Events

Join us at one of our upcoming events!

Sunday, May 5th
2:00 – 3:30 PM
Wild Willow Farm

Seed Saving 101

Join us for a comprehensive workshop on how to save various seeds for long term storage and use in your garden next year. We will learn how to properly dry, process, and store seeds, as well as how to test germination rates of saved seeds at this seminar. Participants will go home with a set of their own seed saving packets to try these methods at home and will receive a farm tour of Wild Willow. Register to attend via Wild Willow Farm’s website.

September 14th
9:00 AM – 12:00 PM
San Carlos Community Garden

Fall Seed Swap

Join the University Heights Garden Club, the College Area Community Garden and the Lemon Grove Garden & Nature Club for a fall garden swap event. Bring seeds, seedlings, garden tools, reference books, fertilizer, soil, and any other garden related supplies to this semi-regular garden club swap event.

VENUE

Join us at the beautiful, one acre San Carlos Community Garden that features garden boxes, an orchard, a large composting system, and more. Restrooms, handwashing stations, and parking will all be provided.

FARM TOURS & MINI-EDUCATIONAL PRESENTATIONS

Farm tours will be offered for participants on the hour at 9:30 AM, 10:30 AM, and 11:30 AM. Master Gardeners and Master Food Preservers will be providing mini-talks on various educational topics throughout the event, including composting, chickens, using a dehydrator for preserving crops and more.

WHAT TO BRING

Tables will be set up in the garden for participants, but if you have access to a table, please plan to bring it with you. Please label your seeds/seedlings and bring bags, receptacle for compost (if you’d like some), notecards, or other label items to help with your swapping.

DIRECTIONS

The garden is located next door to San Diego State University Children’s Center which is at the north end of SDSU parking lot 2C. Access to our garden is from a SDSU street called “Zura Way” which begins in the 6300 block of Montezuma Road, 92115. Proceed north on “Zura Way” to SDSU parking lot “2C”.

For directions, click this link.

PARKING & TRANSPORTATION

PARKING: Parking is available in front of the garden (without a school permit) in parking lot 2C. There are about 50 spaces available, including handicap parking and electric vehicle charging stations. Additionally, there is a larger, overflow parking lot about a 2 minute walk from the garden, lot 3. This is a paid lot. You will need to visit the pay station self-service kiosk in the lot to pay for parking.

TROLLEY: Take the green line to SDSU campus.

BUS: Buses stop on the SDSU Transit Center’s street level mezzanine. From the six bus routes—11, 14, 115, 856, 936, and 955 and MTS Rapid Route 215—that currently service the campus, you can transfer to anywhere in the San Diego area. All buses on SDSU’s routes are “bike buses” and provide wheelchair lift service.”

Anyone can enter their start location and SDSU as the destination in this MTS trip planner, which will show them available MTS routes to get to campus.

CHILDREN ACTIVITY STATION

Children are welcome (and encouraged) to attend this event. We will have several activities for children, including a microscope activity to view bugs under the scope and a garden coloring station.

All are welcome to participate!

Special Guests include:

Xerces Society

The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation is an international nonprofit organization that protects the natural world through the conservation of invertebrates and their habitats.

Our name comes from the now-extinct Xerces blue butterfly (Glaucopsyche xerces), the first butterfly known to go extinct in North America as a result of human activities. The Xerces blue’s habitat was destroyed by development in the sand dunes of San Francisco, and the species was declared extinct by the 1940s.

They will be passing out native seeds/seedlings to attract pollinators to your gardens, as well as literature on best practices to foster a healthy environment for invertebrates. Check out more information about them here: https://xerces.org/

Ocean Beach Seed Library

Ocean Beach Seed Library began in the spring of 2019 and it quickly took root in the neighborhood. With the assistance of Friend of the Ocean Beach Library, community partners and dedicated staff, the OB Seed Library became a hub for patrons to share and lend seeds. Ocean Beach Library often hosts Seed Library programming as part of a community movement for sustainable urban agriculture.

