Saturday March 30th, 2013

We accomplished a lot of spring planting today: Tom Pease and Skip Zelenka sowed a bed of corn, and this season Tom will learn all the ins and outs of corn culture. We added compost and a balanced organic fertilizer, planted the seeds in mathematical blocks, watered them in and covered them with a crop cover to keep the birds from eating the seeds. More corn instruction as the season proceeds....

Skip worked on our compost: he cut up some of the dead leaves, put them into our barrel composter, watered them nicely and gave them a few turns. We will have ripe compost in about 3 months. By the way, I have harvested about a cup of worm tea from our farm. I'm saving it for use in the garden later in the season. Corn is a very heavy feeder, and needs a couple of hits of nitrogen during the growing and fruit forming periods.

Jean Rosenblatt and Ellen Lutwak were also on hand. We planted tomato, jalapeno, beet, melon, cucumber, celery, lettuce and bean seeds. All of these have until April 20th to germinate; if they don't then we will put in young plants. My theory is that vegetables planted as seed in the spot they're going to grown on in will do better: we shall see.

On Wednesday April 2d I'm going to continue on with my pest fighting battles. I am going to plant garlic around the bed borders and plant the mint hyssop I've been growing at home from seeds harvested in the garden last fall. See you in the garden!

Saturday March 30th, 2013

This coming Saturday I will be in the garden at around 10:30. I have some celery that I planted as seed that we will transplant into the beds, and I thought we could experiment with a few seeds in the new beds. We also need to check up on the herb and spice seeds that I planted on Wednesday with the wonderful help of Shampa and Ayanami Taylor. Ayanami also placed our donated decollate snails (from Orcon) in the beds. They will carry on my never ending battles against the brown snails. Please calendar April 20th, which will be a very big day in the garden. More on that to come...

The cub scouts of Troop 100 were in the garden on Sunday, March 24th. They did a fantastic job of clearing the beds of the winter crops, which they took home. I was so pleased to overhear their excitement over beets and carrots! They also were a big help with spreading out some compost, and chopping up the old stems for our compost heap. The parents were also wonderful, and they have promised to return. I will have some photos to post shortly!

Sunday, March 24th in the Garden

Please join us this coming Sunday, March 24 2-4 P.M. as cub scout Troop 100 "takes down" the winter garden. We'll be preparing the beds for spring planting, dumping out ripe compost into the beds, and learning about miccorhyza.

I have been germinating spring/summer crops at home, including tomatoes, celery, peppers, eggplant and herbs. On Saturday, April 20th, in partnership with Beverly Hills Whole Foods, we will sow our hill with all kinds of squash and pumpkins! See you there. Barb L.

The Most Amazing Sight

I had a great trip up to San Jose to accept the Parks and Recreation Society's Community Champion Award. My husband and I had a lovely meal with B.H. Director Steve Zoet, and we had a private tour of the fabulous Filoli Estate. I recommend a visit the next time you're up that way.

We went to the Monterey Aquarium, and I wanted to show you the most amazing animals: they are seaweed horses. Sea horses are the only known species where the male gets pregnant and gives birth to live offspring.

O.K. back to the mundane.  This Saturday, March 16th, I will be in the garden a little before 10:30. We've had a bit of a challenge with something munching on the lettuce and broccoli, and if I have a little help I think I'm going to try covering with a crop cover. Also, I will show you how to construct a bean teepee, and we'll plant some bean seeds

I've had reports that the gates have been closed a few times; I will open them when I arrive. 

Don't forget Sunday March 20th, 2 p.m., Troop 100 will be hard at work. Please come help! 

Saturday in the Garden: March 9, 2013

I think a bunny has been eating some of the lettuce in our garden, so I have positioned the alarms to point at that bed. Last weekend we planted new radish, lettuce and carrot seeds as an interim season crop. It looks as if some of our California Natives in the butterfly garden are getting ready to bloom!

If you go up tomorrow, you are welcome to take some lettuce, peas, carrots and beets: I will be in San Jose at the Parks and Recreation Conference, so won't be around to take produce to the Monday lunch program. Please turn the compost barrel. I don't think we need to water anything as it is drizzling a bit.

