So you’d like a garden of your own — but you live in a tiny apartment without a patch of dirt or even a balcony to call your own. You put your name on a community garden list but the wait’s a couple years at least. Don’t give up — Hope is not lost, thanks to Los Angeles Guerrilla Gardening. (via The Good Human)
Profiled last May by the L.A. Times, L.A.’s guerrilla gardeners basically take over an unused spot of land — without permission — and turn it into a sustainable garden. While often technically illegal, the guerrilla garders’ work’s been much appreciated by the communities that get pretty, drought-resistant native gardens in the place of ugly and barren traffic medians, as happened at Wilton and Sunset (photos above).
Visit the Los Angeles Guerrilla Gardening site to see inspiring before and after pictures! You can get involved in a whole bunch of different ways, from taking charge of maintaining a garden near you to volunteering on a dig to donating tools or even land.
In fact, the guerrilla gardeners are apparently planning a big event for Friday, May 1, a.k.a. International Sunflower Guerrilla Gardening Day. The goal: To plant native sunflowers in 100 different L.A. spots! And you can participate — by staking out a neglected spot near you (remember, it’s guerrilla gardening, so the spot doesn’t need to belong to you), registering your location with LAGG so they can put it on the map, getting seeds (email LAGG if you need some), planting said seeds, then watering and caring for the sunflower.
Judging from the L.A. Guerrilla Gardening map, most of the gardens so far are in the Hollywood area, but there are also groups in Downtown LA, South Central, and Pasadena.
Earlier:
>> 100 Garden Challenge: I’ve signed up my balcony garden
>> The Back Alley LA Project
Image via laguerrillagardening.org
Which drought resistant native plants are edible?
Comment by M — April 29, 2009 @ 3:10 pm
We have accidental sunflowers as a result of our birdfeeder. We could totally participate.
Comment by KateNonymous — April 29, 2009 @ 3:30 pm
M — I don’t know about drought resistant edible plants — though I would guess there must be some. I sort of tend to think it’s edible gardens that use about as much water as lawns (but unlike lawns, for a good, functional purpose) OR drought resistant gardens that look pretty and don’t need too much water. Interesting question though. I’ll try asking around.
KateNonymous — Cute! Are they native sunflowers?
Comment by Siel — April 30, 2009 @ 9:38 pm
Edible gardens do not take as much water as a lawn.
Comment by Andy D — March 24, 2011 @ 10:45 pm