As the Bay Area shelters at home, many of us have turned to our backyards and balconies as a way to connect with nature. With our attention focused on homesteading activities like gardening, capturing rainwater and growing food, we can plant the seeds of resilience. This unique moment in time can spark a lasting change that increases our ecological footprint at home. 

Learning to build gardens together can help parents organize their time at home with kids and improves access to healthy food. 

In this series of videos, you will learn how to sprout vegetables from kitchen scraps and pantry items, grow vegetables in your home garden, construct a raised garden bed, and install a rain capture barrel! Stay tuned for additional content on producing compost from kitchen scraps and using it to improve your soil, the use and benefits of native plants in attracting pollinators and beneficial insects, rainwater catchment systems and laundry-to-landscape grey-water systems.

Gardening Resources

• Gardening Resources
• Raised Bed Resources
• Common Beneficial Insects of the Home Garden

How to plant a vegetable garden

This video is an introduction to starting a vegetable garden.  We’ll discuss planting seeds versus plant starts and how to sow seeds directly in the ground or start them in pots.  You can do this!

Fridge and Pantry Garden

You don’t need to buy seeds or plant starts in order to start a vegetable garden – look in your refrigerator and/or your pantry!  In this video, we’ll show you how to start vegetables from kitchen scraps – the parts you usually throw away! We’ll also show how you can start veggies from some of the dry goods in your pantry.

How to make a raised bed

Raised gardening beds are easy to build, adaptable to many different sizes and shapes, and low cost. This video walks you through the construction steps. See our raised bed resources page for tips on where to get materials.

Also here is a list of gardening resources for more info on where to find plants and seeds.

Rainwater Harvesting

Whet your appetite for Rainwater Harvesting without having to cut your downspout! See how a simple rain barrel can be installed on your home to water plants and reduce pollution in our local waterways. 

How to start a container garden

Como usar el Kit de Jardinería de The Watershed Project

Cómo hacer un jardín en macetas