Great Backyard Bird Count Bird Walk at Sepulveda Basin Wildlife Area

My good friend, Keri Dearborn of Animalbytes.net, led us on a great walk around the Sepulveda Basin Wildlife area this morning in honor of the annual Great Backyard Bird Count this weekend. We spent 2.5 hours spotting all sorts of birds, including 2 new one's for my life list, a Downy Woodpecker and an Osprey and also an up close look at a vulture.

Below are 6 embedded videos streamed live and recorded with my iPhone. I hope it gives you a bit of a feeling of what it was like to be out with us this morning.

Keri's husband, Michael Lawshe, took some great photos on the walk, too.

Photos of today's Great Backyard Bird Count Walk

A buzzing in the garden

Taking a few moments in the garden this morning, I heard a gentle and general buzzing throughout. It seems the large ash tree in the back garden is flowering and the bees are taking great advantage of this bright sunny day after all our rain. More rain is expect tomorrow, so it is good they are so industrious. They may be stuck in their hives for a few more days.

I have been following a lot of beekeeping info these days and seriously thinking of getting a hive of my own. I think it would be simpler than trying to keep chickens, the other big backyard farm animal, and fit better in my smallish garden.

What do you think? Are you interested in keeping bees? Let me know in the comments!

Do It Right! LA City Christmas Tree Pickup and Recycling

My friend, Keri Dearborn, over at Animalbytes has pointed out this great information for City of LA residents about Christmas tree pickup, dropoff and recycling.

In the past, many Christmas trees were simply dumped curbside, on lawns or in empty lots. They would often site there for a month or more until someone decided to clean them up.

The best action to take, of course, is to cut up, or chip/shred your tree for use as mulch in your garden or compost pile. While I have the ability to do that here, I realize some other city dwellers might not be equipped for such things.

If you can't mulch or compost your tree, the City of LA has 3 different ways to dispose of your Christmas Tree.

1. Cut it up and place it in your standard green garden bin
   
   
2. Leave it curbside, if it is too big to fit in the bin (or you are unable to dismantle it)
   
   
3. Take your tree to a long list of drop-off sites around the city incuding various Parks and Recreation and Fire Station locations. This is a limited time option, though. You will only be able to do this on Saturday, January 2, 2010 and Sunday, January 3, 2010.

Here is complete information on City of Los Angeles Christmas Tree Recycling Program. Dispose of your Christmas tree properly!

Photo Credit: Flickr picture by Shira Golding

Merry Christmas from WelchWrite.com

We present our 3rd Annual LIVE Reading of Dicken's A Christmas Carol from Sunday, December 21, 2008 as our holiday present to you.

You can listen to the audio or watch the video from uStream.tv.

Presented by WelchWrite.com

Music courtesy of Incompetech.com

Listen: A Live Reading of Charle's Dickens A Christmas Carol

Click Here to Watch and Listen

Video: Taking out a Tree

Time to remove a small pine tree that was in the wrong spot in the garden. This is a continuation of the "editing" since we bought this house 12 years ago.

I had to go out and buy a bow saw to complete this job. My wife, Rosanne, had trimmed off all the limbs., but couldn't get through the trunk. It was quick work once I had the right tool.

All the debris from the tree was run through out chipper/shredder and the mulch is already spread on the tomato and rose beds.

Not a bad days work overall.



iPod Ready Video

LIVE from the Garden - June 9, 2007

by Douglas E. Welch, agn@welchwrite.com
Reader/Listener Line - 818-804-5049

Links mentioned in this podcast:

The Lavender Fields - Photos
Animalbytes with Keri Dearborn
Squarefoot Gardening with Andy Helsby
A Gardener's Notebook Pictures on Flickr
A Gardener's Notebook Photo Sharing Group on Flickr

Listen to the Podcast

If first link does not play, try this one.



Theme Music: The One by The Woodshedders, aka the Hot Club of West Virginia, courtesy of the PodSafe Music Network



I used one of my photos from our trip to The Lavender Fields to create these lavender themed products -- available from from CafePress.com

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Technorati Tags: garden, gardening, hobby, california, grow, build, make, DIY, howto, how-to, outdoors, losangeles, 91411

Finally, a little (or a lot of) rain...

We awoke to this on the radar this morning and, as I type, rains is coming down. We haven't quite got to the intense rain (marked in yellow), but it looks like it is finally going to make it here. I have watched several storms pass to the north of us with no measurable rain at all, so I am happy to see that this one looks as if it will finally give us a little relief.

Technorati Tags: garden, gardening, hobby, california, grow, losangeles, weather

Event: Free trees in Sherman Oaks this Saturday - April 21

The gang over at LAist clued us in to this event. If you have a need for a tree in your landscaping, be sure to stop by.

---

Million Trees program comes to Sherman Oaks

Contributed by: GM Communications on 4/13/2007

What: The Fashion Square Car Wash, in association with the Million Trees program, will give away free trees to the public from 8 a.m.-2 p.m. on Saturday, April 21, at the car wash.

The program, created by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, distributes trees to all areas of the city. People who pick up a five-gallon tree are asked to plant the tree on their home or business property.

No car wash sale is required to participate in the program. The car wash plans to give away 200 trees during the Saturday program.

Where: Fashion Square Car Wash, 4625 Woodman Ave., Sherman Oaks

When: 8 a.m.- 2 p.m.

Event Dates: This event takes place on 4/21/2007.

