Hello Members:
Happy New Year 2025 from the LBCG Board!
It is nice to see so many beautiful gardens. We are enjoying a great fall/winter season and the food bank donations have been bountiful. All your donations are greatly appreciated so please keep up the good work.
Saturday January 4th Work Party — There are four (4) more work parties before the April 30 deadline to complete the 4 hours for the year. Weather is good and cool for a 2-hour period of work so get your hours in before it gets hot. Please reply to this email and RSVP if you plan to attend the Saturday work party. It really helps us plan the assignments.
You can also email lbcg.orchard@gmail.com if you would like to help in the Orchard on Tuesdays, 3-5pm. The Orchard Manager really appreciates your help.
Weeds, Weeds & More Weeds — With the cooler weather coming everyone should get out and clear weeds NOT ONLY from your garden but from your PATHWAYS — and then mulch them. DO NOT simply cover the weeds with mulch or you will have a bigger mess in a month or so. Dig out the weeds and then mulch.
7 Foot Rule: Nothing in the plot can be higher than 7’. Such as trellis height, storing wire and wooden poles, remember the 7’ height limit.
Upcoming Renewals — Renewals will be emailed in February and must be returned no later than April 30th. If you do not plan to renew your membership, please respond to this email so we can plan accordingly. We do not want plots to turn to weeds and we like to orient new members before the spring/summer.
Next Board Meeting — The next LBCGA Board Meeting is scheduled for February 3rd at 6:30pm via Zoom. If interested, email me and I will share the link prior to the meeting.
Empty Plots — You probably have noticed that we have around ten empty gardens, which is not unusual for this time of the year. For some reason, most people think of Summer gardening with tomatoes, peppers, beans, etc. Personally, many of us love the fall and winter gardening for a variety of reasons: 1) There is usually cooler weather to work in but the operative word here is “usually”, as it has been a warm one this fall and 2) The weeds don’t grow quite so fast!! If you know a friend or family member who lives in Long Beach and is interested in a garden, let them know they should apply now while we have vacancies.
Highlighting Special Project — Recently, Noah Sinclair (grandson of former member, Jane Larsen) did a wonderful job dividing and remounting the Staghorn Fern which had originally been donated by Karen Belville’s mother (O-3). The plant had a lot of old fronds and roots that needed to be cut away to create several new specimens that will be much healthier and frame the Food Bank table.
Looking forward to a plentiful new year!
Happy Gardening!
Greg Marcotte