Organic Gardening Summer/Father's Day Weekend

Just in time for the double whammy weekend of Father's Day and the Summer Solstice, we've got a workshop for you to play in the dirt with your kids. Help us help you make growing your own a family affair.

Organic Gardening for Kids and Parents
Learn how to plant an earth-friendly garden with friends and family.

Saturday, June 20th

4:00 p.m.

At a Private Residence on the Eastside

Taught  by Sustainability  Coach, Deborah Tull

Adults: 20.00

Kids: 10.00

Additional kids: 5.00

*For more information and to reserve a place call 323-665-7454 or 

email creativegreen@hotmail.com.

"Those are the tomatoes I watered" and "I grew that squash" are only two of the many cool things you can brag about as you enjoy the fruits of your family's labor around the dinner table. And for inspiration, we want to share with you some photos of All Shades owner, Liza, and the beginnings of an organic garden at her daughter, Hannah's school in Israel. 

Once again, she shows us how it's done as Deborah will show us in person on Saturday. 

Hope to see you there!

The Low Down on the Composting Workshop

We had a fantastic turnout yesterday evening for the Composting Workshop--22 people came out to join expert John Lyons of The Woven Garden.

For those who missed it, here are a few tidbits you can take to your own backyard.  And, if you want more help, stay tuned for an Organic Gardening Workshop next month with Deborah.

A couple of tips from Composting 101:

Forget the city green bin if you have a garden.  Everything that's going in there can go into your compost bin instead--it's part of the perfect recipe for nutritious soil.

Balance your greens (nitrogen-rich items like kitchen food scraps and grass clippings) with your browns (carbon-rich items like newspaper, wood shavings, and dried leaves). 

If you're looking to heat up your compost pile and don't have access to manure (no cows on your property?), just buy some alfalfa meal and add it to your compost--it'll do the job, too.

And, as you look ahead to next fall, you can collect all of the dead leaves that drape your property in a bag and tie it up.  Setting it aside for a year will create leaf mold, one of the most nutrient-rich soil amendments around that can be spread, sparingly, on your soil.  (Good things like leaf mold come to those who wait.) 

Best of luck!