Technorati Tags: garden, gardening, hobby, california, grow, outdoors, events, losangeles

10-Minute Gardener Update

I took my own advice and talked a couple of 10-minute projects today.

First, I swept the leaves from one portion of the driveway area. The wind piles up the leaves in this particular sector, so this had a lot of effect for fairly little effort. I am still dealing with a lot of leaf litter throughout the garden, but the next step is probably a complete "blow" of the garden using the electric leaf blower. This takes a but more time and energy on my part, though.

Second, I repaired the geranium pot that hangs from the eaves of the front porch. A few weeks ago, one of its rope supports gave way and it had been sitting on the stoop since then. A little rope from the leftovers in the garage, though, and I had it back in its rightful position in about 10 minutes.

Both of these projects are the perfect type for the 10-Minute Gardener. They were discrete little actions that needed doing -- that I could complete in about 10 minutes. Tomorrow, I need to do the same thing -- and the next, and the next and the next.

Previously in the 10-Minute Gardener Series

Removing Friction
Today's 10 Minutes in the Garden
Introduction

Technorati Tags: garden, hobby, california, grow, build, DIY, outdoors, losangeles, gardener

Don't let your garden water go down the drain....

LA Frog makes note of one of my pet peeves, wasted water in our desert environment and provides a bit of the history of Los Angeles and its water.

I, too, hate when I see sprinklers watering sidewalks and driveways, and watching all that liquid gold run down the street into the nearest storm drain. This is one reason why, when we bought our house 10 years ago, I converted 95% of the irrigation systems to soaker hoses and drip systems. Both if these put the water right where it is needed. This also helps to reduce weed growth, since paths and such receive no water, expect from our infrequent rains.

I only have one traditional sprinkler system -- an old set of retrofitted lawn sprinklers in the front garden. We run it as infrequently as possible and most of the plants there mainly azaleas -- have naturalized enough to not need much supplemental watering.

If only I could convince others to get rid of their lawns and the water they require, we would all be better off.

California Water Wars When I drive through residential neighborhoods, and I see water flushing the streets from the garden hosing systems, I sometimes wonder if people even remember that the true nature of Los Angeles is to be a dry, desert land. And that bringing water to the city came at stupendous costs.

It's impossible to summarize the history of the Los Angeles aqueduct -- and the subsequent water wars -- in a

(Via LA Frog.)

Technorati Tags: garden, gardening, california, grow, outdoors, losangeles, urban, learning, education, water

AGN Video: Windy

Click to Play

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Repairing a damaged drip irrigation line

While the rest of the family was out on an excursion with Nonna to see the swallows return to San Juan Capistrano, I finally get a garden project completed to prepare for the quickly approaching Southern California Summer.

In this video, I show the repair of the drip irrigation line in one of my rose beds. This line has been in place for over 10 years, so it isn't surprising that it needed a little refreshing.

Link: Repairing a damaged drip irrigation line video




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Uh, Mother Nature? It's only freakin' March, ya know!

Not that I want to complain or anything...BUT 91 degrees is simply too darn hot for March 11, thank you.

Could someone closer to the thermostat please turn it down a bit? I'm sure someone in Ohio thought is was a great idea to turn it up, but we're cooking over here.

As an aside, gardener was nearly perfect for sitting around today, in the shade, that is, the wisteria is leaping, did some turning and watering of the compost bin and watered a few beds.

The drip system in part of the rose bed needs repair, so I hit it with some water manually until I can get to the hardware store for parts.

Now, where's my iced tea? (SMILE)

Tags: garden gardening hot heat temperature weather california losangeles

Event: Annual Wilmington Wisteria Festival - Mar 11

Annual Wilmington Wisteria Festival

A horticultural celebration that includes a walking lecture while visitors traverse the century-old Chinese and Japanese vines in the museum’s garden. Guests will also be able to njoy floral and gardening displays from local designers. Lunch will be available for purchase on the park grounds of this Victorian-era home of General Phineas Banning and entertainment will be provided.

WHEN: March 11, 11:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.

SITE: Banning Residence Museum, 401 East ‘M’ St., Wilmington

COST: Free

SPONSOR: City of Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks

INFO: 1-888-LA PARKS (527-2757), www.laparks.org

From the Los Angeles Cultural Affairs Department Festival Guide

Photo: Douglas E. Welch, Lake Balboa, Van Nuys, California, 2003

Elsewhere Online: Koreatown Sidewalk Garden

A little garden patch in the midst of urban LA. Check it out!

Thanks to Annika for pointing it out.

Koreatown Sidewalk Garden

Annika Barranti:

Today while I was out walking with the baby I came upon this unexpected garden at Kingsley and 5th. Three more photos behind the cut.

Continued reading Koreatown Sidewalk Garden...

(Continues on original site)

(Via Blogging.LA.)

Technorati Tags: garden, gardening, hobby, california, grow, make, DIY, outdoors, losangeles

Cold weather, frost damage, and the 10-Minute Gardener Introduction

by Douglas E. Welch, agn@welchwrite.com
Reader/Listener Line - 206-338-5832

Listen to the Podcast

Theme Music: The One by The Woodshedders, aka the Hot Club of West Virginia, courtesy of the PodSafe Music Network



Support A Gardener's Notebook:

Join AGN Mailing List | iTunes Review | Digg.com | Podcast Alley | Call the Reader/Listener Line @ 206-338-5832

Technorati Tags: garden, gardening, hobby, california, grow, build, make, DIY, howto, how-to, outdoors, losangeles, 91411