed to do well here in Alameda. We will also have a selection of Winter Squash, Zucchini, Cucumbers, Basil, Peppers and Loofas for sale. And we will have some pollinator friendly flowers available to help make your 2021 garden a great success.