We will turn over the rest of the beds on Sunday, March 24th with Cub Scout Troop 100, 2 P.M. See you in the garden. Barb L.

Saturday, March 2d, 2013

Our organic matter has not yet made its appearance, so no need to be up there today (Wednesday). However, on Saturday, 10:30 a.m., we will be in the garden harvesting, and I am going to "intercrop" some radish, carrot and lettuce seeds. See you then.

This week in the Garden: February 24th, 2903

This coming Wednesday and Saturday, Feb. 27th and March 2d, I need some help transporting some donated organic material (o.k. horse manure) from the parking lot over to the planting areas. On Wednesday, I need to be up there earlier than usual, by 9:00 a.m. ( I have a doctor's appointment at 10:15) and then I'll be there again on Saturday around 10:30.
Please come help me. If you have a wheelbarrow, please bring it and a long handled shovel, and gloves. Thanks!

Girl Scout Troop 10885, in the garden picking lettuce this past Saturday.

Upcoming Events in and around the Garden

On Saturday, February 23d, Troop 10885 will be in the garden around 10 a.m., harvesting lettuce and peas. Please join them! On Sunday, March 24th, Troop 100 will be in the garden, 2 p.m., digging out the old crops and composting them.

I am very excited: Whole Foods Beverly Hills will be sponsoring our seed planting event on Saturday, April 20th, 9:00 am. till noon! Please mark in on your calendar: we will be meeting some new volunteers who will come to us thanks to planned publicity for the event by Whole Foods, and in addition to planting the raised beds, we will be sowing all different kinds of squash and pumpkin seeds on the hill behind the grass area.

This is in honor of Earth Day. I will be with Ellen Prager at the Beverly Hills Farmer's Market on Sunday, April 14th, promoting our beautiful demonstration garden. Please stop by to say hello! I am thinking about bringing our worm inn to show people what it is and how vermicomposting works.

I am looking forward to a fun and productive summer season in the garden. Love to all, Barbara Linder (aka garden girl lives here).

This week in the Garden (February 16th, 2013)

On Saturday, February 16th, we incorporated some organic matter (happens to be composted horse manure from a friend's horse) into a couple of the raised beds. Skip Z. gave me a book called "Worms Eat my Garbage" which I highly recommend to anyone who wants to try worm composting at home. We will let the worms work on the manure for a couple of months before we plant in April for our summer crops.

 Much to our delight, as we turned over the soil, we discovered that we have lots of red wigglers in the beds. This means that we have a "food web" happening: bacteria eat the organic matter that we put back in the beds, worms feed on the bacteria, and when they excrete, they produce a very rich, biodiverse nutrient base for our produce.

Red wigglers in the beds

 Jean Rosenblatt is digging in.

 We're starting to get a lot of sugar snap peas.

Skip took home a custom salad!

Saturday in the Garden: February 16th, 2013

This coming Saturday, 10:30 a.m., we will be in the garden preparing for spring. We have been composting some organic matter which we will now incorporate into a couple of cleared areas in the raised beds. Please join us. It's very pretty up at Greystone right now. Monday is President's Day and the Monday lunch program will be closed, so anyone who would to take home some really fresh produce is welcome to join us.

Last weekend we harvested beets, lettuce, kale, radishes and a few peas, all of which received high praise from the Monday lunch group at All Saints.  The radishes and kale are now finished and that part of the soil will be able to rest until early April.  The worms in our worm inn are doing quite well and have been munching on shredded beet leaves and apples. I now consider them to be my pets.

Heads up for spring: I am learning that it is advantageous to grow plants from seeds right in the soil they will grow on in, so this spring we will not use transplants. I will cover the beds with a lightweight crop cover to warm and protect the seeds until germination. Good experiment. See you up there! Barb Linder (a.k.a. Garden Girl Lives Here)

Saturday in the Garden: February 9th, 2013

I will be in the garden this coming Saturday, 10:30 a.m. harvesting all sorts of greens and maybe some peas and beets. Please join me!

