Come and find the ABG booth on April 20, 2024 from 12Noon - 3PM for our Annual Plant Sale!
Alameda Backyard Growers volunteers had so much fun offering our selection of organic tomato, veggie, flower and herb starts at ARPD’s Spring Shindig in 2023, we’re doing it again! Join us, rain or shine, along with a field full of vendors, bouncy houses and other activities at the Alameda Point Gym & Field, 1101 W. Redline Avenue on Saturday, April 20th, 2023.
As always, we grow tomato starts that we know from our own experience do well in Alameda. We’ll also offer cucumbers, zucchini, green beans, winter squash, peppers, basil and sage. Our selection of neonicotinoid-free flower starts will attract bees, butterflies and other pollinators to your garden; this year we’ll be offering starts of scabiosa (pincushion flower), tithonia, cosmos, marigolds, nasturtiums, sunflowers and more.
A coloring book table will keep kids busy (or give them a quiet moment after the bouncy houses!) while you peruse the plant starts and get caught up in typical gardening conversations.
Please bring a container to carry your treasures home.
Let's celebrate another winter of plentiful rain (and Sierra snowpack!) and gardening – for ourselves and our families, for the sake of Mother Earth, or just for the sheer pleasure of it all!
We are very pleased to announce that, once again, Alameda Backyard Growers will march in Alameda’s July 4th Parade, and you are invited to walk, bicycle, scooter, rollerskate, or skateboard with us! Feel free to dress up in a costume, or not! We will provide signs to carry, if you wish. We will drive ABG’s Project Pick van in the parade – to offer water and a walking break, should you need it. We will march near the Alameda Food Bank in this historic, and famously long, parade.
The Parade begins at 10:00 a.m., but marchers should join us no later than 9:00 am. We will provide some tailgate refreshments. Bring some water, wear comfortable clothes, shoes, a hat and sunscreen.
Sign up here NOW, so we know who is coming! On July 3 we will email all registrants info about ABG’s numbered place in line.
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.
