Following on its 2019 success, Project Tree announces the return of its Tree Care Workshop and $25 off Tree Coupon Program.
This year’s workshops will be held Saturday, February 8 from 10 AM to 12 Noon and Sunday, March 1 from 2 PM to 4 PM at Rhythmix Cultural Works, 2513 Blanding Avenue, Alameda.
While anyone is welcome to attend this workshop, only residents of the City of Alameda with proof of residence may receive the coupon, which is worth $25 off any tree from Encinal Nursery, 2057 Encinal Avenue, or Ploughshares Nursery, 2701 Main Street in Alameda Point. The coupon will be redeemable from the day of receipt at the workshop until June 30, 2020.
Project Tree is a partnership between The Alameda Sun and Alameda Backyard Growers.
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.
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.
Join Alameda Backyard Growers as we work and learn at Farm2Market, one of our favorite Alameda places. Farm2Market (2600 Barbers Point Road) is a great place to learn innovative and sustainable techniques for growing fruit and vegetables. Lots of different tasks will be available – at least one should fit your interests and abilities! Have fun, gain some gardening know how and enjoy the company of other food growers while helping out a valuable Alameda non-profit.
Farm2Market is a small, diversified working urban farm and a social enterprise of Alameda Point Collaborative. The farm employs APC residents to work with staff and volunteers to produce delicious, nutritious fruits and veggies, raw honey and beautiful flowers. Proceeds from its Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) membership program are used to help sustain APC’s supportive housing community.
COVID precautions: If you are fully vaccinated, you are not required to wear a mask. If you are not fully vaccinated, you must wear a mask whenever you are within six feet of another person.
Bring along your garden gloves, water bottle, sunscreen, your favorite hand tools, and whatever else you’d like to make your gardening work comfortable – knee pad, stool, kneeler, etc. Be sure to wear sturdy closed toe shoes!
Volunteers will help weed, sheet mulch, weed whack, compost, etc. After the work party tours of the farm and neighboring MakerFarm will be available.
After you get your ticket, we’ll contact you so you can sign the APC waiver, which is required in order for you to volunteer at this work party.
Questions? Email info@alamedabackyardgrowers.org and put WORK PARTY in the subject of your email.
