Student Bulletin - Fall 2026

Hello everyone,

Our focus this week is houseplants, with a look ahead at what November brings in the garden.

This Week

• Indoor Gardening — our main focus this week

• Your Garden in November

• Introduction to Plant Nutrients

• Invasive Pest Alert — what we should be watching for in our gardens

Group Discussion — What Are Your Plans for Your Garden This Month?

Our monthly check-in. Come ready to share what you’ve got planned for November.

Before Class

Nothing to bring. Just come ready to talk.

Field Trip — Week 12 (November 9–13)

Mark your calendars. I’ll go over locations in class this week, and full details will be in the next bulletin.

No Class Wednesday, November 11 — the campus is closed for the holiday.

Live Stream — This Monday at 5 PM

Note the time change: this week’s garden hangout starts at 5:00 pm, not 5:30 pm.

https://youtube.com/live/UMoZyyPIm1E

I’ll be experimenting with different stream times over the coming weeks, so keep an eye on the bulletin for when each one lands. I’ve also got a marathon livestream coming up — I’ll share the details once I’ve nailed them down.

If you haven’t seen the channel yet, it’s here: https://www.youtube.com/@GrowingWithProfessorBrown

Monthly Newsletter — Out Tomorrow

The new issue drops Sunday. This one is about planning a fall veggie garden, and I’ve packed in a lot of links I think you’ll find useful — especially if you’re interested in the free local classes offered through the California Botanic Garden’s Grow Native Nursery and the California Native Plant Society (CNPS).

See you soon.

Hello everyone,

This week is all about tools.

Regenerative Gardening Principle #5 — “Use Appropriate Technology”

Garden Tools and Equipment

How we choose our tools, what each one is for, and how to take care of them.

In-Person Classes — Garden Tool Relay

We’ll have tools set up at stations around the room, and you’ll work through an activity at each one. Come ready to move around and get hands on.

Online Class

We’ll cover tools, their uses, and their care as a lecture.

Group Discussion — What Is Your Favorite Tool, and Why?

Before Class

Nothing to bring. Just show up ready to participate.

Weather

It looks like we may see rain on Wednesday, so plan accordingly. The good news is the 10-day forecast looks promising — I think the heat may finally be behind us. If you’ve been waiting it out before getting back in the garden, your moment has arrived.

Live Stream — Monday at 5:30 PM

This will be the last hangout at 5:30. I’m moving the stream earlier going forward so we have enough daylight to actually see what we’re looking at. I’m also going to try some new days in November, and I’ll share those details as we get closer.

Join here: https://youtube.com/live/9ikIzaRAW5s

As always, the garden hangout is an extra I do for the public — not part of class — but everyone’s welcome, and bring your questions.

See you this week.

Hello everyone,

This week we’re talking containers — and we’re going to do it a little differently than usual.

Container Gardening

• How to start a container garden

• Taking full advantage of the benefits of growing in containers

• An introduction to self-watering pots and wicking beds

Extended Q&A — Bring Your Container Questions

I’ve gotten a lot of questions about container gardening, and I know many of you have specific ones you haven’t had the chance to ask. So this week I’m setting aside an extended block of time just for that. Whatever you’ve been wondering about, bring it.

Group Discussion — Containers in Your Garden

• Do you grow in containers?

• What have your biggest challenges been?

We’ll share with the class afterward, and I’ll spend some time digging into whatever comes up.

Before Class

Nothing to bring — but if you’ve got container questions, jot them down beforehand so they don’t slip your mind.

Live Stream — Monday at 5:30 PM

Our garden hangout is on as usual. It may be raining, but I’ll be out there with an umbrella either way. What we end up doing will depend on the weather — and I’m thinking about pulling out the singing bowl to make things interesting.

Join here: https://youtube.com/live/Vu7Na-DcH4E

Feel free to share the link with anyone who’d enjoy it.

See you this week,

Ben

Hello everyone,

This week is all about compost.

Regenerative Gardening Principle #4 — "Produce No Waste"

Your Garden in October

Composting

• Home composting

• Worm bins and vermicomposting techniques

Group Discussion — What Are Your Plans for Your Garden This Month?

Our monthly check-in. Come ready to share what you're working on in October.

Before Class

Nothing to bring. Just come prepared to talk.

No Live Stream on Monday, October 5

I'm skipping tomorrow's garden hangout because of the extreme heat. Looking at the 10-day forecast, I should be back on my normal schedule on Monday, October 12.

Thank You

A heartfelt thank you to everyone who came up to me this week to talk about the new composting video. Hearing what you thought of it genuinely made my week. I've got a bunch of fun new videos coming, including several topics students have been asking about for a long time. I'm taking it easy during the heatwave, but I'll be back to filming as soon as it breaks.

Coming Soon — El Niño

I'm working on an extended video for everyone who's been asking what to do about El Niño. I'll cover the history of El Niño in our state, what it actually is, and what we can do to get our yards prepared. I've gotten so many questions about this that I'm also working the topic into an upcoming lecture.

See you this week — stay cool out there.

Hello everyone,

This week we pick up right where we left off. Soil science is a continuation of our ecology lesson — same idea of interconnection, just beneath our feet this time.

Soil Science

• Soil ecology and food webs

• Mycorrhizae, bioturbation, and nutrient cycles

• Physical properties of soil and how water moves through it

• No-till and no-dig gardening

Group Discussion — Mulch

Have you added mulch to your garden lately? When, and how much?

