Smart Gardening Workshop and Volunteer Day

This month our volunteer day will be a bit unusual. LA County is offering a Free Smart Gardening, Beginner Workshop. The community is welcome to attend the workshop (10-11:30am), work in the park (9-noon), or do both.

During the Smart Gardening Workshop you will learn the basic techniques of backyard composting, worm composting, water-wise gardening, grasscycling, and edible gardening. No reservations needed. You can purchase compost bins at a discount after the workshop.

Volunteers should:

• Wear face coverings and maintain safe distancing (Vaccinated participants do not have to wear face coverings, though we will still try to maintain social distancing)
• Wear sunscreen, hat, sunglasses
• Bring water
• Bring gardening gloves and tools (weeders, trowels, whatever you use in your own garden), there are extra tools and gloves for those who need them
• Wear comfortable work clothes, including work shoes (sneakers or boots) and long pants
• Bring binoculars for birdwatching (optional)

Children must be under adult supervision at all times. There is poison oak in the park that we will point out before starting. If you are planning to bring more than five in a group, please email me so we can be sure to have enough tools (barbara@weedingwildsuburbia.com).

The South Pas Nature Park is a four-acre habitat park along the Arroyo Seco. The entrance, marked by a small plaque on an attractive river rock wall, is in the 100 block of Pasadena Avenue in South Pasadena, east of the York Street Bridge. There is plenty of on-street parking on Pasadena Avenue.

The park is graced with mature coast live oaks, southern walnuts and western sycamores. Planted with sage, buckwheat and other native coastal sage scrub plants, the park provides an inviting environment for birds, lizards, squirrels and numerous other critters. Locals too enjoy walking, jogging and horseback riding through the park.