Apartment Garden Blues (Blog): California's 29th Annual Coastal Cleanup Day

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Published on Saturday, September 21 2013 18:39

Written by Alexandra Martin

On Saturday, September 21, 2013, I got up early and drove down to Crystal Cove State Beach in Newport Beach, Calif., to volunteer with a friend of mine in California's 29th Annual Coastal Cleanup Day. Every year thousands of Californians like myself travel to the coast and to their local watersheds to pick up garbage. Between 60 and 80 percent of the debris found on California beaches actually comes from land-based sources, traveling through storm drains, creeks or rivers down to the beach and into the ocean. This year 51,543 volunteers picked up trash at more than 850 different sites, making it the state's largest volunteer event. With 70 percent of the cleanup sites reporting, 471, 218 pounds of trash and 30,530 pounds of recyclable materials, meaning 251 tons was picked up this morning.

At 9 a.m. we checked in with a National Park Ranger, who offered volunteers gloves, bags and a form to report the items found (volunteers were asked to reduce the environmental footprint of the cleanup by bringing their own gloves and bags or reusable buckets - this resulted in almost 50,000 fewer trash bags than the 2011 event). The ranger said the beach was regularly cleaned by park rangers, so we would have to look closely to find trash. We spent three hours scouring the beach, mostly through seaweed and in the bushes. What I found most of was tiny bits of Styrofoam. Styrofoam camouflages well on the beach, often looking like seashell bits unless you are only about a foot away from it. We also found rope, a can, a cookie wrapper, a little green army man, a pen and a Christmas light. Both our bags weighed in at less than a pound. While I was disappointed at all the Styrofoam, we are lucky that Crystal Cove is so clean. It is a beautiful beach that is well-maintained.

At about 11:45 a.m., the bags of trash collected were weighed and hauled away in a truck, and volunteers turned in their forms, which were then tallied.

Whole Foods Market had a "Most Unusual Item" contest, and winners received a $100 gift certificate. At the coast, a volunteer found a stereo speaker with a live octopus inside (the octopus was returned to the ocean), and inland a volunteer found a baby stroller with a "demon head" attached to it. Chipotle Mexican Grill also offered burritos for a year to one lucky winner who entered a photo of their trash (unusual or not) on Instagram.

Overall 2013 Coastal Cleanup Day was a complete success! I'm definitely going to participate again next year!
 

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Alexandra is a professional writer from Southern California who grows vegetables, herbs, lots of aloe vera and one giant Boston fern in her balcony garden. She also grows dracaena, pothos and English ivy indoors. She loves traveling and birdwatching in addition to gardening.

Apartment Garden Blues (Blog): 7 Reasons Why Tomato Hornworm Caterpillars Are Evil

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Published on Friday, September 06 2013 17:50

Written by Alexandra Martin

Tomato hornworm caterpillars are evil. Want to know why?

Tomato hornworms are good at camouflage.

That’s why they eat up the leaves off all your tomato plants.

Not only do they kill your plants, tomato hornworms are huge.

Tomato hornworms are disgusting.

So gross.

Seriously, why do tomato hornworm caterpillars even exist?

Even when wasp eggs are parasitizing tomato hornworms, it’s still disgusting. (If you see this, it’s a good thing! Wasps are your friends when it comes to the evil tomato hornworm)

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Alexandra is a professional writer from Southern California who grows vegetables, herbs, lots of aloe vera and one giant Boston fern in her balcony garden. She also grows dracaena, pothos and English ivy indoors. She loves traveling and birdwatching in addition to gardening.

Apartment Garden Blues (Blog): The Downsides to Container Gardens

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Published on Friday, August 30 2013 10:11

Written by Alexandra Martin

Last week I discussed 5 reasons why I love container gardens, so today I’m discussing the downsides. No garden is perfect, and just like everything in life, there are pros and cons, ups and downs, and give and take. Here are 4 reasons why apartment container gardens aren’t the best. (I could only come up with 4 disadvantages, so it seems that the pros outweigh the cons!)

3. Container gardens mean no landscaping. You look at beautiful landscapes with koi ponds, manicured English gardens or backyards with outdoor kitchens, and you realize that you can never have that. You have just a few square feet of space to grow what you want, and you will not be able to landscape with your space. This might actually be a benefit for you if you don’t want to take the time, money and effort that comes with landscaping. There are always public gardens you can enjoy, as well.

2. Container gardens need a little more maintenance. While small container gardens are easier to maintain because of their small size, each container plant will need some more time with its gardener. Containers need to be watered more often because it has just a little bit of potting soil, which will lose water more quickly when it’s hot and dry out, and the plant will drink up all the water quicker than plants directly in the ground. Many apartment-dwellers with container gardens also do not have a hose hookup, which means that watering container plants generally means filling up old milk jugs or big watering cans indoors and bringing them out to water the plants. This can be time-consuming, but each gardener needs to decide how much time he or she wants to spend in the garden, and then change the container garden accordingly to fit their lives’ schedules.

1. Apartment container gardens are just too small! We can’t grow all the amazing plants we see. Think of all those interesting heirloom tomato varieties, different types of fruit trees and every type of orchid there is on the planet. While it’s true that gardeners in the cold north can’t grow tropical plants and gardeners in the arid desert can’t grow many plants, apartment- and condo-dwellers can’t just grow any old plant. Want an oak tree? Nope. Not going to happen. Want to enter a giant pumpkin at the county fair this year? HA! Never. The only way around this is to get to know someone with a yard who will let you use it, or to get a plot of land in a community garden.

Still, container gardens are awesome, and if you live in an apartment or just don’t want a lot of responsibility, container gardens are perfect for you. You can keep beautiful plants without the commitment of caring for (and paying for) a large yard filled with plants.

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Alexandra is a professional writer from Southern California who grows vegetables, herbs, lots of aloe vera and one giant Boston fern in her balcony garden. She also grows dracaena, pothos and English ivy indoors. She loves traveling and birdwatching in addition to gardening.