Can't Believe I Missed It Again

The Lawn Bowling Green at Recreation Park held an open house on Saturday and I missed it! The Long Beach Lawn Bowling Club was established in 1929--that's 90 years, history lovers--and I've always been curious about this seemingly genteel pastime. The players wear whites on Sundays for pete's sake. The LBLBC website seems very welcoming and offers free lessons as well as a schedule of matches. I'll just have to mosey over and watch a game one day.

Bike Commute Week Starts Tomorrow

This is the week to grease those axles and tighten the brake cables. Plan a route without too many hills or too much traffic and give yourself ample time to get there as well as locating a convenient, safe place to keep your bike during work hours. Then, do yourself and the planet a favor and ride your bike to work at least one day if not all week. You'll be surprised at the things you've driven by week after week and never noticed, not to mention the calmer attitude you'll bring with you to your desk after a session of moderate exercise. It's like being a kid again, letting your mind drift from daydreams to fantasies to breakthrough, all to the rhythm of your beating heart.

If you can plot your route to pass one of the "energizing stations" set up around the city to encourage bicyclist with free coffee and snacks. The pit stops will be located at Belmont Veterans Memorial Pier, City Hall, and Maxson Plaza on the CSULB campus. I plan to check out the Belmont Pier station even though it's not on my regular route. I want to let those valiant volunteers their work is appreciated.

Hurry, It's not too Late to Get Green!

Today’s the day of the 1st annual Green Long Beach! Festival in the East Village! They’ll be celebrating all things green in the fair city of Long Beach until 10 p.m. There are lots of workshops scheduled as well as booths for local eco-centric businesses and organizations. Plus, there are no less than 3 performances stages—Earth, Wind, and Sea. It’s too late for the farmer’s market but just about now the Green Parade led by Green Power Girl is underway. So march on down and do something green.

It Takes a Village to Raise a -- Garden??

As I mentioned in the last blog, I’ve been surfing around looking for online support for my newfound gardening mania. Long Beach Organic has a juicy little site that I hope will sprout more pages. They offer classes in spring and fall and have three community gardens—1st and Elm, 6th and Pacific and a 16 city block area on Signal Hill. A new garden funded by Wild Oats is under development on the old Pacific Electric property between Loma and Grand. The group also has a blog here at Blogspot for their flagship garden at 1st and Elm. There’s also a PDF about starting a community garden too. Hmm, now who’s got a sunny sideyard to contribute to the cause?

Digging a little deeper into the gardening scene, I found SoCal Guerrilla Gardening—an interesting group that plants native and drought resistant plants in medians and other neglected parts of the city. The lovely succulent garden in the median strip on Loynes is a SoCal Guerrilla Gardening project. Who knew? From the website, it appears that guerrilla gardening season has ended this year, but I’ll definitely have to check back next winter once the rainy season starts again. There’s another similar group Los AngelesGuerrilla Gardening, but that group seems to concentrate more on the Hollywood area.

The Beans are Beings and the Peppers Have Peepers

My “pots o’plenty” patio garden has taken root and is beginning to bloom. I have four large pots with self-watering inserts—2 with tomatoes and peppers and 2 with bush beans. I had lots of potting soil with compost mix left over, so I scrounged all the empty pots I could find—6, I think—and planted basil seeds in them. Nothing’s happened with the basil so far, but I haven’t given up hope, plus I still have lots more seeds to plant if those don’t take.

In keeping with my organic theme, I trimmed the hedges in the front yard and (much to my husband’s chagrin) I’m going to use the longest branches for stakes for my tomatoes. The Early Girl is very bushy with 8 sprigs of blossoms and the Big Beef is tall and lanky. I’m afraid they may completely overpower the red pepper plant, but just yesterday, I did notice a few little “peeper” buds, so we may get a few peppers out of them. I planted the beans from, well, beans, so I was so excited to see the little seeds pop up from the soil. Out of 10 beans, I’ve got 8 seedlings—pretty good return.

I’m gotten so deep into this gardening thing, that now I’m surfing gardening sites. My favorite is Gardeners Supply—lots of self-watering pots and accessories. My next purchase will be a self-watering window box or a couple of self-watering hanging baskets. I took a “Grow What You Eat” pledge to grow 10 pounds with them. They hope to have a million people sign up, but they only have 18,000 so far. So all those backyard farmers out there, put down your trowels, wipe the dirt off your knees, and sign up.