Alex – Page 3 – Bloom Dammit!

February 21, 2019

California Native Seed Planting – Changing Behavior

First thing we did when we bought our house was mulch – see here

And although I didn’t have a plan, I knew that we had to do something to conserve water in our Los Angeles suburb of Burbank. With drought after drought, we have to collectively change the way we look at grass. Easier said than done, since human behavior and convenience is one of the hardest things to change. Some of us look at grass as an antiquated relic of the idealized past, an image manipulated to create an oasis in California in order to lure east coasters. Beyond that, I see a lot of Latino families seeing grass as their manifestation of the American dream. Some folks worked hard, bought a home and grass is the physical representation of that.

I try to learn from others, and overall try to be less judgemental of others with how they choose to spend time, money, and effort but we must do more outside of our little zero-waste and conservation bubble. It’s an echo chamber of sorts and I would like to do more to outreach.

One organization that does a good job on education others on the benefits of natives, as they tie into water conservation is Theodore Payne Foundation link here

I’ve taken art classes there, bought seeds there and recently connected with an educator. I do think they fill a void, they don’t just sell items but they’re interested in selling plants that are colorful and don’t look like native weeds. They also lead by example, they have solar installed on their roof, their volunteers are knowledgeable, and they’re a non-profit.

Where I do have a gripe is the accessibility quotient. I do understand that natives take A LOOOOOONG time to grow, and herein lies the problem. The mark-up on these plants, the cost and the affordability doesn’t cater to anyone but the richest of Angelinos. Some of these plants are in the $18-$22 range and it’s hard for someone to shell out that much for a front yard overhaul.

My suggestion is to go for the seeds – start planting in the fall and see the results in late winter and early spring.

February 20, 2019

Composting at an Elementary School

Over the last few months, I’ve been composting at Micheltorena Elementary. I work as a school garden ranger, and people drop off compost. I turn the pile, get the kids involved and discuss nitrogen and carbon balance.

The hardest thing to accept has been, why won’t the school compost? I’ve been looking at the lunch menu and although not all the items can be broken down, some can be.

I often teach kids about growing our own food, permaculture, sustainability and zero-waste but all of that is pointless is we don’t teach by doing.

As of last week, I’ve been able to work hand-in-hand with the principal at this school to establish a small, 5-gallon compost bucket. Disclaimer, I work for Enrich LA, and this is an initiative for us as employees. My challenge isn’t the support, believe me I have it, but I need to figure out ways to get other people truly excited and engaged in this next endeavor.

I’m attaching a file, with my plans on what I intend to do, and what has been implemented – in hopes that it will inspire you or inspire others to take the leap and compost at your neighborhood school.

We are in the implementation phase, so far we’ve collected a few pounds of organic waste. We’ve added it to the pile and used the paper plates (non-waxed) to balance the nitrogen and carbon.

I’ve included some pictures here, but the value is in the plan. Please credit me if you’d like to use it.

without education, we end up with perfectly good food in the waste system and plastic in compost

Composting Plan for Elementary School

February 3, 2019

Soil – Teaching Kids

One of the reasons we love our yard so much is that we can have pets, have a garden but also entertain our kid. While many complain about too much time online or watching TV, we’re happy we get to open the door and tell our kid to play with dirt. My job is also working with kids, working with EnrichLA and local elementary schools to teach, but lately I feel like I’ve been learning so much.

The kids I teach are young this time around, and the lessons aren’t really landing well, partially because definitions of soil are boring and the age of the kids. I often use my 2 year old as I test the lessons. If it doesn’t land well with a toddler, it’s not going to land well with a 4-5 year old who has a mind of their own.

I found this resource for soil here: https://www.soils4teachers.org/know-soil-know-life

I like to explain things to kids the way I would explain them to adults, meaning that I don’t want to dumb down a lesson thinking that children can’t understand, because they can. The definitions didn’t land, but the applied part did. We were able to play with soil, get the kids handling the dirt – and we even found a friend. We were able to go from basic soil composition to discussing soil as a habitat and ecosystem for critters.

This was one of my most challenging lessons, I will do things slightly different next time – perhaps have different types of soil on hand and match plants to the soil. Til next time.

February 2, 2019

Burbank Backyard Food Growers – 1st Annual Seed Exchange

I’m part of a solid group of backyard growers that occasionally come together to exchange excess backyard produce. After following some successful gardeners on Instagram, I got the idea to do our own local seed exchange. Not only would this be a great way to connect, but our seeds would be successful since the meeting and exchange would be really local.

