Los Angeles Roots for Community Gardens
Why now?
“Every garden in the city has a waiting list right now,” says Al Renner, executive director of the Los Angeles Community Garden Council, and a master gardener. He says part of this interest in community gardening stems from the need to make sure that food is organic. “We know what a lot of the pesticides do to us, we know what a lot of the chemical things do to us, and I think people just don’t want to take chances with their health,” says Renner. 
He also credits political leaders of the nation for showing the way. “Michelle Obama did a wonderful thing for community gardening by having a garden at the White House again. When our leadership does this, we get encouraged.”
What’s the effect?
According to research done by the American Community Gardening Association, community gardens help increase property values in the neighborhood and contribute to a decrease in crime. “A cared-for space is less of a magnet for crime than an uncared for space,” says Julie Burleigh, manager of the community garden on Raymond Avenue. Renner says when the huge garden at Alameda and 41st Street was going strong, there was little graffiti in the area. “But now, all the buildings around there constantly get sprayed,” he says. 
Yazmin Cruz, who has a plot in the Raymond Avenue garden, says community gardens build relationships among neighbors. “Working together with different races helps you realize who your neighbors are, and that they’re not very different from you,” she says. Working in the garden also keeps her active. “It keeps me from sitting at home in front of a computer…and in the end, I get to eat my own strawberry that I grew, my own beet, or carrots.”
Then there are others like Nery Reyes, manager of the garden in Koreatown, who says community gardens are a great place to grow fruits and vegetables not found in L.A. He rattles off the names of several Central American herbs growing in his garden. “People in this neighborhood live in multi-family buildings. They have no space to keep plants, and this garden is a good way to make up for that,” he says. 
Ivan Palencia who has been farming at the Raymond Avenue garden for almost two years, says his garden is a “small paradise” where he can plant medicinal herbs. Along with onions, celery, carrots and thyme, Palencia grows stevia, a plant whose leaves are used as a healthy sweetener, especially for those suffering from diabetes.
How to get in?
Though most gardens in the city have people on the waitlist for getting plots, there are relatively few rules once you do get in. Reyes says he asks prospective gardeners to help him for a couple of hours in the garden, for three or four Sundays. If they are still interested, they are put on a waitlist.
Reyes says some people are not aware of the hard work it takes to grow something. “People read or hear something that makes them enthused about gardening, but later they realize it’s hard work and they don’t want to do it anymore. But then there are others who faithfully water and weed their gardens,” says Renner. Usually families enter into a year-long contract to keep their plots. At the end of the year, they can renew the contract. Since the land belongs to the city, all that gardeners need to pay is $3 for water.
Most gardeners say working with their hands and growing produce from tiny seeds is therapeutic. “This is one way to make a difference in L.A and our homes,” says Renner.
It’s no wonder then that green is becoming the new black—at least in L.A.