Next big project: on Sunday, March 24th 2:00 p.m., Boy Scout Troop 100 will be helping us to pull out and compost our winter plantings. This is a pretty big job, please turn out to help them. See you in the garden! Barb Linder

Worm Day in the Garden

(Note: This Saturday, Feb.2, Vivian and Kevin Schroder will be harvesting produce for the All Saints Monday Lunch program. Please be on hand to assist, at around 10:30) 

This past Wednesday we were honored with a visit from worm and compost specialist Don Smith. We had our homemade worm inn on hand, and Don showed us the A-Z on how to establish a colony of red wigglers. According to Don (and all the web sites I've looked at) you can compost pounds of kitchen and garden leavings every week with one of these setups  and the result is apparently one of the best soil supplements on earth. We all had cookies and water to celebrate Martha Galvan's "10 eatables in the garden" win.

Photos by Jeannie Cohen

 Don moving worms to their new home

 Barb about to add an egg carton "hotel room"

Hotel residents getting ready to explore

Neighbor and friend Craig Davis videoed the lecture, and we will post it here when it's ready. I am going to keep the inn at my house for now, as I worry about leaving the worms without parental supervision. I will be bringing them back and forth to the Demonstration Garden whenever we have a Worm Day. (Yesterday they had beet leaves and appeared to be most happy. Jeannie Cohen and I saw a baby. Anyone who wants to visit the worms, please come by. My phone number is 310.278.2987) Also, visit the Organic Control (Orcon) site listed on the right side of this blog if you want to order your own supply of worms.

I also wanted to mention an interesting concept: eating locally by the season. I very rarely buy fruit at the market anymore. Instead, I eat fruit from my garden, at the time when it is actually ripe and available. So, in the spring I have strawberries, proceeding to Anna apples and plums. The mulberries start in. The apples last for months and months on into the summer, when I have other berries like blueberries and blackberries and continued strawberries.  Next are the figs. Concord grapes arrive in late summer. In the fall there are tangerines, followed by mineolas and then oranges. My dad has a banana plant, and I haven't even been able to face all the bananas currently ripening. 

You just have to get used to the idea that your variety depends on the season and what you've decided to grow.

Following is a photo provided by Don of the beautiful California Native Verbena Lilacina that is flourishing in our butterfly garden. We all want one at home!! You can get them at the nursery at the Veteran's complex on Wilshire in West L.A.

Butterfly Action in the Garden

On Saturday, January 26th, we were in the garden harvesting more lettuce, kale and radishes than I would have thought possible. Very soon we will have pounds of snap peas and beets. I thought it was going to rain, but it was absolutely gorgeous! On our way out, we were admiring a highly scented, flowering shrub in the butterfly garden when we noticed a brand new, just pupated monarch butterfly sitting there in the sun, brandishing his folded up wings and new to the world. Fortunately, we had some cameras and i-phones, so we have great shots of him and his brother Mr. Pupa who you can see hanging to his left! Thank you to Vivian and Kevin Schroder, Skip Zelenka, Lisa Davis, Tom Pease, and Charlotte and Deborah Frank for their help and support.

Don't forget Wednesday, January 30th, 10:30 a.m. is worm farming day in the garden. Come with your questions for vermiculturist Don Smith. I will have my worm inn and we will load it up.

                                          Photo by Vivian Schroder

Skip told us that once monarchs have hatched in a locale, their offspring will return year after year, so we can now expect a steady flow of monarchs to our garden!

Rain in the Garden?

If it's really coming down tomorrow at 10 A.M., we will postpone cookie day with Martha and her girl scouts; however I may go up there anyway just to harvest produce for Monday's food program at All Saints.

Don't forget: on Wednesday, January 30th, 10:30 A.M., Don Smith will be checking up on our worms. I am bringing my home made "worm inn" and I am hoping Don will show me how to load it. I will have a pound of red wigglers with me, donated by the beautiful people at Organic Control. Thank you Paula!!  Love, Barbara (aka garden girl lives here).

Saturday in the Garden: January 26th, 2013

Join us this coming Saturday: Girl Scout Troop 10885 will be in the garden, harvesting and tending to the compost barrel. Anyone who comes up gets cookies and a beverage as well, since Martha Galvan will be there and she is the first winner of the "10 eatables in the garden contest." We will be there starting at 10 a.m.

Don Smith will join us on Wednesday, January 30th, 10:30 a.m., to inspect our worm farm and answer questions. I will bring up the "worm inn" I've made, and Don will show us how to maintain our worms in a hotel environment. Come up and learn why worms are so important in the landscape.

