February 2020 E-Newsletter
Who loves a garden loves a greenhouse too.
-William Cowper
Featured Instagram Photo of the Month: A giant head of purple cauliflower.
Upcoming Garden Events:
Feb. 1 - Greenhouse Fundraiser - Noon - 1:00 PM
Feb. 8 - Saturday Workday - 9:00 AM - Noon
Feb. 8 - Potluck Lunch - Noon Feb. 8 - General Meeting - 1:00 PM
Feb. 23 - Sunday Workday - 1:00 PM - 4:00 PM
Feb. 29 - Seed Starting class - 9:30 AM - 11:30 AM
Useful info:
- Where did all the rain go? After a wet December, January has been dryer than usual. These relatively mild days have been great for gardening. Hopefully, you’ve used this to your advantage, weeding and mulching your path. February tends to be the wettest month of the year for Los Angeles, so make sure to take advantage of any fair-weather forecasts as they come. There is a greenhouse fundraiser on Saturday, February 1st. More information below – but check out the sale if you’re looking for some spring planting inspiration. Aside from the transplants offered at the fundraiser, you can also plant the seeds for salad greens and root veggies like beets, carrots, parsnips and radishes. The Gardening in LA blog has some good advice for the month as long as you ignore anything about frost or early summer plants. The ocean influence at the garden protects us from frost but also tends to buffer out any hopes of an early summer.
- OVF and Garden Conservancy Member Joseph Mareck is spreading the word about an event some garden members might be interested in. Joseph writes: "I’m involved with the Garden Conservancy and we are having a talk by Aaron Bertelsen from Great Dixter on Sunday, February 23rd at The Mar Vista. He’s going to be discussing his new book about growing fruits and vegetables in containers and local chef Jill Davie will be preparing a farm-to-table dinner to go along with it." It’s great to be able to support the Garden Conservancy and all they do to help preserve America’s gardens.
OVF Announcements:
Greenhouse Fundraiser
The OVF Greenhouse is having its "Almost Spring" seedling sale on Saturday, Feb 1 at 12 noon in the community meeting area.
This is a transition period between cool season and warm season plants. It’s too cool to plant heat-loving summer plants like cucumbers, squash, peppers and most tomatoes. However the greenhouse does have a limited number of an extra early, cold tolerant tomato – GLACIER- for adventurous gardeners who can’t wait till consistent warm weather. Glacier has 2-3 ounce red tomatoes with a sweet-tart flavor. It is a determinate tomato, which means it will only grow to about 4 ft.
There are also 2 interesting flowers available: Jade sunflower and the night and day snapdragon. Jade is a shorter sunflower to 4 ft with creamy-white petals and a green center. The night and day snapdragon has dark leaves with 2-tone deep red and white flowers. Both flowers are great for cutting and attractive to bees.
The full list of seedlings is on the OVF website.
And, as always, PLEASE bring small bills. We got inundated with $20 bills at the last sale and struggled to make change.
Seed Starting Class
Have you ever wondered where the plants at the seedling sales come from? Want to experience the satisfaction of growing food from seed to plate?
Greenhousekeeper Nina Rumely will teach a class on seed starting on Saturday, Feb 29, from 9:30 to 11:30 in the community meeting area. Class size is limited to 24 and you must pre-register on the website, so don’t delay!
Participants will learn how to start seeds in containers, using the proper soil mix as well as watering technique.
Information about the many different seed catalogs will be provided along with local sources of organic products.
Seeds for the coming warm season, soil & clean containers will be provided, but you may bring your seeds too.
The wonderful Greenhouse volunteers will water your containers for the 5 weeks they are inside the OVF Greenhouse.
Tomato-bration is Coming!
Mark your calendars tomato lovers: Tomato-bration will be returning to the garden the weekend of March 21-22nd. More information about this terrific plant sale and educaitonal day to come. However, anyone who wants to volunteer during a morning or afternoon shift can reach out now to Andy Morris.
OVF Board of Directors
IMEMDIATE opening for Phase 2 Upper Phase Representative – Phase 2 Upper representative Pam Brissette has been accepted to nursing school and will be giving up her garden plot to concentrate on her studies. We wish her and her family nothing but the best in this next chapter of her life. The Board of Directors is seeking a volunteer interested in filling the remainder of Pam’s term (ends April 2021). If this sounds like something you are interested in or have any questions, please contact OVF President Frank Harris.
Elections for approximately one-half of the OVF board positions will be held at our annual meeting of members on April 11, 2020. The positions that are up for election this year will be:
- President
- Treasurer
- Recording Secretary
- Education Chair
- Middle Phase 1 Phase Representative
- Lower Phase 1 Phase Representative
- Lower Phase 2 Phase Representative
- Lower Phase 3 Phase Representative
- Lower Phase 4 Phase Representative
If you are interested in running for any of these positions, please contact Election Coordinator Nora Dvosin.
2020 Pine Tree Chats (Additional dates)
By special request, President Frank Harris will hold two additional Pine Tree Chats in February to answer any questions or address any concerns you may have about any of the positions up for election at the April general Meeting. Feel free to also stop by to bring up any other questions you may have about your time at OVF. We hope to see you there.
- 10:00 AM – Saturday, February 15th, 2020
- 11:00 AM – Sunday, February 16th, 2020
As always: we want to hear from you! Send us an email, reach out on Facebook, or tag us on Instagram @oceanviewfarms.
That’s all for now. Happy gardening!