We're digging in at community gardens

In case you've missed Jeff Spurrier's weekly dispatches from community gardens -- the people and the plantings, the experiments and the solutions -- let us help you catch up:

Dispatches No. 1 and 2: Our kickoff feature on dynamo Milli Macen-Moore and the follow-up on the Milagro Allegro garden's uplifting history

Dispatch No. 3: For those waiting for a plot, garden sharing proves to be a good alternative

Dispatch No. 4: The Main Street garden in Santa Monica, a pioneer in the movement

Dispatch No. 5: A smart design for wheelchairs at Park Drive in Santa Monica

Dispatch No. 6: At Solano Canyon, gardening in the shadow of Dodger Stadium

Dispatch No. 7: On Skid Row, ingeniously gardening by the bucket

Dispatches No. 8 and 9: Ocean View Farms, true to its name and composting like crazy

Dispatch No. 10: How raised beds have made the Rockdale garden in Eagle Rock

Dispatch No. 11: In Silver Lake, community garden as pocket park

Dispatch No. 12: Veteran seed savers at the Altadena Community Garden keep their harvests going, and going, and ...

Dispatches 13 and 14: At the Learning Garden in Venice, Spurrier checks out the Seed Library of Los Angeles and watches a grafting master in action

Stay tuned for new installments every Wednesday. Bookmark L.A. at Home and join us on Facebook, where we have a page dedicated to gardening in the West.

Photo: Eagle Rockdale Community Garden, better known as just Rockdale. Credit: Ann Summa

Comments

[Mike Lieberman]

I'd love to have more space to grow food, but unfortunately there is a 2-year wait for my local community garden. I'll just have to expand out my balcony even more.

[Judy Lee]

Community gardens provide such a wonderful opportunity for a healthy and beneficial endeavor. How many hobbies are there where we can bring home something good to eat at the end of the day? The community aspect gives us the feeling of companionship and shared goals which truly bring people together.

One community garden near my home is the regular stop for school field trips. It teaches the lessons of caring for our earth, for our neighborhood, for our families and for our bodies. It is wonderful to see how many of the kids who first visit on a school field trip turn around and ask their families to go back and contribute to the garden on the weekend in their free time.

[firepits]

Community gardens gather many people of different likes & dis-likes in one place. Especially with the kids in the garden, it looks really great.

Near my house, there's a community garden, where school kids gather at the end of the day and play various games. Really love to see those tiny tots playing in the garden.