We coordinated online, check out the group here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1216601628460596/

A lot of people tend to collect a lot of seeds, and truly it’s nice to have a surplus, however, some seeds lose their ability to germinate as well as time goes on. Seed exchanges are good for sharing what you have excess of, and acquiring new seeds you may not have known about.

I was also able to learn a lot about what grows in our zone 10 in Burbank. Lot’s of experienced growers came out, and I was even able to gather some Yuzu seeds from a guest.

The other upside is that we’re trying to reduce our use of disposable and plastic goods. We were able to upcycle some of the pharmacy bottles and plastic containers from the dispensary into seed containers.

Check out some pictures of our rainy day exchange

January 4, 2019

Mandarin Harvest

Finally my mandarins are here! Rejoice! Why am I so happy? First, these are so easy to peel and the fruit is just so sweet. My variety has seeds and so I tend to be careful when giving them to kids, but the seeds are small and sometimes soft, so I don’t worry too much.

Last year my harvest was appalling, there was enough fruit for the squirrels and maybe a remnant for me. This year, I vowed to take a more active interest in my trees – meaning, increase the amount of time I spent caring for them. Refer to my guava post.

My mandarin tree is located on the east side of our property and there is a little too much shade on the south side/east side corner. I cut down some problematic bamboo trees (more on this later) and am still working to cut through the root system of the bamboo for two reasons: 1. provide shade 2. provide space for the mandarin roots to grow. The sun did wonders for the mandarin, and I increased the water ritual, now I do a deep watering once every 2 months on a low trickle, ensuring that the slow trickle gets to the deep root system instead of running off.

I also identified this tree as a mandarin and have been going back and forth regarding the tangerine/mandarin naming convention – find out more about this lovely citrus tree by clicking here and reading this pdf from the yuma county coop extension.

January 4, 2019

2019 Zero Waste Resolutions

I have such a hard time talking about zero waste. Let’s face it, aside from a handful of people who keep their trash in tiny mason jars, it’s a really hard process for everyone else who isn’t obsessed. So people like to say it’s a journey, and it is… a long journey of watching everything that comes into your home. My other issue with this movement is that it can sometimes be an upper middle class struggle, or a movement for the elite. When you have very little money, and resources, you tend to buy what is on sale, what is available and sometimes that food has more plastic. So I’m trying to strike a balance in finding affordable solutions that are open to everyone. Here I go.

BULK

This is the first area I’d like to expand on. I don’t mean go to sprouts or whole foods bulk bin – but if you’re not there yet, please try it. I mean, finding a farmer I can buy bulk grains from, maybe 5lb. bag or so to get me through a few months – this way, all I have to worry about is one container. Take into account quinoa – I buy one small plastic bag at a time. If I buy a 5lb. container and request it in a cloth bag, I may be able to reduce a lot of my personal plastic. Lately I’ve been looking into buying from Kandarian Organics.

Grow Your Own

This is easier for those of us who have the space, but don’t be discouraged. There are a lot of areas that offer community gardens that are easy to rent a raised bed from for a nominal fee.

Less Amazon – More Buy Nothing Group

Recently we got a puppy, and my husband is super responsible and wanted to get a harness and start lessons right away. He purchased an xs dog harness from amazon, and it was too small. I accidentally threw out the box and now we’re stuck with it. I didn’t want to spend another 25 bucks on getting the next size up, so I posted on my local Buy Nothing Group page and had 3 people offer up their dog harness. It was the most wonderful thing to have people who are so kind gift you something. It’s mutually beneficial too, as they’re probably looking to declutter their home too. To find out more about the Buy Nothing Project click here.

I’ll be sure to keep adding to the list, but for now this is what I have going on. Please feel free to comment on anything you think I should try, or add in order to share with others.

January 1, 2019

Guava Goodness

We have two guava trees in the backyard, one is a white/pink guava and the other one a pineapple guava. I was ready to throw in the towel and cut down the guava tree last year, since it didn’t produce any fruits.

This is one of the few times I decided to go against my gut feeling and try to be logical about it. This tree looked like it had been in my backyard for years, and it was a disappointment that it didn’t provide any fruit. So I changed my attitude about it and made some observations and changes.

Sunlight

There is a large hedge that sits between our yard (on our property), a mandarin tree crowding the guava, and a large navel orange tree blocking out light. I trimmed back what I could manage, and had some landscape guys come in with some industrial sized ladders to handle the rest.

Water

Yes, it’s obvious, more water. But it wasn’t obvious to me. I was watering my trees every few months, with superficial waterings in between. I increased watering this tree to every 2-3 months. This seemed to get the leaves to change their shape, from a curved and withered look so the leaves opening up some more. In 2019, I will probably do a longer, deeper watering once a month with a slower trickle of water.

