Red cabbage at Solano Canyon Community Garden.

Apartment dwellers and home owners often find themselves wishing for a little garden space to putter in, something more than a few pots on the balcony, or just a sunny little plot of earth to grow a few vegetables.  It may be surprising to discover that community gardening plots can be obtained inexpensively in Los Angeles, perhaps right in your own neighborhood.

A community garden is literally an oasis in an asphalt jungle.  It's a little (or large) plot of serenity where people tend the soil for the fulfillment of watching their plants grow and bloom.  Garden areas are often festooned with ornamental features and birdhouses and benches.  Collectively and individually gardeners tend to turn their garden in a little Eden.

The King of Community Gardens

Al Renner thins green peaches to produce bigger fruit.

Al Renner could easily be named the King of Community Gardens in LA.  As president of the Los Angeles Community Garden Council (LACGC), Renner is amazingly active in the community garden movement.  He can often be found at the Solano Canyon Community Garden, which is situated in a corner of Elysian Park.

Renner grew up in a farming community in Illinois.  Even though most farmers used tractors, his grandfather still insisted on using horses to pull the plow and the wagon—and everyone in the family was required to help on Grandfather's farm.  Renner's earlier career was as a procurement specialist for the aerospace industry.  As he says, it was an extremely stressful job.  In the mid-nineties he suffered a heart attack and subsequently retired.

While walking to regain his health one day in 1995, Renner happened across some kids working in the Sunset Junction Community Garden in its narrow lot to the right of El Pollo Loco.  He discovered that the project was part of the Sunset Junction Youth Program, which is run by Michael McKinley, owner of Tsunami Café and organizer of the annual Sunset Junction Street Fair.

With his background in farming, Renner volunteered to teach gardening techniques to the kids.  He has subsequently become a major advocate for community gardening in Los Angeles, has helped to open a number of new community gardens, and actively promotes the LACGC and a number of school-related gardening programs.

Solano Canyon Community Garden

	A young Glen Dake (far left), and Al Renner (third from left) with Solano Canyon Garden organizers.

The Solano Canyon Community Garden occupies the former site of the Solano Avenue Elementary School, which was torn down in 1935 shortly after construction of the Pasadena Freeway.  The freeway runs along side—and under—the garden.  Part of the orchard is actually situated above the second tunnel of the northbound lane of the 101.

Renner and Silver Lake resident Glen Dake (landscape architect and Environmental Deputy for Councilmember Eric Garcetti) helped to establish this garden only five years ago.  You'd think it had been there far longer.  In addition to well-tended beds of vegetables and flowers, lively mosaics accent the common areas in walls, tables, sidewalks, and shaded benches.  The mosaics are the work of local artist and gardener Didier Guedj.

Solano Canyon Garden is almost five acres in size.  Two thirds of the space is devoted to the orchard, or "the farm" as Renner refers to it.  The remainder consists of common areas and 30 individual garden plots.

Please Do Not Sit on the Mosaic Lizard.

When the community was raising money to create the garden Bette Midler, who has a friend in Solano Canyon, contributed $15,000.  Renner makes sure the Garden always sends her roses when she's in town, and Midler sometimes stops by to the enjoy the beautiful space the community has created.

The Dodgers contributed $2500 to establishing the garden, and they purchase all community-grown food produced there including peaches from the orchard, which are served at the annual Peaches & Cream Night at Dodger Stadium.  Money from those purchases is used for educational programs for kids from the local schools.

A Garden Near You

	Looking down on the 101 from "the farm."

Community gardens are often established on odd patches of land.  The land may be city owned or privately owned.  Unfortunately, gardens established on privately owned property run the risk of future eviction.  The Sunset Junction Community Garden is actually on privately owned land that gets put up for sale periodically.

The largest community garden in LA is operated by the Los Angeles Regional Foodbank at 41st and Alameda in South Los Angeles.  Overall, the garden covers more than 13 acres and serves over 300 gardeners and their families.  Sadly, after fourteen years of operation, the gardeners at this location are facing a mass eviction due to legal problems over rightful ownership of the land.

Terraces of Manzanita Community Garden.

"People's gardens become an extension of their living space," says Renner who is actively trying to save that garden.  "At 41st and Alameda, people have tables and barbeques and sheds—they have mature fruit trees!  They pay rent, but they forget that it's not really their land.  It's heart-breaking that this could happen."

The Manzanita Community Garden in Silver Lake is a brand new garden that occupies a sliver of land on a hillside below Sunset Blvd.  The slope is landscaped into five or six terraces and broken up into individual beds.  The Manzanita gardeners have the security of knowing their garden is located on city land.

Wattles Farm, which is located north of Hollywood Blvd between Sierra Bonita and Curson, has been there for "many, many years," as Renner says, and has a long waiting list.

	Manzanita Community Garden with Sunset Blvd above.

The Echo Park Community Garden just above Sunset Blvd does not have the certainty of residing on publicly owned land.  Renner and Dake helped to open this garden in 1996 on leased property.  Due to management and landlord issues, this garden also faces a possible shut down.

This month the Jardin del Rio is opening in Elysian Valley, and there are plans for a garden at the Mayberry Elementary School in Echo Park.

"All Food Travels on Oil"

Renner can extol the virtues of gardening ad infinitum.  It can be personally fulfilling, it can give you a sense of being in touch with the earth, and a community garden often becomes a pleasant community of like-minded people.

But gardening can also reduce the price of food, Renner says.  In LA you can grow food almost year-round.  The food you grow yourself is less expensive and is tastier than food purchased at the supermarket.  Gardeners often share what they grow or sell it at local farmers markets.

"All food travels on oil," Renner says.  "We ship our oranges to Israel and import our food from Chile and Mexico.  All those ships and planes and trains and boats are fueled by oil, so the price of oil impacts the price of our food.  We need to make a point of growing and buying food locally."

Starting a Community Garden

Renner claims that the city and county own 30,000 empty parcels of land.  If you'd like to start a community garden in your area he suggests working with the LA Department of Recreation and Parks to find potential community garden space.

"In order for the garden to function smoothly, you have to have clear rules for operating, especially around accounting," Renner says.  The LACGC will actually do the books for a community garden group, if they wish.

How Can I Find One?

Community garden plots can cost anywhere between $40 a year to $50 a month and can range in size from 50 square feet to 300 square feet.

If you know of a local community garden, the best way to find out about getting a plot is to wander in and ask the gardeners themselves.  The LACGC website has an extensive list of community gardens in LA.  UC Davis maintains a list of community gardens in Los Angeles County, and they offer a 10-week Master Gardener Program as well.

Al Renner welcomes anyone who is looking for advice about finding and operating a community garden to contact him through the LACGC.

Resources:

LA Community Garden Council
www.lacommunitygardens.org
Al Renner, President
(213) 534-1865

City of LA Bureau of Sanitation Community Garden List
www.ci.la.ca.us/san/cgarden.htm

UC Davis Common Ground Garden Program (Los Angeles)
celosangeles.ucdavis.edu/garden/

Solano Canyon Community Garden
hometown.aol.com/solanogarden/solanogarden.html