If you haven’t yet paid your garden dues, please send a check today to Altadena Community Garden Treasurer Sarah Hunt at 3663 Giddings Ranch Road, Altadena, CA 91001.

Dues are $73.00 for garden members and $30.00 for associate members.

Our dues are critical in supporting the maintenance of our community garden and the many programs we offer. Please submit your payment today.

 

Learn to grow your own vegetables  and become a certified UC Victory Gardener through the Grow LA Victory Garden Initiative at the Altadena Community Garden.  Register early as these popular classes fill up fast!

Beginning Classes: Saturdays, March 2, 9, 16 and 23.  Topics will include soil preparation, plant selection, seed starting and transplanting, harvesting, composting, planting raised beds, irrigation, building raised beds, integrated pest management, container planting and seed saving.  

Intermediate Classes: Saturdays, April 13, 20, 27 and May 4 (Topics forthcoming)

Cost: $55 for each series or $15 per class

Registration: Contact Jeri Huston 626-345-5466 jeri.huston@yahoo.com

For more information about the UC Cooperative Extensions, Los Angeles County, visit http://celosangeles.ucdavis.edu

Topic:    Roses: Planting, Pruning & Propagating

Fee:       Free

When:    Saturday February 2, 2013, 11:00 a.m. 

Where:  Altadena Community Garden

What to bring:     Your own gloves, clippers

The Altadena Community Garden and Pasadena Learning Gardens is offering a free workshop on Saturday February 2, 2013 at 11 a.m. at the Altadena Community Garden.  Learn from Master Gardener Mark Rice and local rose expert Elvira Smith during this free hands-on workshop.

Bring gloves and clippers and, if you would like to start your own roses from clippings, one- or five-gallon plant containers filled with garden soil.

Please consider helping: We hope this workshop will mark the beginning of a community of rose experts who will transform the toil of winter pruning into valuable learning opportunities for others.  If you’re a knowledgeable rose person and want to get involved please contact Mark.Rice@alumni.usc.edu or 626-272-2752.

As part of the Los Angeles County Parks and Recreation Department’s Parks After Dark program, Loma Alta Park representatives are conducting evening tours of the Altadena Community Garden.  The tours are from 6 to 7 p.m. until August 23rd. To reserve your spot on a tour, contact  Penny Daniels at pdaniels@parks.lacounty.gov, 626-398-5451, or Meliza Hernandez mhernandez@parks.lacounty.gov, 626-798-1173.

Altadena Community Garden 38^th Annual Picnic and Resource Fair

June 30, 2012 marks the 38^th annual Altadena Community Garden Picnic & Resource Fair. The members of the community garden invite the public to join them for a barbeque lunch, self-guided garden tours and a community education and resource fair from 1 to 5PM in the community garden and Loma Alta Park, located at the corner of Lincoln Avenue and Palm Street in Altadena. Lunch tickets are available for $8 in advance, $10 at the gate.

Gardeners provide hot and cold foods, many made from locally grown fruits and vegetables. Several gardeners will tend bbq grilles for 24 hours prior to the event, preparing ribs, chicken, beef hot links, veggie burgers and hot dogs for diners. Lemonade and sun tea, as well as sodas and bottled water, will be served, too.

The picnic is located inside the gates of the garden. Tables will be set up and decorated with seasonal flowers. The resource fair will be staged outside the garden gates in the circular roundabout south of the Loma Alta Park tennis courts.  Featured events will be garden tours, Altadena Farmers Market, yoga and tennis demonstrations, local botanical gardens, blood pressure screenings, community safety and alert information, plus representatives from Lincoln Avenue Water Company, LA County Sheriff’s and Fire Department and other public and private agencies.

About The Garden

The three acre corner of Lincoln Avenue and Palm Street holds 65 plots for over 128 gardeners and associate gardeners.  All pay annual dues, $73 for gardeners, $30 for associate gardeners.  Quarterly general membership meetings are held to review the needs and activities of the garden.  Current events include the development of a water conservation plan for the garden,, rainwater fruit tree orchard, garden corner beautification project, children gardening program and Common Ground Victory Garden class. Free seed packets are available to members at meetings.

The Garden was formed in 1973 by a group of West Altadena residents who wanted to garden with neighbors. The informal group chose an undeveloped plot of land to cultivate local, healthful fruits and vegetables.  Soon the County of Los Angeles decided to build an equestrian ring at the area now known as Loma Alta Park, and the County Department of Parks and Recreation relocated the garden. Permanent fencing, irrigation and parking was installed by the County. The Community Garden members developed bylaws, installed fruit trees, herbs, roses, native plants and succulents in communal areas.  ACG continues to work with the County to maintain the garden’s infrastructure and amenities.  For members’ shared use are picnic areas, a shaded deck, tool sheds, and walkways. Membership dues provide hand tools, mulch and organic fertilizer.

Applications for new members are available at the garden.  Further information, calendar, photos and garden contacts are available at the Altadena Community Garden website, http://www.altadenacommunitygarden.com.

#  #  #

Contact: Silvera Grant, President

silveragrant@gmail.com

Flyer for 2012 Garden Picnic

The annual Altadena Garden Picnic and Resource Fair is set for Saturday June 30 from 1pm-5pm.

Purchase tickets from silveragrant@gmail.com or roachapr@sbcglobal.net.

Tickets are $8.00 in advance (13 years to adult) or $10.00 at the door and $5.00 for children ages 6 to 12.  The picnic is free for children age 5 and under.

2012 Picnic Flyer in Spanish

By Rosamond Rodman

So it is high planting season, and you are probably making decisions now about what to plant in your plot.   Remember, though, that April and May’s gorgeously clement weather and your vivid imagination can make your life difficult come July and August.  What you plant now will require your considerable attention in the hottest months of the year. By making a few modifications in choosing plants, you’ll enjoy a less labor-intensive, less water-demanding season.

Flowers

Instead of water demanding dahlias and roses, try out some native California flowers instead.  One good choice is the monkey flower.  Varieties of this plant abound, and you can easily find it at good native plant nurseries, such as the Theodore Payne Foundation in Sunland and Santa Ana Botanical Garden in Claremont.  This perennial varies in color from reddish-toffee to butter yellow, depending on the conditions of your soil.  Particularly prolific in early summer, the plant will reward you with months of pretty blooms if, every couple of weeks (!), you deadhead the plant and give it a wash down/watering.  Hummingbirds love it.

Vegetables

Of course you will put in tomatoes.  But that corn you are thinking about?  Hang on a sec.  Given our sandy loam, and corn’s heavy demand for water, consider other vegetables that will reward your efforts with far less water, labor, time, and effort:  eggplant, black-eyed peas (cowpeas), and cantaloupe.

 Irrigation

As always, use drip irrigation to make sure the water goes just where it is needed. Deeper, infrequent watering will help edibles to develop deeper root systems that will further help them tolerate drought.

The When of Watering

It is always better to water in the morning, as it delivers water to the plant when it needs it allows plant leaves to dry out keeping foliar (leaf) diseases in check.