Fertilizer/Mulch

This was possibly the largest heavy lift of the project. I started by mulching a circle around the tree. I pulled up all grass around the tree, any invasive roots or other plants that could have been crowding this plant. I provided this plant with Dr. Earth’s fruit fertilizer, it truly is my go-to for a few of my trees. In the next year, I will more than likely cut back on this fertilizer and just try to get my soil health to a better place, by using some horse manure and letting it cure before I apply it. I will also add in more compost and perhaps some worm juice to help it.

I’ve never tasted anything as beautiful, delicate and exotic as a pineapple guava, and I really can’t wait to continue to nurse this tree until it can provide enough fruit for me, the squirrels and birds – who knows, one day I may actually have enough fruit to share with neighbors and friends.

December 26, 2018

Moving and Getting to Know a New Garden in Zone 10

Last year, we moved. It was hard. Hard doesn’t begin to explain it – we got married, had a baby and bought a house. And although it seems like the trifecta of happiness, it can be so hard to leave behind an old house with so many memories and accept change.

My previous garden was limited to raised beds on top of concrete, but there was a lot of learning happening in those raised beds. I mainly overwatered and didn’t really research too much about my zone or the history of my neighborhood. I lived in Elysian Valley, now referred to as Frog Town. It’s on the edge of the Los Angeles river and it’s a hotbed of controversy – which I’ll post about at a later date. The river delivered a lot of sediment and really nurtured the land previously – to the point that there are some magnificent trees with an abundance of citrus. Just about everyone gardened there and walked everywhere. It was a place to learn for sure. We moved to Burbank which is a suburb of Los Angeles and although the zone is the similar if not the same, the soil quality was significantly different – ground versus raised bed. The temperature tends to be hotter in the summer, and much cooler in the winter.

Since this is our first home and we’re no longer renting, I wanted to spend time falling in love with the trees and getting to know the soil. There was a lot already planted – but the cacti were rooting from the inside out and although we had a lot of beautiful trees, it seemed like they were neglected. I didn’t see any guavas the entire first year, and the mandarins produced maybe a dozen or so fruit.

One thing I really dove into was understanding my zone for Burbank, I used USDA hardiness zone: https://planthardiness.ars.usda.gov/PHZMWeb/. My zone is 10a according to this, and other lists give me 10b. I think Burbank straddles both and I see similarities so I just go with it. The second thing we did was get a bunch of mulch delivered and we killed the front yard grass. Part of me was just trying to make a statement about not needing grass in Los Angeles, but part of me knew this would heal the soil – but mainly the first part.

I’ll keep posting about my adventures as I get to know my garden, it’s a whole new beast but I will say, we did benefit from beautiful trees that were already established and I can’t wait to plant more.

December 17, 2018

Loofah Sponges and Waste Reduction

I visited my friend, Farmer Rishi at his farm to pick up a mango tree and came across the most beautiful hanging squash. It’s great to go to someone’s home and see their kitchen, their garden, but seeing someone’s farm just gives me next level envy. I asked him what these plants were and he said Loofah gourds. I remembered living in Mexico and this was the standard for exfoliating, for scrubbing counters and for cleaning dishes. And I’m really looking forward to trying it out.

There is so much talk about microfiber cloths and plastic components either ending up in our waterways or ending up in our landfill without the ability to breakdown. I was going to wait to grow it this upcoming year, and hope for the best – still planning on that but I came across some loofah sponges at El Mercadito in East Los. I bought a nice size sponge for $4.00. Yes, it was a trek and a half to get there, and it’s ridiculously crowded at the moment, pre-Christmas, but I really do think I got more than a bargain, since I can probably make upwards of 1 dozen sponges from this baby.

December 16, 2018

Mandarins and Getting Citrus Going

We bought a house in Burbank last year, a small suburb outside of Los Angeles. The house itself needs so much work but the backyard had established trees, which is a dream.

We had a lot of oranges that came, and they were juicy and wonderful and we had a handful of mandarins. These were so delicious but we didn’t get a lot. Part of the problem was the critter to harvest ratio – too many animals feeding on too few fruit. So I tried a little harder the following season, more water, more fertilizer and the leaves seemed to be doing well however, I didn’t see substantial growth.

What I noticed was that the mandarin was planted along the East facing wall, and the south facing hedges had grown too tall, blocking out substantial sun. I trimmed these back, the bamboo and whatever other trees are planted next to them. This helped get some light and I started seeing change after 3 or so months. I’m going to keep attempting to see this process through and go from there.