Food2Soil

Food2Soil is San Diego’s Neighborhood Composter. We are a collective of residents and businesses, chefs and farmers, entrepreneurs and innovators building a people-powered, community-centered foundation for the circular economy. We believe that waste is a resource that has intrinsic social, environmental and economic value. Our programs are designed to challenge us to extract this value so it turns into income for farmers and living soil for our farms. Food2Soil operates a robust network of decentralized community compost hubs all over San Diego where residents can dropoff their scraps for composting. To learn more about us go to www.food2soil.net.

National City Seed Library

National City Seed Library seeks to make gardening more accessible to all by providing free seeds to the community. The Seed Library focuses on National City due to it being considered a food desert, but services all interested gardeners who submit seed requests. Visit their website to become a member (free) and request free seeds: https://www.nationalcityseeds.com/

Mosaic Community Garden

Mosaic Community Garden is located in Chula Vista and provides garden beds to the greater community to grow locally sourced food for their families. Mosaic also hosts educational events surrounding food production, pollinators, propagation, and all things sustainability. Visit their Facebook page at www.facebook.com/mosaic.cgcv

Information About The Hosts:

University Heights Garden Club

The University Heights Garden Club is a garden enthusiasts group associated with the University Heights Community Association that meets regularly to present on garden related topics, such as growing your own food, integrated pest management, soil health, preserving food, native plants, water conservation, and more. The club is free to join and open to non-UH and UH neighbors alike! www.universityheightsgardenclub.com

College Area Community Garden

The College Area Community Garden is an organic garden devoted to growing healthy food, creating fellowship among and between neighbors and the San Diego State University community, teaching and research on the principles of sustainable urban agriculture, and to distributing gardening information to, and producing food for, our garden members and participants from the general community. https://www.collegeareagarden.org/

Lemon Grove Garden & Nature Club

The Lemon Grove Garden & Nature Club brings their local community together around gardening, urban farming, tree planting, floral design, and environmental responsibility. The club meets once every other month at our local Treganza Heritage Park, Lemon Grove CA for a FREE swap of all things garden and nature. The club is free to join and is open to all. Check them out on Facebook and Instagram!

Register

October 19, 2024
10:00 AM – 5:00 PM PST
University Heights Joint Use Field (Park & Meade)

University Heights Fall Harvest Festival

Join the University Heights Garden Club & Birney Elementary’s Beekeeper Alliance for an afternoon of fall fun at the University Heights Fall Harvest Festival on Saturday, October 19th from 10:00 AM – 5:00 PM. The festival will feature live music, yummy food, games, a pie baking contest, and more:

• Marigold Flower Crown DIY Station
• Sack Races
• Face Painting
• Live Music
• Farm Stand
• UH Pumpkin Grow-Along Contest Weigh-Ins
• Pie Baking Contest
• Caramel Apple DIY Station
• Arts & Crafts
• Live Dance Performances
• Food Trucks
• Spiced Cider
• Cotton Candy
• Popcorn
• Photobooth, and more!

We are excited to feature local farm grown produce and garden goodies, such as fresh flowers, mini pumpkins, corn, salves, skin ointments, dried flower bouquets, seeds, and more from:

• Bee Worthy Farms
• Olive Hill Farm
• Britt Rawlins

If you’d like to enter the pie baking contest (novices are welcome!), please send us a message at universityheightsgardenclub@gmail.com for details.

We are excited to have special guests:

• University Heights Library, who will be hosting a fall-themed craft kits station
• University Heights Historical Society, who will share about how UH was once home to an ostrich farm and botanical gardens

If you’d like to get involved with the Fall Harvest Festival as a sponsor, host a farm stand, or volunteer for a craft station, please email us at universityheightsgardenclub@gmail.com.

More details to be released in the upcoming weeks. Save the date!