City of Torrance Community Garden History

City Council circa 1975-76 receiving a wheelbarrow of produce from the Community Gardens (including Mayor Jim Armstrong, Council members Katy Geissert and Dick Rossberg)

I have the privilege of being the Garden Program Coordinator for Torrance Memorial Medical Center and we have created a learning garden to teach local residents how to grow their own food. Our Learning Garden is located in a community garden plot at Columbia Park Community Garden in Torrance.

Back in 2008, while researching my book on the history of Farming in Torrance and the South Bay, I came across an interesting file in the Community Services Department about the Community Gardens.

They began in January 1975, as an experimental project at the site of the old Standard Brands/Nishita Property, which became Columbia Park. There were 52 garden plots leased and by May 1975, 115 people were on the waiting list. By November 1975, there were about 450 people working 107 garden plots.

The success at Columbia led the City Council to approve the construction of the Lago Seco Park Community Garden in February 1976.

There were also some very interesting reasons (which are still relevant today) that City staff outlined to the Council for the need for the gardens. "What better way is there to cool the soaring inflation, improve nutrition, relieve the environment and provide leisure services while promoting vegetable gardening in general and Community Gardens in particular?"

Just shows that a good idea is timeless.

Thinking of Growing Your Own? Go Organic!

With all of the talk about the rising cost of food and the support of locally grown, sustainable food coming from the Obama Administration, i.e., the groundbreaking on the People's Garden at the USDA and the possibility of an organic food garden at the White House you might be thinking about jumping on the bandwagon and growing your own.

Since spring is just around the corner, it makes it an even better time to get started on your own fruit and vegetable garden. However, if you've never grown your own you might be wondering where to start and worrying that gardening might be bad for the environment.

A solution to both of these issues is to grow organically. But what exactly is organic gardening? As with anything that becomes trendy, the term organic has come to mean different things to different people. There are those people who define it in very narrow terms and for some people this may make it seem hard, if not impossible, to go organic.

Organic Gardening magazine offers a very simple definition. It defines organic gardeners as those who "don’t use synthetic fertilizers or pesticides on their plants and that think of plants as part of a whole system within nature that starts in the soil and includes the water supply, people, wildlife, and even insects."

Basically, if you begin with the premise that gardening is part of a whole system, your goal as a gardener is to minimize the disruption of the natural system and to continually replenish any resources the garden uses.

The most fundamental way to do this is to practice good, basic gardening methods. The most important of these is "feeding" the soil, by providing fertility to the soil using natural sources of nutrients whenever possible. In organic gardening, soil is the most important component. It is the source of the nutrients found in fruits and vegetables.

For those who interpret organic gardening in its most literal sense, this means adding organic matter or decaying plants wastes like grass clippings, leaves, and vegetable scraps from the lawn, garden, or kitchen in the form of compost. While compost is considered the ideal organic matter for garden soil, it's not for everybody. Organic soil amendments and fertilizers are available at local nurseries.

Another important component is to use plants that are best suited to the site you are planting them in. Choose plants that are adapted to your climate such as native plants because they are not heavily dependent on fertilizer or lots of water and are adapted to your climate.

Other key components of organic gardening include making sure to use healthy plants because are they are less susceptible to disease, mulching, using the right irrigation system, and weeding.

Organic gardening also involves the use of natural, safe methods of pest control including crop rotation, companion planting, and introducing beneficial insects.

It's become easier to go organic because many garden supply companies are now providing more nontoxic, natural controls for pests and disease for the organic gardener. Gardeners can also find an increased number of disease-resistance plants at local nurseries.

You will also find that organic gardening is not only better for the garden and the environment, it also means less work for you.

(Originally published on Care2.com, http://www.care2.com/causes/environment/blog/thinking-of-growing-your-own-go-organic/)

Daily Green's 7 Habits of Effective Gardeners

Just a quick post to let you know about a wonderful resource, The Daily Green. Today's tips include 7 tips for having a green, yet water wise and organic garden.

These are:
1) Make Compost
2) Use Compost
3) Plant Crops in Wide Beds
4) Mulch
5) Feed the Soil, Not the Plants
6) Share Something
7) Be There

For complete details on these, check out their site, http://www.thedailygreen.com/green-homes/blogs/organic-gardening/gardening-tips-460109?src=nl&mag=tdg&list=dgr&kw=ist

I am going to highlight #6, "Share Something!"

As they point out, there are always people and groups in need. One of the ways to help is Plant A Row For The Hungry. The Garden Writers Association started this for vegetable gardeners to give away their extra produce to those in need.

"Miracle-Gro Effect" On Backyard Garden Movement

The Christian Science Monitor had an interesting story in their May 16 edition using stats from the Garden Writers Association of America.

The story reports on how those in the garden industry, (nurseries, gardening organizations, seed companies, etc.) have seen sales of vegetable seeds and starter plants increase. And, according to the the Garden Writer's Association, this year, 39 percent of people with backyards planned to grow vegetables this year. That's up 5 percent from last year, after remaining relatively stable with only small increases for much of the past decade.

The Garden Writers Association surveys people annually to see how they plan to spend their gardening dollars, and found a big increase in preference for vegetable gardens. For years, the top three on the list were lawns, annuals, and perennials, with vegetable gardening a distant fourth. This year, vegetable gardening jumped to No. 2.

