Hello one and all - we have a new phone number at the garden for SLOLA!   And the same number for The Learning Garden:

                                    424.521.0825 

I had the last phone number for over 20 years and I can't believe I've been on one phone number for so long - and back then I didn't want to get a mobile phone because it "changed the number." It turned out a mobile number is changed more often than the "old style." Que the new style - let's hope it stays "ours" for a very long time. I'm looking for a new photo to put up and some other stuff to make it much more stable and to get more regular posts for folks to get a better sense of what we we here. 

Got two new chapters in the stew and hope to have at least one of them to you before Christmas (ho ho oh...) 

Happy holidays to one and all. I hope to get a recap for the year - this has been a year of change, mostly for the good and a new paradigm. You can just now see the fruits of our work and we'd love to show you a life in the garden. 

Dress dirty. Bring gloves. Also bring water!*

Happy 2023, any minute now! 

david

The Gardenmaster

* Stay hydrated!! Happy New Year!!!

 Contact info at the end.

david

Seed Library of Los Angeles – Preserving Our Past For  Our Future

By Michele Robinson

 

With the help of many other seed devotees, Founding Chair, David King started The Seed Library of Los Angeles (SLOLA), a non-profit organization in 2010. Since its inception, the organization has grown to over 700 members.

 The Seed Library of Los Angeles is dedicated to collecting, studying and preserving varieties of seeds for future generations. King and his fellow seed fan's' goal is to save older, open-verity  seed varieties before they disappear from our planet.  

“I wanted to assemble a large library of viable seeds to distribute to our members to get non-GMO and unpatented seeds for the future,” says King.

 The reason we need to breed a variety of crops is because it helps farmers overcome challenges like crop failure due to drought, climate change, or other issues. According to King, the best way to preserve what we have and not lose any more varieties is to catalog these older varieties and keep  them in production.

 According to an article written by Mark Wilson in 2012, in 80 years, between 1903-1983, we lost 93% of the amount of food seed varieties. For example,” In 1903, we had almost 500 varieties of lettuce. By 1983, we had just 36. https://www.fastcompany.com/1669753/infographic-in-80-years-we-lost-93-of-variety-in-our-food-seeds). The loss of diversity is the culprit; we need to have many different varieties not for just the sake of having them - they may contain genes that are just right for this or that plants survival.

 The seed library is important because it allows people to grow seeds to save seeds in short supply and share seeds. Some of the seeds that the seed library collects gets grown for food, other seeds are grown for seed and still others are grown for both food and seed.

As King says, they are “seed-saving gardeners” with their mission to “save old seeds that are not patented or genetically altered in laboratories

 The Seed Library is looking to breed viable seeds that come to fruition and want to provide alternatives to genetically modified seeds (GMO).

 “They breed true. Not hybrid or GMO seeds,” says King. King explains that it is illegal to grow genetically modified seeds because they have patents and those seeds (wheat, corn and rice and others) are meant to feed cattle. Hybrid seeds are cheaper to produce and harder to destroy. The process of genetically modifying seeds leave us with fewer plants being bred by farmers and gardeners tailored to their environment; giving such seeds for both and an ever-increasing inventory of un-GMOed and bred locally seeds, are not grown for quick profit.

SLOLA works hand in hand with the Learning Garden located on the Venice High School campus, the Learning Garden is open to the public on the weekends. People are welcome to come to meet King, get free gardening advice and learn hands-on techniques on how to garden and remove weeds. Many gardeners help weed and plant seeds in the garden with different themes, among them a Fabric Garden, including, for example, cotton seeds, flax (which is immature linen) and Venice High School Classes.

“It’s a wonderful little place of discovery. All ages are welcome,” says King.

 The Learning Garden also gives back to the community. The fresh vegetables grown are collected and donated to help feed those who are experiencing food insecurity and help increase food justice.  

King also has some gardening tips: He recommends not using any pesticides when gardening. He believes it is better to have less production than to spray anything onto the crops. Pesticides remain active in the air and soil and are bad for both humans and livestock and play a big part of our current loss of insects we love – like butterflies.

As King says, “I want to save a variety of seed food species. I have always wanted to be part of the movement and want to give folks a new perspective on seeds and the food they give us.”

