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>

Have you seen This Butterfly (and a contest)

I saw this butterfly in my back yard a couple of days ago.

It is called a Common Grass Yellow (Eurema hacabe) and is native in South America, Australia and Asia. My theory is that it arrived in So.Cal. as an egg on some imported produce and I'm worried because it's winter here. If you see one of these, take a picture and I'll post it here.

Announcing our first ever contest: If you are currently growing ten different edibles in your home garden, send me a list and a photo. All winners are invited to a tea party in the Greystone Demonstration Garden, with cookies baked by me. Signed, Barb Linder (aka Garden Girl Lives Here)

Rain out for today, December 29th

Well, considering that it is currently thundering and lightening out there, let's try again on Wednesday Jan.2, in the new year!! Hint for all you patio gardeners: push your pots out where they will get some rain. This is good for cleansing the soil in the pots. Also, I hope everyone has turned off their sprinkler systems for the week!

Happy new year to all my helpers. Barb Linder

Saturday in the Garden: December 29th

Due to being rained out yesterday morning, I will be in the garden on Saturday around 10:30 a.m. picking kale and radishes and feeding the worm farm. Please join me with your compost. The rain should have brought our veggies along at a rapid clip. Barb L.

This week in the Greystone Demonstration Garden

As you can see, our winter radishes and greens are doing really well. Thanks to Jeannie Cohen for the great photos. The food program that our produce has been going to will be closed for the next couple of weeks. So, if you go up to the garden, please take home some kale leaves, radishes and herbs for your own holiday meals!

Tasks that can be performed: Check the beds for weeds. Please feed the worms: bring up some kitchen clippings such as apple skins, coffee grounds, wilted leaves. The worm bin is blue and is next to our shed; please close the bin after feeding the worms. Open the shed (combo is 0070), get out the mister and give the worms a little water. Also, very important, bring up a container of CAYENNE PEPPER and sprinkle it around the 2 new beds: I think a squirrel is digging some holes.

Thanks, and I look forward to working with all of you in 2013!! I will be in the garden on Wednesday, December 26th, around 10:30.  Barbara Linder

radishes in the garden

Join me Wednesday to plant some vegetable seeds:  10:30 a.m.

Today we harvested radishes, kale, lettuce and a variety of herbs including marjoram, thyme, sage and parsley. The goodies will go to the Monday program at All Saints Beverly Hills. High school volunteer Charlotte Frank dealt with the radishes, Helen and I moved our shed, and fed the worm farm and Skip harvested lettuce.

I wanted everyone to see my "Beneficials Hotel", established today in my home garden. I am hoping to welcome butterflies, solitary bees, predacious wasps, lacewings and ladybugs:

Saturday December 15th in the Greystone Garden

Please join in on Saturday, 10 a.m. ! We will be monitoring our "pets" the monarch butterfly larvae and the compost worms. We will also move our storage shed to its new location, inaugurate our new composter and harvest some kale, lettuce and radishes. To access the demonstration garden, enter the open gate on Doheny Road, go left and park near the greenhouse. Come learn to garden! Questions? Contact Barbara  <blinder01@roadrunner.com>

This Week in the Garden

This past Wednesday, Don Smith came to inspect our worm farm, which he says is doing well. We took a good look at the butterfly garden, and got a great photo of one of our solitary bee visitors having a snack. Lisa Davis planted some California Native plant seeds for spring.

For anyone visiting the demonstration garden this coming Saturday, the worm farm is in a blue bin in the north-western corner of the area: take a look inside to make sure that the medium looks moist. Bring up a bottle of water with you, and if it looks or feels dry, just sprinkle in a bit of water, not a lot.

There are some radishes and kale leaves that can be picked: you can keep them, or bring them by my house (Barb Linder) and I will take them to the food program at All Saints on Monday morning. Be aware that I have monitors in the beds that make a high pitched sound to scare the critters away.

Lisa Davis will be bringing up her old compost system for us, and next Saturday, December 15th, I will be relocating our storage shed. I am starting to look into grant opportunities for reviving the greenhouse: if anyone has any leads, please let me know!
Thanks, Barbara Linder

"How to Keep a Worm Farm" and other questions you were afraid to ask.

On Saturday, December 1st those of us who braved the uncertain but totally glorious weather were treated to a hands on lecture by Don Smith concerning how to keep worms as pets (not kidding).  He brought us his tools of the trade, and they were so interesting. Everyone took notes, and had many questions, and thanks to Jeannie Cohen, we have a pictorial essay. Worm farming is so clean that you can keep your container of working worms in your apartment, and the product, worm casings, is the most fantastic fertilizer on the planet.

Don Smith

This is called a "worm inn"

Our pet worms.

We now have a small colony established in a very attractive Rubbermaid container; we will feed them and in six months we can start to harvest our casings. If you have questions about worms or compost, Don says to email him at <smithdon@mac.com>  If you want to come up to our garden and see our set up, let me know.

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.

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

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.

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.

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!