Before Class

Nothing to bring. Just come ready to dig in.

A Note for the Tuesday Afternoon Class in La Verne

Because of last week's unexpected cancellation, your class will be getting the Ecology lecture this week instead. That means La Verne will be running one lecture behind for now, and the soil material above will come your way next time. I'll go over this in more detail when we're together.

New Video — Composting

I finally finished my composting video, and it's up on YouTube. Anyone who's interested is welcome to watch:

https://youtu.be/z_-YLaeVu8g

A few things worth mentioning:

• This video introduces something very special. If you haven't watched yet, you'll want to see it.

• For fans of Little Ben, he makes a humorous appearance right at the end.

• If you watch, I'd love it if you left a comment. I go back and read them, and comments genuinely help the algorithm push the video out to more people.

And a sincere thank you to all the students who watch and support these videos. It means a lot.

See you this week.

This week we're getting into what I consider one of the most important lectures of the semester.

Regenerative Gardening Principle #3 — "Build Relationships"

Garden Ecology

Everything in the garden is connected. We'll look at holistic garden health, biodiversity, and the relationships between the living things that share a space.

• How the pieces of a garden depend on one another

• Rachel Carson and her concerns about chemicals — and why we need to be careful about what we use

• An overview of polyculture, companion planting, and crop rotation

Group Discussion — The Relationships You Hold Dear

We'll close with this: the relationships that matter most to you, and how they parallel the relationships we find in the garden.

Before Class

Nothing to bring. Just come prepared to talk. This lecture is built around connections, and there will be plenty of opportunities beyond the group discussion for us to think out loud together about how things relate to each other in the garden.

Garden Hangout — Monday at 7 PM

A quick update, in case you missed it: I'd mentioned moving the live stream earlier in the evening, but I've changed course. I'm moving it LATER to 7 PM on Monday.

This one will be very different from past hangouts. I'm heading out into the garden with a flashlight to see what turns up at twilight and after dark. I have no idea what we'll find.

Two ways to join:

• I'll send the invite link out tomorrow to everyone on the livestream email list

• Or search YouTube for Growing with Professor Brown — the live stream link will appear on the channel at 7 PM

As always, the hangout is optional and not a official part of class.

All the best,

Benjamin Brown

This week we're turning our attention to trees. Here's what to expect:

Why Trees Matter

We'll open with the role trees play in our cities and in society at large, including a look at how trees have shaped — and been shaped by — the human built environment.

Trees and Shrubs

• The value and importance of trees in our landscapes

• What distinguishes trees and shrubs from herbaceous plants

• A look at tree biology

• Introduction to care and maintenance, including how to prune properly

• Planting the right tree in the right place

Group Discussion — The Role of Trees in Your Garden

We'll close the class with this one. The main question:

What roles do trees play in a garden, and how should that shape where we plant them?

A few things to think about as we go:

• How does a tree affect the plants growing around it?

• How does a tree affect your home?

• Does the answer change between summer and winter?

See you in class!

Regenerative Gardening Principle #2 — "Use Knowledge as Power"

We'll open by unpacking what this principle means in practice: what it looks like to use knowledge as power in the garden, and what kinds of garden knowledge save us power — effort, money, and more.

Group Discussion — Where Did You Learn to Garden?

Not just where you learned, but who taught you, if you had a teacher. We'll spend 10–15 minutes here.

Main Lecture — Plant Propagation: Sexual and Asexual

• Growing from seed

• Starting cuttings of different kinds

• Transplanting into the garden

• A bit on grafting, focused on the methods used this time of year: chip budding and T-budding

Before Class

Nothing to prepare. Just come ready to talk.

This Week

• Your Garden in September — What to expect this month: temperature, seasonal changes, and the start of the transition out of warm- and hot-season crops into cool-season fall planting.

• Scientific Terminology for the Gardener — Terms and images, quiz-style: define the term or tell me what we're looking at, then we talk it through as a group. Expect familiar ground like annuals and perennials, plus a look at parts of the plant — leaves, stems, nodes, internodes.

• Garden Design — An overview of basic design principles: what we place where, and why.

Group Discussion

What are your plans for your garden this month? Our regular monthly check-in. Not having plans yet — or not having a garden yet — is a perfectly good answer. Everyone gets something out of hearing what others are working on.

Before Class

Nothing to prepare. Come ready to talk.

Registration

If you haven't been able to confirm your registration yet, you're not the only one. I've submitted names to the office and expect most of this sorted out this week, though a few may not show on the roster until Week 3. Keep coming to class in the meantime, and see me if you have questions.

Welcome to Fall 2026!

Each week during the semester I will send out a simple bulletin with information on the coming week, including any preparation you will need before class, as well as details on field trips or other important changes to our normal meeting plan - so please check these messages every week!

These bulletins are archived on this page, but are primarily sent out via email. If you are not receiving the weekly bulletins via email, please speak with me in class so I can make sure I have the correct email address for you.

Two semesters ago I introduced the weekly newsletter - and that hasn’t gone away, but it has changed! The weekly newsletter is now the monthly newsletter, which will release on the last Sunday of each month. It is not mandatory for class, but you will find useful garden information in each edition.

Again, welcome to the new semester! I look forward to seeing you all soon.

All the best,

Professor Brown