Build Healthy Soil by Sheet Mulching
Virtual Meeting: Apr 20 @ 7:00 pm – 8:00 pm 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...Continue reading→
Growing Food from Food
Alameda Sun – Wednesday, March 10, 2021 by Holly Johnson, ABG Board member In addition to growing vegetables from seeds or plant starts, there is a fun, easy method to try without needing to buy or acquire anything extra. Many types of food are very easy to grow from scraps not otherwise used. A gardener...Continue reading→
Two More Seed Libraries Grace the Island City
Alameda Sun – Tuesday, March 2, 2021 by Kristen Smeal, ABG Board member When Girl Scout Leader Jill Proffitt learned of the Alameda Backyard Growers (ABG) Free Seed Library, she saw an opportunity for the Girl Scouts to help. Girl Scout Troop #33373 of Alameda, which includes eighth-graders Jennifer Proffitt, Meadow Mihok and Alice Onderwater,...Continue reading→
Choosing Tomato Varieties to Plant in Alameda
Alameda Sun, Thursday, February 11, 2021 by Marla Koss, ABG Board member As 2020 marked a resurgence in gardening, let 2021 be the year for upping one’s game. Now is an ideal time to think about what to plant in this year’s vegetable garden. First on the list: tomatoes! Spending a little time reading up...Continue reading→
Root Crops
by Margie Siegal Root crops are not that exciting – no one I know ever gushes about heirloom rutabagas – but they have a lot going for them. While vine ripe tomatoes are only around for two to three months out of the year, in our climate, you can grow beets, carrots and parsnips from...
Alameda’s Local CSA – Farm2Market
by Alison Limoges In case you haven’t heard, Farm2Market, a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) project of Alameda Point Collaborative (APC) at Alameda’s former Navy base, has a new manager. Jess Bloomer is excited to be overseeing this two acre diversified farm and social enterprise which is all about “Supporting the Community, Stewarding the Land and...Continue reading→
Epic Tomatoes by Craig LeHoullier
Book Review by Marla Koss You only have to google the title ‘Epic Tomatoes’ to see how heartily the gardening world and hordes of readers have embraced this award-winning book. Author Craig LeHoullier, tomato advisor for Seed Savers Exchange, has won the confidence of tomato-growers everywhere, charmed readers by sharing his own fascination with growing...Continue reading→
Growing Vegetables from Seed
with Birgitt Evans Starting vegetables from seed can save money and will give you access to thousands of vegetable varieties not available as transplants. And with three Free Seed Libraries in Alameda in 2021, you are going to want to know how to care for your seeds. This year’s class has – of course –...Continue reading→
Two New Seed Libraries
Girl Scout Troop 33373 of Alameda and Alameda Backyard Growers teamed up to place two new ABG Free Seed Libraries in Alameda. The Girl Scouts have finished building, painting, and installing the two boxes for gracious homeowners in the West End of Alameda and on Bay Farm Island. Project advisor and local contractor Ken Carvalho...Continue reading→
Attracting Butterflies to the Urban Garden
Alameda Sun, Thursday, January 14, 2021 by Birgitt Evans, ABG Board member and Master Gardener Butterflies are perennial favorites for young and old alike. People love to watch them flutter past and feed from flowers. With the near total collapse of the Western Monarch Migration, many people want to know how to support the remaining...Continue reading→