Volunteers Begin Work on Community Garden Site

Work proceeds on the Monterey Road Community Garden. From the Coalition For A Green Glendale site:

Equipped with metal rakes and shovels, volunteers diligently began leveling the grounds in preparation of the mulch to be delivered this week. The fine grading process is in fact quite arduous. It involves removing large rocks, hauling soil, and cleaning up debris. What’s more, on Sunday we discovered a labyrinth of stubborn roots underground. Yet persistence paid off and we successfully removed them all.

And in the News-Press:

Tree People of Los Angeles is scheduled to drop off 65 fruit trees Jan. 25 in what will be the first major “greening” of the lot since the City Council voted 4 to 1 in December to approve the land deal that allowed the garden to move forward.

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Organizers said they intend to plant only 30 of the 65-tree donation, and so will give away the remainder to the public next weekend.

After the trees will come the city-installed irrigation infrastructure, soil tilling and compost, a tool shed, benches, bike rack and other accessories, and then the fence. When all is said and done, the site will be able to accommodate 20 planting plots, for which 25 people have already been approved to garden, coalition co-founder Alek Bartrosouf said.

Very exciting. The initial batch of 25 participants were chosen based on their proximity to the garden to avoid generating car trips.

Community Garden Is A Go

Yay! From the News-Press:

Coalition for a Green Glendale, on a 4-1 vote, got approval for its first community-run garden Tuesday, and without even asking for it, seeds were sown for a second site nearby on the Verdugo Wash.

The garden site approved Tuesday will be at 870 Monterey Road, on a vacant city-owned, P-shaped lot near the corner with Cordova Avenue that can accommodate up to 40 raised plots for organic produce farming.

Unlike two other public gardening sites at Palmer and Verdugo parks, the 11,000-square-foot Monterey garden will be the first in Glendale to be independently run with bylaws and a lease agreement with gardeners, all under the administration of a local nonprofit, Coalition for a Green Glendale.

It will also include a drought-resistant demonstration garden and communal fruit trees.

You can find out more at the Coalition For A Green Glendale site. I took the liberty of converting their community garden interest form from a pesky PDF to a JPEG. If you live nearby and are interested in a plot, please print out the flyer and send it in.