 You can also visit King and his volunteers on the last Sunday of the month, from 10 AM to 2 PM at the Mar Vista Farmers Market (corner of Grand View Blvd and Venice). They will give out free seeds and lots of useful information, all absolutely free! http://www.marvistafarmersmarket.org/

For a nominal fee ($10 life-time membership), members can enjoy attending meetings, guest speakers, free seeds and learn how to save seeds. No one is ever turned away, so if you cannot pay the membership fee, you are still welcome to join. For more information visit the SLOLA website at https://seedfreedom.info/partners/seed-library-of-los-angeles-slola-usa/ or contact King at greenteach@gmail.com.

Books; The First Selections for a Well Rounded Gardener

 

Reading List for June (these are the books I read that enlightened me as a gardener – several different lists for plants have been used over the last 20 years – you can find the lists posted at my blog;

The Complete Guide to Preserving Your Own Seeds for Your Garden Everything You Need to Know Explained Simply; Katie Murphy, 2011 Sometimes I think this book takes itself so seriously and tends to frustrate getting a direst answer without the old homey feel she's trying to project. However, the upside of that is you get a book that covers the nuances that this book maintains. And it does have the information. It's not expensive and if you have the cash, go for it.

Good Bugs for Your Garden; Allison Mia Starcher 1995 This is a great little book from a local artist and gardener (Santa Monica). It is still in print (I checked) and available at Amazon as well as eBay (for used copies that cost less). It is easy enough to read by children and informative enough to help adults carry on in their bug world.

The Resilient Gardener; Carol Deppe 2010 A very rewarding book in my list, her drawings and her familiarity with the insects that inhabit our gardens makes for fun reading and truly an education of these little critters – with which we must live, so grab a cup of coffee and sit down with this delightful book that you will read and reread over and over again. ANY book by Carol Deppe is worth it's time. Some of her books are not the books to start with – she taught this stuff in Oregon and can easily get a little too technical it's a great book, it just takes more effort to get through. She is brilliant – eventually read Deppe and you'll get what I mean.

Sadly, we lost Carol Deppe earlier this year. All of her books - and there are quite a few - are great books covering whatever the cover says it is covering. We will truly miss Carol but rejoice in the material she left behind. 

I finally did meet Carol at a seed fest held at the Seed Savers' Exchange held in the summer . I had told friends when I scheduled my flight to the mid-West that if I met up with Carol, I was going to buy her a drink of whatever she was drinking. I let it be known, I was not fooling around. 

I repeated my offer and finally one gentleman said, "Well there's your chance! That's her over there!" And so I marched over to her, repeated my offer and she laughed holding up a paper cup and said, "Well here you go, I'm drinking water." And then tried to induct me into a band she was putting together to sing about seeds. 

david

Use Less Water Now, Before You HAVE To

 

Water Wise Gardening in Los Angeles

David King, Gardenmaster at

greenteach@gmail.com 

the learning garden

If you listen to the news, you know California is in desperate drought and officials from all kinds of government are holding press conferences stressing the lack of water and everyone with a garden is being begged to use less water. Yet, if you want a garden producing food, how do you make the compromises needed to get some tomatoes or cucumbers without being guilty of over doing the water situation? https://www.permaculturenews.org/2010/09/16/ollas-unglazed-clay-pots-for-garden-irrigation/ 

Weeds

Weeds are drinking water in your garden. You don't need that. Get the weeds out and 'they don't worry you no more.'

Time your Watering

Water later in the day so the water has a much smaller window in which to be evaporated. No matter the condition of your soil. Water later at night rather than earlier. If you water as the sun goes down, the plants will remain in the area of the roots longer.

Interplant

Put drought resistant plants between the less resiliant so the hardy plants shade the less tolerable.

Monitor

Keep your eyes on your plants, watch them with more diligence, with taller plants (tomatoes, climbing beans, squashes) allow some covering some of the more sensitive plants – it will cut down your yield, but it will also cue your water usage. Be diligent with all your food plants, you'll get more harvest. Keep a journal. Allow the garden to teach you.

