Garden Assistance Program a Huge Success

On Sunday, June 6th, over 25 Surfrider volunteers helped implement San Diego's first Ocean Friendly Garden during our inaugural GAP (Garden Assistance Program).


The GAP is the final part of a three part series that helps educate our community members on what it means to have an Ocean Friendly Garden and how they can help reduce pollution that comes from our classic landscaping practices. The GAP followed a 3 hour Ocean Friendly Gardens Basic Class and a Hands on Workshop that highlighted how to incorporate CPR (conservation, permeability, and retention) in their own homes.

We are set to announce our schedule for the next OFG series in San Diego, so stay tuned to the blog for upcoming dates, times, and how to sign up.

Our homeowner, Steve Roeder, who was selected for the GAP from a pool of OFG class members, not only has a beautiful garden at his home, but will serve as a model for the community to check out when installing their own Ocean Friendly Garden. Steve's garden not only conserves water but also captures all the water coming from rainfall and irrigation. This means he will no longer have runoff that contributes/picks up pollutants and harms our oceans, waves, and beaches.



Check out the step by step installation process that happened on Sunday here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/surfridersandiego/sets/72157624255169186/

There a few last minute touches remaining, so check back for the final pictures of the garden.

We owe a huge thanks to all our volunteer's who spent their Sunday creating this masterpiece that will help grow our program!!!

Garden Assistance Workday-Volunteers Needed

This Sunday, June 6th, Surfrider SD will be hosting our first Garden Assitance Workday as part of the Ocean Friendly Gardens program. We will be working to install our very first official OFG in San Diego! This garden will serve as a model for other homeowners to use when converting thier own landscapes.

We currently need more volunteers to come help out. The event is from 10am-4pm, but even if you can't make the whole day, we are stoked for any help you can offer. We will have all the tools and supplies you need, and lunch is included.

The most exciting aspect of the day is that it will allow you to experience an entire conversion to an Ocean Friendly Garden in just one day. We will be covering everything from turf removal, composting, grading, installing dry creeks and retention basins, planting native plants, installing driveway cuts and rain barrels and so much more! Of course it will all be centered around our principals of CPR (conservation, retention, and permeability.

We are capping the number of volunteers due to the size of the yard so please RSVP to me (dylan@surfridersd.org) if you can make it. Bring closed toed shoes and a water bottle. The address is 5560 Chelsea Ave, La Jolla, 92037. Steve, the homeowner, has an amazing plan ready to go!

Hope to see you there.

Ocean Friendly Gardens are easy to implement. Here's the latest on our program in San Diego.

If you've been participating in our Ocean Friendly Gardens program, you started by attending an OFG Basics Course which is a classroom style lecture, and then a hands-on workshop.  Up next is our garden assistance day when we will actually implement an Ocean Friendly Garden with the help of our volunteers!  We chose member, Steve Roeder's home for this workshop series.  He's a long-time surfer, and although not a gardener,  very supportive of what Surfrider is trying to accomplish through our new Ocean Friendly Gardens program.  

A few weeks ago, people from all over the county met up for the hands-on workshop at his home to evaluate the yard before we change it.  It was good because other folks who want to implement Ocean Friendly Gardens could come over and review the process with Steve before they do it themselves. 

What was interesting about Steve’s yard is that it is very typical for San Diego: lots of lawn that sucks up water; gutters, downspouts and a driveway that carries runoff right into the street; and old juniper trees and other plants that aren’t native, and require lots of water.


We got together with a bunch of volunteers, and our friends at G3, The Green Gardens Group who are the experts in this field, and are helping us with the program.  After going through their site evaluation worksheets, we realized just how much water Steve was wasting, and all the things we could do to prevent run-off, and add water back to the watershed.  It was unbelievable how much water was being wasted.  Steve realized this about a year ago, and had actually stopped watering his lawn!


We measured the site, did a soil and compaction test, evaluated the irrigation set-up and requirements, and figured out a plan to help Steve go from a polluting waterhog yard, to a sustainable, Ocean Friendly Garden. Essentially he’ll be restoring the natural processes, and native habitat, which means more butterflies and wildlife will populate his yard while native plants thrive.  How cool is that?

After our evaluation, and hands on workshop, Steve decided to hire a professional landscape designer, Jeremy from Artemesia Landscape Design because it’s helpful to have someone draw up the plans, help with plant selection, and understand the implementation process.   Jeremy is a long-time Surfrider member and has been an amazing resource for folks who want to create Ocean Friendly Gardens.  His service is not free, however what is invested upfront in the design service will be saved with lower water bills, and a beautiful landscape that is low or no maintenance.

The other interesting part about this entire project, is that next door is a home that has a tropical landscape that must be costing a fortune in water bills.  I wonder if they would compare water bills with Steve when our make-over’s complete?

If you would like to help us out on the day of transformation, please email Dylan@surfridersd.org, our volunteer who runs the program locally, or if you would prefer to just check out what we're doing, simply stop by and say "hi" on 6/6 sometime between 10a.m. - 4p.m.

Succulent Sizzle

Personally, I'm a big succulent fan, mainly aloe. Not just because I am lazy, umm I mean an environmentalist, and don't like to water much but because they look cool. Some grow like a tree but most are like a big beautiful bush or smaller, almost like a ground cover if you plan enough. It was good to see this article in the U-T recently...

“Succulents make dramatic statements in landscapes large or small and also in container gardens,” she said. “What I hadn’t realized is that they can also produce dramatic flowers.”

And they’re practical to use because they require little water once established and low maintenance. Although not completely fireproof, they are more fire-resistant than most plants because of their high water content.

Succulents are defined as any plant storing water in leaves, stems or roots to withstand drought. Cactuses are succulents, but botanists set them apart in their own category of Cactaceae. Botanists have categorized succulent plants into many different genera. The most widely used in home gardens are aloes, agaves, aeoniums, kalanchoe, sedums, echeveria, euphorbia and crassula. Within each genus are species and varieties, some man-made through hybridization.

Click Here for the full story.

Volunteers Wanted!

At the last meeting we were brainstorming on how people can get involved with the Ocean Friendly Gardens Program in San Diego. Lots of people like native plants, water conservation and pollution prevention but may live in an apartment or condo. There are still lots of ways to help make a difference....

OFG Volunteer Opps:
- add blog entries here to keep the content fresh and local
- create an OFG video to help create awareness on youtube, etc.
- photo/video document the Garden Assistance Program and Hands On Workshop
- identify existing OFG's in San Diego, help create an online database with photos, etc
- graphic design -> create an 'OFG plaque' that people can display at their home landscape
- HOA specialist -> someone to look into hoa rules and help them convert to ofg's
- Community Garden coordinator/specialist -> identify existing OFG community gardens and help develop more OFG's in public places
- 'Unused Grass Removal' specialist -> someone to help identify places that irrigate heavily for no good reason and convert them to OFG
- OFG secretary -> take notes at meetings and email group updates

See, lots to choose from! If you would like to get involved, please email Dylan@surfriderSD.org