Master Gardeners, Feb. 23

It's time to begin planning and starting your Spring garden

The UCCE/LA County Master Gardeners can help! And they'll have packets of seeds and seedlings to give away including

 "Little Marvel" - shelling peas

Red Russian Kale - it loves the cold weather we've been having.

Wasabi arugula - yep, tastes like the paste! Yummy edible blossoms, too.

Mild mustard greens

Red Salad Bowl Lettuce is easy to grow and has tasty red leaves. Loves this cool weather!

Shungiku edible mums - this is the last of them.

Come by for a free plant, some seeds, some advice and some garden chat!

Our wonderful Master Gardener volunteers complete an intensive training program in all aspects of gardening and are a font of information. They give their time teaching others, especially in low-resource communities.

Energy Upgrade California, Feb. 17

 Rebates and Incentives for Energy Efficient Home Upgrades

Stop by the Green Tent this Sunday, February 17, to learn how you can make your home more energy efficient and lower your utility bills. Program representatives for Energy Upgrade CA in LA County will be on hand to provide information about the rebates and incentives (up to $4,500) available for  homeowners who make energy efficiency upgrades to their home. 

In the City of Los Angeles, Energy Upgrade CA is offered through SoCalGas in partnership with the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power.

By working with a specially trained Participating Contractor, program participants can get an assessment of their homes’ energy use and specific recommendations to make their homes more energy efficient. Once the selected upgrades are completed, participants typically reduce their energy use by approximately 10 to 45 percent and earn rebates and incentives that help pay for some of the costs of achieving those savings. In turn, homeowners not only save money, but they also directly reduce their impact on the environment by using less energy and make their homes more comfortable and healthy to live in.

Bike and ride...

Bike and ride...

...they go together - especially when you have a lightweight, collapsible bike like this from Tern

It will be on display when LA Metro visits the Green Tent on Sunday, Feb. 3.

LA Metro, Feb. 3

Metro's route to a greener L.A.

LA Metro is visiting the Green Tent! 


The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transit Authority operates the nation’s largest fleet of compressed natural gas buses – 2222 vehicles providing safe, clean, reliable, on-time and courteous service. About 1.4 million passengers board Metro buses and trains every day. 

Stop by the Green Tent and 

• Get information on Metro transit programs as well as bus and rail schedules

• Get answers to your questions about our Expo line

• Find out about Metro's 
Green Construction and Renewable Energy policies

• Learn what Metro's doing to make it easier to park and ride...plug in and ride...and bike and ride

They'll be lots of give-aways, including Metro to Be Green Canvas Bags, Recycled Pens, Pop Up Buses/Trains and Bike Pocket Guides and Maps.

Total pollutant emissions from bus and rail operations decreased 20 percent – that’s 362 tons -- between 2010 and 2011. Over the last decade, as Metro switched from diesel to CNG buses, air toxic pollutants were reduced by more than 92%. LA County residents taking transit offset about a billion passenger car vehicle miles each year; this translates to saving an estimated 420,000 metric tons of CO₂ emissions annually!

The American Association of State Highway Transportation Officials recently recognized Metro for its vision and leadership in the area of sustainability and environment.  Metro's Environmental Institute, developed to better create environmental and sustainability-related awareness, offer energy and resource management training programs, and better manage our hazardous materials and waste, was recently recognized by the National Training Institute as a model program for other transit agencies across the nation.

Master Gardeners, Jan. 27

Seeds, Seedlings, and Master Gardeners

January and February are great months to begin planning and starting your Spring and Fall plantings. In addition to information, the UCCE/LA County Master Gardeners have packets of seeds and free seedlings to give away.

Red Russian Kale loves the cold weather we've been having.

Edible Chrysanthemum, Shungiku. This Mediterranean native was taken to the Orient in ancient times, then made it to the US from Japan.  Its tender edible greens and flowers have a unique zesty flavor. 

Calendula "pot marigold" is an edible flower, easy to grow, blooms for months, also a long lasting cut flower.  Will reseed in your garden...this is a good thing!

Bloomsdale  Spinach grows best during cool weather. Harvest young.  We also have seeds so take a package and keep sowing all winter/spring long. It's Master Gardener Sarah's favorite spinach.

 
Cilantro/Coriander  "Santo"  is a good container variety.  Can also grow inside in a bright sunny window.

Red Salad Bowl Lettuce is easy to grow and has tasty red leaves. Loves this cool weather!

Our wonderful Master Gardener volunteers complete an intensive training program in all aspects of gardening and are a font of information. They give their time teaching others, especially in low-resource communities.

Open Neighborhoods, Jan. 20

Like this picture?