Mulch your pathways with chipped wood; the larger pieces are great for putting on pathways, the semi-large pierces that once were the bigger plants are lovely in the beds; the sunshine breaks the chips into smaller and smaller pieces; and finally rake the almost disintegrated wood chips around the plants in the beds. This material finalizing the breaking down of the wood chips and are mutually helping one another in breaking down these bits of organic matter that feed your plants over a longer period of time.

Most important for getting organic matter into your garden bed, is to introduce organic mulch and the critters that are the life in the soil. “Organic mulch” somewhat saying the same thing twice, is anything that can be broken down in our gardens while making the soil more rich.

I haven't included several other ways to grow plants, including “hydroponics” which ditch the soil altogether and grow the plants in water. I'm not particularly enthused with using a lot of plastic in my garden or in anything I'm going to be eating. Call me superstitious...

On the other hand there are other ideas that I do believe might have merit our attention; the use of ollas is the same idea as drip, but instead of plastic, the garden has underground clay pots that “leak” water into the soil, cutting out the need for plastic hoses and the like. They still need some research before they'll be accepted at large, but I see a lot of benefits in the mindset that brings changes in our vision and new ways to solve old problems. (Olla - pronounced oyeyas) - this is a sample of what they look like - although they come in all the colors of the world, this is the raw olla and would be one of my first choices for a garden as it blends into the garden over time. 

Sooner or later Angeles residents will be FORCED to adhere to some pretty hard new rules and we should be look at the new rules and begin, now, to decide what to do at once when the water is turned off. Even if you already garden with a look to sustainable practices, be advised that not enough people with reduce their water consumption (a fact we have learned from previous "save water" campaigns. Every single person who scoffs at demands we need to improve our water usage will prove the efficacy of water wise gardening. Make it a fun project; just do something to maintain our water supply. We are called to do better than we have. 

david

A King's Vision of a Greek Salad

It might be a bit early to think of the tomato harvest, and my admonitions to... but shucks! Those ripe and delicious tomatoes and cucumbers sing the early summer songs and I drift away with visions of previous Summers blessed with these delicious. This recipe (not really a recipe in the strictest of ways), is a part of Summers since childhood. 

Close to equal amounts of fresh tomatoes and fresh cucumbers. Do not slice neatly, but quickly and crudely chunk them into more or less bite sized pieces. I will be using San Marzano tomatoes and Armenian cucumbers for most of these this year. I love it! Greek salad with Italian tomatoes and Armenian cukes! Life in America.

Besides cukes and tomatoes, you will need a bit of everything below – keep them on hand throughout the summer and you'll be grateful more than once.

Olive oil – enough to generously coat each bite, not so much as to float anything

Pepper to taste

Small slices of red onion for a some zing (the Italian 'Torpedo,' or Tropea onions are one of my favorites) – the zing really brings out the lusciousness of everything else. The onions should not be the main attraction.

Crushed dried oregano (I like the Greek oregano)

Homemade or a really good store bought feta cheese also cut into chunks.

Mix them all together with laughter; the actual order things are placed in the bowl is not all that important, it's a forgetful, or disorderly, cook's dream!

Serve with:

Homemade bread yummmm – homemade bread!

Herb tea or lemonade

Good friends...

Change it up as availability of ingredients dictates.

Eat till you're full then take a nap in dappled sunshine!

But to have this party in your own back yard, you need to get going now! Our next “What To Do and When To Do It” on the 4^th of June. Only $20 (still) and full of humor, to mix wisdom and get your garden ignited. Still the 4^th, 10 AM to noon. We are outside, let that be your call for how you dress.. We'll post where we will have the class, check here or email David, greenteach@gmail.com!

Enjoy this summer all the more!

David King

Gardenmaster

Enjoy this summer!

David King

Gardenmaster

April 2022; Soils and Tomatoes in Your Garden

 

Fresh Tomatoes from Your Garden

Welcome to the return of What To Do & When To Do It; Tips for a Gardener. Every class features a garden plant and a gardening technique and – most importantly, we take time to answer questions in our intimate classes, usually less than 20 people. Combined with garden knowledge that spans over 40 years gardening and 20 years of teaching join us at 10 AM April 2. (Note we cannot process credit or debit cards.)

