Seedlings Are A Hit At Artwalk!

Last Thursday, the garden team decided to introduce our garden to even more of the downtown community. Every first Thursday of the month is Artwalk in downtown LA, bringing thousands of people into the neighborhood.

We set up a table and sold vegetable seedlings for 2 dollars a piece. We had pumpkins, squash, watermelon, and sunflowers. And, at the end of the night, we made $81 hat we can invest back into the garden. Much thanks to Anne Hars, Debbie, and the rest of the crew that came out and shared the garden with our neighbors. More to come!

New Garden Video

Here is the first in an upcoming series of tutorials, look-ins, and general videos that we're posting about the garden. Enjoy, and stay tuned for more.

Up on the Roof: Urban Gardening w/ LA CAN from Nicholas Dahmann on Vimeo.

First Winter Harvest!

Today we had our first harvest of the winter!It was perfect timing, too, because tomorrow we have a community meeting in which we will be preparing food for all attendees. Now we can build the menu according to our harvest.

We have leaf lettuce from one of our donated earth boxes, fava beans, kale, greens, and to our surprise...beets. For nearly a month, we thought that the red leafy plant that had been booming was swiss chard. However, when Anne, our amazing master gardener snooped around the leafs, she discovered two large beets nestled under the soil. What a fantastic surprise, and great addition to our meal.

In addition to harvesting, we added two new earth boxes (self-irrigating pots) to the garden, containing broccoli.

We did, however, discover that our booming fava beans have grown weak and a bit sickly. They are now displaying some kind of powdery mold. We think that we may have planted too many in a single SIP (self-irrigating pot), so the plants have eaten all of the nutrients from the soil in a rapid manner. We are going to fertilize to try to keep the plant alive.

Check the photo gallery page for some additional updated photos.

And, stay tuned for a video that we shot on our last group visit up to the garden.

Adopt-A-Seedling Program
LA CAN Community Garden

“Justice requires that everyone should have enough to eat. But it also requires that everyone should contribute to the production of food.” - Elías Canetti

In May 2010, the Los Angeles Community Action Network (LA CAN) created a community garden on a rooftop high above Skid Row, where healthy food is often inaccessible to many of the area’s residents. Like many of the grassroots and community organizations coming before them, LA CAN sees the struggle for civil rights as inseparable from food justice and equality. A community’s ability to grow its own food not only reduces financial pressures associated with the cost of living, it can quickly become a vehicle for empowerment and solidarity.

As we expand the garden we want you to play a major part. The Adopt-A-Seedling program literally puts the garden in the hands of community residents, who will nurture seedlings in their own homes (approximately 4-6 weeks). When the seedlings are strong enough to transplant into the garden, bring them back to the LA CAN office where we will hold a planting day. Our current gardeners will teach all the new gardeners the basics of planting their seedlings. After that, the gardeners should find time in their schedules to check in on their growing plants, water, prune, and pick the delicious vegetables once they grow. Gardeners can also join up at Team Food’s community garden meetings (every other Thursday at 10:30am) to become more involved with the garden.

Next adoption day: FEBRUARY 4TH, 6PM @ R.O.C. MEETING (LA CAN OFFICE)

Next seedling planting day: MARCH 18TH, 4PM (LA CAN OFFICE)

Care for Your Seedling

What you’ll need:
· Sun – Plants thrive on sun to grow. Find a sunny place to keep your seedling. A windowsill works great. Southern facing windows work best, but if you don’t have access to the south, any direct sun will do.
· Water – The care you give your seedlings throughout these initial weeks is critical. Keep the soil moist, but not dripping. Small pots tend to dry out quickly, so check it often. If your seedlings are growing in a windowsill, turn often to encourage straight stems.