Las Flores Community Garden

Easy, #EcoFriendly Landscaping: What to Know [Infographic] via @homeadvisor #gardeningtips #landscapedesign #easyplants http://ecogreenlove.com///21/easy-ecofriendly-landscaping/

Tony enjoys connecting with nature! He planted his spring garden with tomatoes, squash, and chives and mulched with organic compost, which is alive with microorganisms that release food to the plants as needed and provide a healthy habitat.

Last Friday was a busy day at the garden. Students transplanted a lemon tree to a sunnier location. They painted rocks as plant markers. And, they learned how t...o make a teepee trellis, on which their pumpkin plants will train to grow and provide Jack’o’lantern pumpkins for Halloween. Students in Seeds & Sprouts are sure getting a wonderful education in seasonal, organic gardening! #handsonlearning #outdoorclassroom #digginginthedirt #organicgardening #teachkidstogarden #authenticlearning #conejovalley #thousandoaks

Giovanni can tell you all about how to feed and care for butterflies! He has grown up in the garden, and Shawna has made it his outdoor classroom!

Thanks Jan for planting this artichoke in an unused spot at the front of the Garden! Perennial artichoke plants are attractive yearlong with gorgeous bright flowers. Beautification of the Community Garden is happening in every corner!

Thanks Kimball! He has fitted the new greenhouse with top of the line reverse osmosis misters to water the plants and cool the greenhouse on a timer!

We have a few Organic Garden Club tomato starts left to give out this Saturday at the Community Garden!

First foxgloves of the season! Bees and hummingbirds love these tubular shaped blossoms!

Hurray for Ben! He’s been raking up the leaves and weeds around the perimeter of the Garden for years as his work day task!

John has covered his seeds with netting and erected bean pole teepees in his spring garden! The garden is an abundant place, teeming with life!

Zhiying’s strawberries must like the cool weather! See how large and luscious they are!

Fennel tastes like a mild licorice and is heart healthy, rich in fiber, anti-inflammatory, and good for digestive problems. Fennel attracts beneficial insects, like lady bugs, and birds love it. The feathery fronds are lovely in salads, the stalks and bulbs can be roasted with potatoes.

The beautiful new Greenhouse has its first flat of seedling! These are tomato and pepper seedlings.

It’s called Hummingbird Sage for a reason. I was really taken by these plumes; apparently I’m not the only one! #salviaspathacea #hummingbirdsage #plantgoodseed

Barbie’s purple cabbage is ready to shred into a slaw salad! It has ten times more vitamins than green cabbage and is medicine for a healthy heart, strong bones, and improved gut function, rich in antioxidants, anti-inflammatories, and cancer-fighting flavonoids!

Susan created this new colorful Butterfly Puddler for the Habitat, where she added sand, mud, and rocks for the butterflies and bees to sip mineralized water and sunbathe!

This Earth Day, start an organic food garden! Growing your own food is a good way to a healthy lifestyle. You are what you eat, and you want to eat what you grow. When you grow your own food, you know what is in it!

On a lovely day in the Garden, Nancy is harvesting rainbow chard and getting her garden ready for spring planting! Thanks so much for sharing!!

Life is too short to eat fake food! This Earth Day, be an organic gardener in your life by weeding out unhealthy fake foods and filling your plate with organic food from the garden

Paula is growing sorrel, whose leaves have a lemony tart tang, and is an anti-inflammatory, diuretic rich in vitamin C. She is preparing to plant her fall veggies next to the marigolds

Hyacinth beans are flowering in the Butterfly Habitat; the beans can be cooked and taste like green beans, but are poisonous raw. Susan and One Spark students planted giant alliums along the fence.

Barbie’s Fall Garden is already producing Heirloom Glacier Tomatoes, herbs, and beautiful salad greens!

The dahlia and zinnia blossoms in the Cut Flower Garden have been especially exquisite this year! Here are some to brighten your day!

The Thanksgiving meal came early for the birds in the Butterfly Habitat! One Spark Academy students made pine cone feeders and hung them on the fence.

Richard, Emily, and Jonathan harvested dragonfruit, turnips, and bitter melon and prepared their gardens for fall planting. Richard’s dragonfruit had gorgeous blossoms and fruited for the first time this year.

Fall is the best time to plant Native Plants. Check out the colorful flowers in the Butterfly Habitat where Susan taught the One Spark Academy kids about the plants as they weeded.

Some 'messiness' in our yard is important to sustain our birds in the winter. And luckily we see more homeowners becoming aware of the value of leaves, seed hea...ds and native berry- and nut plants. Let's try to convince our landscapers to offer us help to prepare our yard for the winter rather than than offering only, the often so damaging, 'Fall Clean Up' service. See more

A month ago, John joined the Garden and has started to build his raised bed garden. Raised Bed Veggie Gardens filled with organic vegetable potting soil and micro-organisms are abundantly productive and beautiful, with less pests, weeds, and diseases.

Tony has been harvesting his Japanese Eggplant and vining Malabar spinach. This climbing spinach is perennial, high in protein and antioxidants, and needs a pole to support it.

Plant for the bees!

Barbie planted her fall garden a couple of weeks ago by mixing Dr. Earth Organic Root Zone Seed Starter in her soil as she planted her seeds. Now she has salad makings for dinner and lots of baby plants!

Tian’s garden is filled with Chinese winter melons in various stages! One is so huge it needed a support! Cooked like a squash, they are rich in fiber, protein, with anti inflammation and antioxidant nutrients, it aids digestion, heart, brain, and eye health.

What an adventure it was in Session 1, which ended Friday. Like all school communities, the first two months of learning were filled with lessons for everyone.... None of us were given a roadmap for how to teach during a global pandemic. While we were never trained for this, we were trained to understand the human spirit. And that spirit thrives on connection, Mother Nature, and the simplicity of joyful learning. We are so incredibly grateful for the opportunity to put down some of our roots at the Las Flores Community Garden. Thanks to our many supporters and some help from two extremely generous grants (Lennox Foundation and Hilton Foundation), our learners were able to thrive in this newly-built outdoor classroom, which was one of several safe outdoor, in-person courses we offered (and will continue to offer). We have heard from our students and families how much it mattered to have options for learning outside, which allowed our students to bask in nature and feel the earth beneath their feet (and hands). As we gear up for Session 2 starting next week, we are ever more confident that our learners and educators will continue to thrive... as we grow, adapt, and prepare to put down more roots in other areas of our beloved, beautiful Conejo community. #itsbetteroutside #getoutsideformentalhealth #outdoorlearning #remotelearning2020 #lifeskills #changeyourmindset #newchapter2020 #teachgardening #organicgardening