How To Use This Blog

We have set up this blog as a way to share with the community what we are up to and so members can see what needs to be done in the garden week to week.

How to use this blog:
We will post the to-do's and you simply write in the comments what you will be taking care of so we know it's getting done.
  • After you have entered your comment, simply hit the arrow next to profile, select anonymous and make sure you write your name in the comments section so we know who you are!
  • To make sure you don't miss an update, please enter your email address in the "Get Alerts for New Posts" form on the right column of this blog.

Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Look at our Monarch Butterfly Caterpillars!

This morning a group of vols. were up in the garden weeding and watering. Much to our delight, we discovered a host of gorgeously healthy looking monarch pillars munching on the milkweed we planted in the butterfly garden. Did you know that mother monarchs taste a leaf with their feet before deciding to lay her eggs on it? Did you know that it takes five generations of monarchs to make the migratory journey from Mexico to Canada? We are so proud to be hosting this truly amazing creature in our demonstration garden.

Remember to join us this Saturday, December 1st, 10 a.m. to learn how to keep a worm farm.







Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Wednesday, November 28th in the Garden

Join me tomorrow morning around 10:30 a.m. Steve Hough has cleared an area next to the ranger's offices for a little fruit orchard, and he would like to have input from our group. So far the suggestions are tangelo minneolas, satsuma tangerines, meyer lemons, oranges, avocados, pomegranates, fuyu persimmons. Please join me to take a look at the area.

I will also be bringing up a worm nursery container for Saturday's big worm farm event and checking out our fall crops to see if any maintenance is needed. Barb Linder

Friday, November 23, 2012

Boy Scout Troop 100 in the Garden, November 18

Today, we were joined by Troop 100 and their parents. The boys raked over the soil in our two new raised beds, dug holes and watered in a couple of hundred worms, made beautiful straight furrows and planted a variety of lettuce and broccoli seeds in the demonstration garden.

We tended to the compost pile, and I was very impressed by their knowledge concerning why we should compost and why worms are good for the soil. Troop 100 were very good workers and they did a fantastic job.

They are going to return to the garden in a couple of months to make a salad and eat it in the garden!!




It's All About the Worms.....

Please join us on Saturday, December 1st, 10:00 a.m. in the demonstration garden to meet soil expert DON SMITH. He will be teaching us how to build and maintain a "worm farm" and will be able to answer any questions you might have about compost and soil. If you have a compost system set up in your garden, please dig up some red compost worms and bring them up to help us start our farm.

Note: Tomorrow, Saturday November 24th, the rangers won't be opening our Doheny Road gate until 10 a.m.  Following is a brief bio of Don Smith:


Don Smith wears many hats. During the day he can be an independent software consultant, teaching cutting edge Enterprise Resource Planning software to midsize project-centric professional service firms, like Architects and Engineers. Or he might be designing a school garden in Sketchup, or building a greenhouse, or making compost piles. He has received a Permaculture Design Certificate from Occidental Arts and Ecology Center in Northern California. He is a Soil Food Web Advisor, which is a biological approach to creating healthy soil based on Dr. Elaine Ingham’s life-long research. And he is also a UC Cooperative Extension Master Gardener. He is a member of LA Green Grounds, the Los Angles Mycological Society, the Microscopical Society of Southern California, and Toastmasters. He gives lectures and consults on a variety of topics from aquaponics to vermicomposting. If you are curious about compost, freaked out by fungi, or wondering about worms, he can help. He is a true systems thinker and is passionate about promoting eco-literacy. On top of all that, he has been known to climb rocks, walk on slacklines, ride a mountain unicycle, and juggle, although not all at the same time.




Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Sunday, November 18th in the garden, and other fun stuff

Come to the demonstration garden this coming Sunday November 18th, 2-4, and help Cub Scout Troop 100 plant our two new beds!! Special Sunday event!

Notice: The garden will not be open today, Wednesday November 14th, due to a police dog training day set for today in the park.

Last night Soozie Eastman, Helen MacDonald, Jeannie Cohen and myself went to the Beverly Hills City Council to thank them for allowing us to establish our garden and to ask the City to start thinking about bringing that whole area back to life so the community can enjoy and use it. We presented the Mayor with a basket of our Zebra tomatoes, and he stated that he was not going to share them with his fellow council members.....



This past Saturday, Girl Scout Troop 10885 was in the garden moving soil into our two new beds and neatening up the butterfly garden for the winter season.



Thursday, November 8, 2012

Troop 33 in the Garden

On Saturday November 3d, Eagle Scout candidate Chanan Batra, his family and friends, and Troop 33 installed our 5th and 6th raised beds, with assistance from local luminaries such as Charlotte Frank (B.H.H.S. Earthlings Club) and her mom Deborah, Martha Galvan, her scout daughter and hubby, intrepid nature photographer Jeannie Cohen (see grub shot below), fellow UCLA horticulture student Helen MacDonald, Chief Leveler Skip Zelenka, new volunteer Gerry Nettleton, the ever-faithful Dick Motika, and others.

Special thanks go to Whole Foods and Ellen Prager, both for the free food and the gardening assistance, and also to Steve Hough, city grounds supervisor extrordinaire. Thanks also to James Greenway, friend of the Batra family, for all the construction know how. Thanks to Shirley Smith for her help on Saturday, and also for arranging for a great donation of compost from Santa Monica Community College (by the way, their compost is donated by Whole Foods!)

If anyone would like to join me, I am planning on presenting the Mayor with a basket of our Zebra Tomatoes this coming Tuesday evening (November 14th) at 7:00, city council chambers. I'm going to briefly explain what we've been doing up at Greystone, and I'm going to ask the City to think about bringing that area back to life.

Also, mark your calendars for December 1, 10:00 a.m. Mr. Don Smith, soil specialist and teacher at SMCC, is going come up and show us how to start and maintain a worm farm!!

 The above grub is the larva of the fig beetle. He is a great compost helper!


We Need Some Soil!!!

This past Saturday, Eagle Scout Chanan Batra and a great crew of volunteers (more on that later today) installed Raised Beds Numbers 5 and 6 up at Greystone Community Demonstration Garden. I've got some great photos which I will post in a bit.

We need all of you reading this post to bring up all your bags of garden soil that may be laying about in your garage, as one of the beds needs to be filled before we can plant it. If you don't have an extra bag lying about, please go to any garden or hardware outlet, or even your local supermarket and purchase a bag or two (2 cubic feet please) of any sort of garden soil.

Bring up your soil on Saturday, November 10th, Wednesday the 14th or Saturday the 17th. On Sunday, November 18th, we have a cub scout troop coming up to seed the 2 new beds, so I really need the dirt!  On Saturday the 10th, Girl Scout Troop 10885 will be in the garden and they will help you with your dirt.

Look tomorrow for my post about our bed building day! Love, Barb Linder

Thursday, November 1, 2012

Whole Foods Will Be There!

Announcement! Whole Foods will again be providing sustenance as we labor on our raised bed project. The fabulous Ellen Prager and her team will be on hand, so bring your shovel and join us on Saturday, 8 till noon.  Please also bring ideas for Steve Hough and his planned fruit orchard. I would appreciate some researched ideas on what kinds of fruit trees do well in our climate zone.

Remember to bring your coffee grounds and egg shells for our compost pile. Also, if you have any spare bags of compost or dirt at home, please bring them for the raised beds.