The reasons for this increase are related directly to both the rising costs of gasoline and food, as well as increased interest in having sustainable agriculture in the backyard, knowing where your food comes from and what was done to it.

Those in the industry are hoping that this trend continues because they believe that once people taste how much better their own produce is, they won't go back to store bought.

Celebrate International Compost Awareness Week

Proving that there truly is a week for everything, this week, May 4 through May 10, 2008, has been dubbed "International Compost Awareness Week," by the US Composting Council (also proving there is a group for everything).

There's even a theme and the theme for 2008 is: The Possibilities are Endless...Compost!

So, if you have been thinking about doing your own composting, now is the perfect time.

There are even some upcoming compost demonstrations to help make the task easier, including one on May 17, from 9 to 11 a.m. at South Coast Botanic Garden. They have a permanent composting demo there and the workshop will be led by LA County's Smart Gardening Program, which is a great program, where they teach you about backyard composting, worm composting, and water wise gardening. At the workshop, they will also offer compost bins at reduced prices, http://www.southcoastbotanicgarden.org/specialevents.html.

Check out the Smart Gardening site to learn more about their other gardening programs, http://ladpw.org/epd/sg/

Michael Pollan on Growing Your Own

There is a very interesting editorial from noted sustainable agriculture advocate and author Michael Pollan in the April 20 New York Times Magazine on dealing with climate change in your own life.

The piece is entitled, The Way We Live Now: Why Bother? And in it, he looks at the attitude many have: why bother to face the issue of climate change when it seems too big and hard to fathom? He goes through all of the issues and ultimately says that we should bother and that:

"The idea is to find one thing to do in your life that doesn’t involve spending or voting, that may or may not virally rock the world but is real and particular (as well as symbolic) and that, come what may, will offer its own rewards.

And one act he says can do this is to grow some of your own food.

"But the act I want to talk about is growing some, even just a little, of your own food. Rip out your lawn, if you have one, and if you don't, look into getting a plot in a community garden. Measured against the problem we face, planting a garden sounds pretty benign, I know, but in fact it's one of the most powerful things an individual can do to reduce your carbon footprint, sure, but more important, to reduce your sense of dependence and dividedness: to change the cheap-energy mind."

He also goes on to say, " It’s estimated that the way we feed ourselves (or rather, allow ourselves to be fed) accounts for about a fifth of the greenhouse gas for which each of us is responsible... Yet the sun still shines down on your yard, and photosynthesis still works so abundantly that in a thoughtfully organized vegetable garden (one planted from seed, nourished by compost from the kitchen and involving not too many drives to the garden center), you can grow the proverbial free lunch — CO2-free and dollar-free. This is the most-local food you can possibly eat (not to mention the freshest, tastiest and most nutritious)."

He also points out the other benefits of growing your own including the fact that it's a great workout that burns calories and doesn't involve having to use the car to go to the gym.

And, as he points out, we can learn what it's like to be self-sufficient, what we can do for ourselves:

"You quickly learn that you need not be dependent on specialists to provide for yourself — that your body is still good for something and may actually be enlisted in its own support. If the experts are right, if both oil and time are running out, these are skills and habits of mind we’re all very soon going to need. We may also need the food. Could gardens provide it? Well, during World War II, victory gardens supplied as much as 40 percent of the produce Americans ate."

Very powerful stuff and so well-written, as is everything he writes. Pollan's latest book is “In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto.”

Pledge to Grow Sustainably For Earth Day

If you are thinking of making the switch to organic gardening, Earth Day is a great day to make it "official" and get started, especially if you are growing food that you are going to eat.

Some people think that planting more plants, fruits, vegetables, etc. actually will use more resources. But, if you practice good, basic organic gardening techniques, you will actually be helping to preserve natural resources because they require you to use less water, less chemicals, fertilizers, etc.

What exactly is organic gardening? Organic Gardening magazine offers a very simple definition. It defines organic gardeners as those who “don’t use synthetic fertilizers or pesticides on their plants and that think of plants as part of a whole system within nature that starts in the soil and includes the water supply, people, wildlife, and even insects.”

Basically, if you begin with the premise that gardening is part of a whole system, your goal as a gardener is to minimize the disruption of the natural system and to continually replenish any resources the garden uses.

The most fundamental way to do this is to practice good, basic gardening methods. The most important of these is “feeding” the soil, by providing fertility to the soil using natural sources of nutrients whenever possible. In organic gardening, soil is the most important component. It is the source of the nutrients found in fruits and vegetables.

For those who interpret organic gardening in its most literal sense, this means adding organic matter or decaying plants wastes like grass clippings, leaves, and vegetable scraps from the lawn, garden, or kitchen in the form of compost. While compost is considered the ideal organic matter for garden soil, it’s not for everybody. Organic soil amendments and fertilizers are available at local nurseries.

Other key components of organic gardening include making sure to use healthy plants because are they are less susceptible to disease, mulching, using the right irrigation system, and weeding.

Organic gardening also involves the use of natural, safe methods of pest control including crop rotation, companion planting, and introducing beneficial insects.

It’s become easier to go organic because many garden supply companies are now providing more nontoxic, natural controls for pests and disease for the organic gardener. Gardeners can also find an increased number of disease-resistance plants at local nurseries.

Check out the resources I have provided here for tips on how to get started. And think about this: You will also find that organic gardening is not only better for the garden and the environment, it also means less work for you.