My outline for the class includes some soil fundamentals that are always on our mind as we tend our gardens. At any rate, there is probably no better place to start than with the soil. Bring your questions and we'll get them answered.

Join us Saturday, April 2, 10, o'clock at the Alumni Association House (across the street outside - sun glasses are advised) until Noon and you might want to bring a jacket/warm vest. Just as easily though, we could all be overheated: if you don't like the weather, just wait a few minutes. 

We'll do some soil basics and we'll do some tomato starts - we have several varieties that do well here in LA. I chose these varieties because I think they do better than most tomatoes here. Because tomatoes are such the rage in our gardens, we'll spend time on what varieties and why I didn't choose some of the others. It'll all come together

Any questions, email me at greenteach@gmail.com! Excited to be back with everyone!

david

Welcome to a new Spring beginning/intermediate class series. I hope you'll join us in a new series . This season's first meeting April 2 (the first Saturday of the month). Our classes run from 10 AM to Noon. Every class features a vegetable and we talk about how plants fit together as plants in their world world interacting with us. We are celebrating by workshop will be held on Walgrove at the Venice High School's Alumni's drive way/back yard... this is a new adventure for us.

Our first class will be on. You'll be able to choose a couple of tomato varieties and you'll care for them as they grow.

Welcome to the return of What To Do & When To Do It; Tips for a Gardener. Every class features a garden plant and a gardening technique and – most importantly, we take time to answer questions in our intimate classes, usually less than 20 people. Combined with garden knowledge that spans over 40 years gardening and 20 years of teaching join us at 10 AM April 2. (Note we cannot process credit or debit cards.)

My outline for the class includes some soil fundamentals as that are always on our mind as we begin our gardens. At any rate, there is probably is no better place to start than with the soil. Bring your questions and we'll get them answered.

Join me Saturday, April 2, 10, o'clock at the Alumni Association House (across the street outside - sun glasses are advised) until Noon and you might want to bring a jacket/warm vest. Just as easily though, we could all be overheated: if you don't like the weather, just wait a few minutes.

Any questions, email me at greenteach@gmail.com! Excited to be back with everyone!

david

Heirloom Seeds: Who Knows?

One day a couple of years ago, I found a medicine bottle on my desk with some seeds.  Plastic medicine bottles, not being recyclable (because of the former contents) are a favorite for some seed savers. I looked for a note, but didn't find one, there was nothing written on the bottle, just a tablespoon's worth of seeds.

At first, I took them to be sweet pea seeds, but on a closer look these were okra seeds - larger than sweet pea seeds and missing the light spot (the "hilum" or the characteristic "eye" on many bean and pea seeds).  OK, so I had a tablespoon of okra seeds.  No note, no label, no nothing....  This was late summer and I put them aside - I figured we'd just grow it out and figure out what it was from the final product.

That's where we started.  In spring, I started six plants - gave a few away to interested parties and kept three to grow out at the garden.  It was a pretty normal flower for an okra, so we had nothing to help us there.  The plants grew strong and healthy, there was nothing unusual about the plants.  And when we got the fruit, guess what!

Not the best shot, but you can see the okra seeds,
round, in the center, ready to roll away.

It was just okra.  It was a good producer, nice pods, lovely flower, no complaints.  But it was **just okra**.  There was nothing that made it look different from any other okra on the planet.  It wasn't Burgundy okra, which would have had some reddish tones, it wasn't Jing, which is orange, it wasn't particularly long enough to be Perkin's Long Pod Okra.

Just an ordinary, gonna be gumbo again, okra.

After a deep breath, not having a wide variety of okra in the Seed Library, I decided to add it to the inventory and the only name to use was "Don't Knowkra."  And that's how we came up with our okra selection, Don't Knowkra - it is a good producer but an entirely average okra in all respects.  If you like okra, you'll not miss with Don't Knowkra.

The seeds roll right out of the pod when completely ripe -
in the meantime, they make for a creative shaker
instrument for children of all ages.

The okra seed pods are very interesting in that they ripen over a fairly long period of time and, as the pods age, the seeds simply roll out the end of the pod, and being round and all like that, they roll away from the mother plant.

I intend to revisit these pods again and take some photos with a quarter in them to show the relative size.  I'm more interested in saving seeds than shooting them!

david