Visit the Green Tent on Sunday, January 20, to learn about Feed-in Tariff, a new LADWP solar buyback program that launches this February. FIT will provide 100 megawatts of clean, local, renewable energy to neighborhoods throughout the City of Los Angeles. As the largest urban rooftop solar program of its kind in America, LADWP's local investments will generate 4,500 jobs and $500 million in new economic activity for the city.

Green Tent guest Open Neighborhoods has the details. 

• Learn how you can receive up to $0.38 per kilowatt hour during the first six months of the program for electricity generated from sunshine on your roof.
• Find out how to submit your property application for an LADWP power purchase agreement.
• View an instant satellite evaluation of solar energy potential on your property.
• Discover how you can benefit from the largess even if you don't own a rooftop.  

Open Neighborhoods is dedicated to connecting and informing local neighborhoods with social networking services, open Internet access and clean electricity. Proudly serving Southern California neighborhoods.

Eco-friendly Custom Landscapes, Jan. 13

Wonderful Native Plants

Are you interested in changing over to a low care, eco-friendly landscape? It's hard to beat the plants that were here before we even discovered California. You can create a little haven to help feed and protect our local and endangered butterflies, native bees, hummer and other birds. 

You can easily add natives into your landscape as there are varieties adapted to all types of soil, sun and watering. How about a colorful and ever changing wildflower meadow instead of that all green lawn? 

Come by the Green Tent to see and learn about some of our beautiful native plants. Deni Friese has been studying and planting natives since the'70s and can tell you from personal and professional experience how to choose, plant and maintain our wonderful native plants.

Denise "Deni" Friese, ecologist and owner of Eco-Friendly Custom Landscapes, is a trainer for the LA County Master Gardener program and president of the Culver City/Westside Garden Club. She teaches  and consults on many aspects of landscaping and low-water irrigation.

Energy Upgrade Solutions, Jan. 6

Is your home wasting energy?

Are some rooms in your house hotter or colder than others? Do you seem to pay a lot more for gas and power than your neighbors and friends? Does mold keep rearing its ugly head?  Perhaps your house needs a check up to test how healthy and efficient it is and to identify projects with the biggest payback.

An energy efficient home is a more comfortable home, with fewer drafts, lower energy bills, higher resale value and healthier indoor air quality. Energy Upgrade Solutions will explain the home audit process and some of the sophisticated equipment used. They'll also provide information about incentives currently available for retrofitting and weatherizing homes. 

There are numerous sources for rebates and incentives, particularly from Energy Upgrade California, a state program that is administered and financed by the cities, counties and utility companies, including the LADWP and the Southern California Gas Company. A homeowner can get up to $4,000 back in rebates, along with other incentives for getting an energy upgrade for their home. 

Palisades’ residents Scott Kelly, Susan Sullivan and Chris Hope started Energy Upgrade Solutions as a response to the need to retrofit the existing stock of homes in Pacific Palisades and the Westside. Its primary focus is on energy upgrades and sustainable green building.

The Learning Garden, Dec. 30

Bugs on my broccoli

Flies in the fennel and aphids on the artichoke

They're everywhere!!

What does it mean? Is is something you did? Or something you didn't do?

Gardeners come nose to nose with insects sooner, and more often, than they'd like. Because insects are foreign to us of the modern world, we feel uneasy when we find them on our vegetables. But insects are a part of the world of nature and our gardens are but a window to that world.

How do we deal with them? Do we spray something? What sprays work? When do we apply them? How do we apply them? What are other ways of dealing with pests?

With more than fifty years of gardening experience, 10 of which at The Learning Garden at Venice High School, David King has come nose to nose with a number of critters. His 'post-modern' organic idea of insect and insect control is an easy way to get along with these critters and still grow lots of good food. He'll change your mind about pest control!

Rainwater Catchment and Harvesting, Dec. 23

Rainwater Catchment and Harvesting 

Newly-planted rain garden from
2012 Mar Vista Green Garden Showcase

Would you like to help the planet and reduce your water bill at the same time? How about also reducing toxic runoff, restoring our ground water, creating an emergency water supply and having cleaner, non-chlorinated water to use for your plants (and many other things)?  Plus reduce the energy, toxic chemicals, pollution and other environmental impacts of bringing our water from long distances?  

Wow! Who knew something as simple and inexpensive as collecting rain water and/or making a rain garden could do so much?  

Come find out why and how you can get started capturing and harvesting rainwater.  Local landscaper and ecologist Denise “Deni” Friese will be on-hand with more information about rain barrels, rain benches and the creation of rain gardens. 

Rain barrels make great “green” gifts for the person who has everything! Find out more at http://www.rainbarrelsintl.com/products.asp.

Denise "Deni" Friese, owner of Eco-Friendly Custom Landscapes and and ecologist since the 1970's, is a trainer for the LA County Master Gardener program and president of the Culver City/Westside Garden Club. She teaches  and consults on many aspects of landscaping and low-water irrigation.