Great Excitement today in the Garden!

On Wednesday, January 16th, we were in the garden harvesting huge bags of kale, spinach, lettuce, beet greens and radishes. Human Relations Commissioner Tom Pease had a great idea for spring. He suggested planting corn on the hill to the west of our grass area. It is now irrigated with a drip system, so it should be quite doable. Jean Rosenblatt suggests that different types of squash will also do well on the hill, so we have that to look forward to.

That was not the exciting thing however. As we were getting ready to leave, one of us spotted a huge, shiny monarch butterfly. As we were admiring him/her, we noticed another, then another, and then probably around a dozen, all zooming around the garden and greenhouse area. Then the coined dropped:  these are the monarch caterpillars that grew up in the butterfly garden over the last several months!! They pupated and must have hatched this morning in the warmer weather.

SHOUT OUT TO JEANNIE COHEN:  Can you go up on Saturday and see if you can photograph any of our babies????

Lots of Radishes and Kale!

This past Saturday we were up in the garden pruning the butterfly area. We chopped up the pruned branches into 1 inch pieces and fed them to the compost barrel.  I fed the worms. We had a visit from Director of Community Services Steve Zoet, and Parks Manager  Ken Pfalzgraf, and both expressed satisfaction with our efforts. Some of the members of the current Team Beverly Hills also came by to admire (and taste).

Several bags of radishes and kale were harvested, and used on Monday in the free lunch program at All Saints. Thanks to Jessica Emmerson, Skip Zelenka, Lisa Davis, Soozie Eastman for showing up and specially to Jeannie Cohen for all the wonderful photography. I'm planning to use some of her images to apply for a grant for our garden area.

I will be up there tomorrow, January 15th, fertilizing the butterfly garden. See you!

Ken and Soozie

Skip demonstrating the proper way to

chop your compost

Lots of yummy greens

Saturday, January 12th in the Garden

Join me this Saturday the 12th, 10:30 a.m. to continue pruning the shrubs in the butterfly garden, please bring your kitchen scraps (peels, grounds, old fruit) for the worm farm. I'm going to bring up some newspaper, if there are a few people to help we can mulch the 2 new beds. They have been invaded a bit by some grass seed, and we can help by mulching between the rows with newspaper, then covering the paper with compost, which I already have up there in bags.

I hope to see you up there!. Following are a few shots taken by Jeannie Cohen last Saturday. Our garden is doing so well! Barb Linder

Already a winner!

Introducing Martha Galvan, first qualifier for tea and cookies up at Greystone! Following are photographs of her home vegetable garden. Here is the list she has submitted:  sage, thyme, peppermint, sorrel, spinach, chard, carrots, curry, lemons, mandarins, chives, greek oregano, oregano, rosemary, camomile, leeks, chilis.

Martha and the scout troop she mentors, Troop 10885, will be coming up to the garden in late winter/early spring to help turn over the beds for spring planting. I hope other readers will submit their lists of home garden edibles, remember there's tea and cookies in it! 

Saturday, January 5 in the Garden

This is the time to start thinking about pruning. If you are planning to be in the demonstration garden this coming Saturday, and you know something about pruning, please get the clippers out of our shed (combination is 0070) and shape the bigger shrubs in the butterfly garden. Watch out for the broken glass in the little pond area.

Other chores:  please give the compost barrel a "turn".  Feel free to harvest and keep kale and radishes.

I worked in the garden today (Wednesday Jan. 2d) and everything looks really good. I harvested kale and radishes to take to the All Saints Food Program on Monday. The peas are just starting to bloom, so we can look forward to peas later this month. I gave the new beds a nitrogen feed (greens need a lot of nitrogen) and weeded. It looked as though some grass seed had blown in with the high winds we had.

Our mint hyssop (agastache) had gone to seed, so I scattered some along the edges of the new beds. It is very good for keeping deer and rodents away. I took some home to germinate so that we will know the seedlings from weeds.

The worms looked healthy; I fed them and misted them. Please email me or comment in the blog if you notice anything in the garden you want to tell me about. <blinder01@roadrunner.com>