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.
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.
We are excited to announce our
2nd Annual Plant Swap Event!
Alameda Backyard Growers is inviting you to a socially-distanced, outdoor plant swap.
- 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.
- Other garden-related items are also welcome: books, magazines, tools in good working order, bulbs and seeds. These will be placed on our FREE table.
Location is outdoors 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.
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.
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.
Alameda Backyard Growers is pleased to announce that on Saturday, March 26 from 10 am to 12 noon we will offer a free, outdoors, in-person tour of Farm2Market at Alameda Point. Please Register HERE on EventBrite to join us for this special opportunity to visit a working urban farm.
At Farm2Market, you’ll learn about CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) memberships and volunteer opportunities, how F2M grows veggies, manages their fruit trees, espaliers their apple trees and builds piles of compost.
Please Note: These spaces are NOT ADA accessible. Closed-toe shoes must be worn. This event will happen rain or shine. Drinking water and a Porta Potty are available.
ABG’s Annual Plant Sale – Saturday, April 23, 2022
This year we will celebrate Earth Day and hold our Plant Sale at Alameda’s West End Healing Garden at the corner of Taylor and Webster Streets (across from Nation’s). From 10 am to 1 pm (or until we run out) we’ll have a variety of heirloom, open-pollinated and hybrid varieties of tomato, veggie, herb and flower starts we grew from seed especially for Alameda’s mild & quirky summer climate.
For the youngsters, there will also be a wildflower seed-ball-making table. So come visit ABG, grab those unusual tomato varieties that ABG is famous for, and celebrate Spring, gardening and Mother Earth! It’ll be only a handful of blocks away from the Saturday Farmer’s Market on Haight St.
Alameda Backyard Growers is excited to invite you to a very special field trip Sunday, June 26 from 10 a.m. to 12 noon. We’ll be visiting and touring REAP, Alameda’s new Center for Regeneration, Education, Aquaculture, and Permaculture. Now about 40% complete, it’s a half-mile-long outdoor training and science center focused on biodiversity in soil. With a biomimicry-based focus, REAP’s staff and volunteers teach and demonstrate climate competence to empower the ability to grow food, practice urban forestry, and build resilience. The Center demonstrates how healthy microbes in soil enhance nutrition and carbon sequestration at scale, yielding cooler and healthier communities.
Truly a work in progress, REAP is becoming an edible park with a sculpture garden, interactive soil labs, community composting, a permaculture community garden with a free farmstand, and a maker space serving youth through Ph.D.- level curiosity. The exhibits, already underway, will provide materials and tools to green and restore the site and the region at large. REAP will also be whimsical with a Worm World, Fermentation Station, Fungi Hut, Microbe Mine, Biome Boutique, and Hydrology House. These elements, along with beehives, bioswales, and sheep will further maximize the greening of the 4.26 acres.
In its first year REAP created 200 tons of compost with vigorous green waste reclamation efforts. Additionally, the Center created or enhanced over 600 feet of bioswales, spillways, retention basins and water tanks, while managing over 1.5M gallons of water.
For more information about REAP go to: https://www.reapcenter.org/news/annual-update-2022
Tour space on June 26 is Limited, so REGISTER here NOW. REAP’s location, in Alameda, will be provided upon registration.
Fruit Tree Pruning Workshop
led by AC Master Gardener Sarah Miller, Asst. Manager at Farm2Market, & Marla Koss, Farm2Market Orchard Volunteer
August is a great time to perform summer pruning on plums, or annual pruning on apricots*. Citrus can be pruned virtually year-round in our area, but now is as good a time as any to lighten up the densely-crowded and twiggy interior of a semi-dwarf Meyer lemon tree for better aesthetic value in the landscape as well as its overall health.
After a quick tour around Farm2Market‘s orchard, we will focus on pruning citrus (Meyer lemon) and stone fruit (plum and apricot).
Wear sturdy, close-toed shoes (preferably hiking or work boots); stickers abound and will quickly turn mesh athletic shoes into pin cushions). You might want to bring a sun hat and/or sunscreen. A water bottle is also highly recommended. Also helpful: eye protection (clear safety goggles/glasses).
Equipment to bring: bypass pruning shears*, gardening/work gloves, other pruning equipment such as a pruning saw or loppers if you have them.
*The difference between the pruning needs of apricots and other stone fruit will be explained at the workshop and in an accompanying handout.
