With the promise of Spring, we’re getting itchy for some quality outdoor time. Luckily for us, LA is home to many beautiful shared outdoor spaces. Even if you’re living in a concreted apartment complex, you can find a patch of earth to call your own. You can make it burst with veggies, and herbs, or even flowers. Yes, we’re talking about community gardens.

Here is the basic rundown:

A community garden is a plot of land gardened by a group of people. Sounds overly simple, but there are a number of different structures which all fall under this designation. A community garden can be in an urban, suburban, or rural area. It can be small areas leased or subleased to multiple renters or a bunch of individual small plots in one area. Some grow food for themselves, and others maintain gardens for restaurants or even local food banks.

Costs vary for retaining use of the space, but generally falls in the affordable (especially when shared with friends) category. Also, those who shop for fresh produce regularly know that there are significant cost savings to growing your own edibles. And, that savings can be greatly increased if you swap your extra goods for a neighbor’s.

LA has a pretty mixed history with these vibrant swatches. In a pretty depressing moment of 2006, the South Central Community Farm was shut down after some developer lobbying. In true LA style, the story was documented in the Academy Award nominated documentary The Garden. There are many more, however, which continue to bring life back into overly-concreted areas.

Dotted around the city, these former weed kingdoms have been transformed by invested neighbors. You can find one close to you with the handy-dandy locator provided by the LA Community Garden Council. Or, you can tour a few. Everyone is probably biased toward their own, but Curbed LA put together their top 10 list if you want to go with an outside opinion.

And finally, if you want to get involved but don’t see one nearby, consider starting your own. You can contact the Council to get some help setting one up. Or, get tips from the American Community Garden Association’s site call Rebel Tomato. And if you want some primers on gardening, consider LA County’s Common Ground Garden Program. It’s good to get your hands a little dirty.

 

Happy Gardening.