Results tagged “gardening”

Legendary Bay Area restaurateur, chef, cookbook author, and educational garden advocate Alice Waters is in town today to take part in the launch of the first Los Angeles branch of her Chez Panisse Foundation's Edible Schoolyard.

In a discussion about the upcoming trend (and hopefully long-term habit) of residents taking part in urban farming and apartment gardening, commenter trishells points out her illegal use of water under current city ordinances. However, she has a great point:

Okay, everyone. An apology in advance, but seriously, it's time for a Martha Stewart moment. Thanks to a reader comment on our urban farming-pinkberry connection post, we learn a little trick that will be exciting to try out. LAist commenter LadyAMC points out an article on Cookthink about re-growing green onions on your window sill. Basically, keep about an inch of the bulb-end, place it in a cup of water on a sunny windowsill, let them grow and clip bits off as you need. "It works, I've got 6 of'em growing right now," she exclaimed.

Improving a blighted neighborhood could be as simple as a covering up unsightly walls and rusted fences with a vertical garden. For nearly two months, the Nelson brothers have been selling a new concept in this burgeoning field. Their business, the Woolly Pocket Garden Company, began serendipitously when they were looking for a vertical garden solution to their eco-conscious Chinatown event space, Smog Shoppe. But no product existed to meet their needs cost effectively, so they did it themselves and figured it was a product others might want, too.

This weekend's Dwell on Design at the Convention Center features an extensive amount of activities, offering something for everyone, from mobile food to pre-fab homes, all in the name of sustainable design.

On Tuesday May 12th, the Environmental Media Association, along with Yes to Carrots launched their new partnership with the Los Angeles Unified School District to sponsor educational gardening in several of their schools. At an event held in the new garden at Helen Bernstein High School in Hollywood, many of the EMA's celeb board members were on hand to lend a hand and to share their interest in organic gardening and its role in both education and the Los Angeles community.

This week, the Environmental Media Association's Young Hollywood Board is putting on the gloves and digging deep in support of organic gardening in Los Angeles-area schools. Celebs on the Board, including Nicole Richie, Lance Bass, Rosario Dawson, members of Maroon 5, Amy Smart, Matthew Rhys, Emily VanCamp and Emmanuelle Chriqui, will each adopt an area school, help with the planting, and check in with their gardens during the school year, explains People.

If you're an area resident and ready to dig in and get your hands dirty (and grow yourself some tomatoes and the like), there's a morning-long (9 a.m. to noon) work day happening today for the Fountain Community Garden at 5260 Fountain Avenue. The garden is the fruit of the neighborhood's labor; they have been working together to transform this empty lot at the southwest corner of Fountain and Mansfield Avenue into a beautiful community garden. Activities today include tree plants, weeding, laying mulch between the garden beds, and meeting new neighbors. The steering committee has finalized an 'application of interest' form for those interesting in securing a plot. Email Edith Darling if you're interested.

Waiting lists for popular community gardens can be years long, but many have grown weary of waiting. As 21st Century "Victory Gardens" have come into vogue in our yards, in our neighborhoods, at our schools, at our state capitol, and on the White House lawn, many would-be green thumbs want to get their hands dirty and their veggies and flowers growing.

LAist's own Green Thumb is here to help you get into gardening...So, as he says: "Get down on your knees and start planting."

The gardening trend is, without a doubt (and pardon the pun) growing.

During World War II they were called "Victory Gardens"--home-tended sections of land yielding money-saving produce for folks without much money to spare. While "Victory Gardens" might call to mind PBS programming an older relative might enjoy, the impulse to plant and grown has taken root once again nationwide. Now we call them "Recession Gardens" but by any other name the rose--or tomato plant--will still smell as sweet:

Industry surveys show double-digit growth in the number of home gardeners this year, and mail-order companies report such a tremendous demand that some have run out of seeds for basic vegetables such as onions, tomatoes and peppers. (Daily News)

Gardening at home, or in a community plot, has a very clear bottom line: "The National Gardening Association estimates that a well-maintained vegetable garden yields a $500 average return per year. A study by Burpee Seeds claims that $50 spent on gardening supplies can multiply into $1,250 worth of produce annually."

Not everyone has a yard, so for many, joining a community garden can be a solution; local ones are experiencing a surge in popularity. Many Angelenos believe now is the time to set up more such resources, like in West Hollywood, where vacant lots seem to cry out with potential. Although for many would-be gardeners, cultivating a green thumb might require a little extra learning (especially if it's an old dog/new tricks scenario), many school-aged kids in LA are fortunate enough to be able to participate in educational gardening programs; with the state of our economy we could all benefit from their savvy so long as our economy lets us fund the programs.

Blogger Tasha Nita Adams at Blackburn & Sweetzer (that's a street intersection, by the way), has many dreams, but this urban one in particular: "taking these empty lots around the neighborhood (there are two, I believe, on Blackburn alone) and making them into green spaces. Mini dog parks. Community gardens. Perhaps a playground. Or wild flowers and benches. Someplace to read or ponder. It’s a thought."

Los Angeles is cold. It’s too cold for this Midwestern escapee’s comfort even if it is Christmas. Humbug. Yes, God gave us Jesus and a really great climate in SoCal, so it’s not supposed to freeze. We don’t really freeze that much, but Jesus and a frost show up once or twice. It happens; my Yahoo Weather report says expect the low 30’s. It says Buffalo. It says Dayton.

Echo Park resident Erik Knutzen of the blog Homegrown Evolution was featured last night on ABC7's news broadcast. Knutzen and his wife Kelly Coyne recently authored "The Urban Homestead" that talks about urban gardening/farming and includes a chapter on sustainable transportation (Damien Newton talked Knutzen up in two separate interviews).

It's certainly not new news, but still worth a mention: Conserve water, people!

Last weekend, the homeowners, docents, and designers who are taking part in today's Green Gardens Tour gathered in the beautiful Santa Monica library to talk with each other and to be honored by the tour organizers at a thank you breakfast.

This upcoming Saturday, April 26th, marks the 4th Annual Green Gardens Tour, which gives attendees a backstage pass to see six home gardens on the Westside that "demonstrate sustainable designs, practices, and technologies." With conservation issues a hot-topic in the Los Angeles area--and all over the world--the tour is a wonderful hands-on opportunity to see what some people have done in their own yards to pitch in to save our precious resources while creating beautiful and inviting landscapes. All of the gardens are professionally designed, but not only will attendees get to take home the Green Sourcebook that's loaded with valuable information (like plant lists!), they can hear lectures and demos on the tour all focused on this year's theme, which is Gardening With Intent.

Now that the winds seem to have subsided, we're ready to dive into what promises to be a beautiful weekend, and we're pretty much ready for it to start now. Say it with us: T.G.I.F! Doesn't that feel good? We thought we'd tell you what we were up to this weekend, in case you needed a little inspiration, or in case you wanted to tell us something else you think we can't afford to...

We live in a beautiful part of the world, don't you think? Despite the fact that sometimes it feels like all we ever see are the taillights and inane vanity plates of the car we're stuck behind, if we take some time to check out all the flora and fauna that our soil produces, we might get that nice swift kick in the rear from Mother Nature we didn't even know we needed. On...