To help get some Los Angeles-area kids familiar with fruit and how it grows, San Diego-based Stretch Island Fruit Co. brought their "Fruit Tree 101" program up north earlier this week to help get over 70 fruit trees planted on campuses. more ›

"Streets are for people!" is the rally and battle cry of Park[ing] Day L.A., which is set to take place for the fifth year on Friday, September 16th. That's the day when "Park-itects" around Los Angeles will turn metered curbside parking spaces into mini-urban parks. more ›

Just steps away from the Levi's Film Workshop space set up at MOCA at the Geffen Contemporary last Thursday night, food and film enthusiasts gathered under the stars to watch the premiere of a trio of short films about food. more ›

Do you get down in the garden? I mean--do you really dig gardening? (Groan!) These days, nationwide, gardening isn't just about little ol' biddies in their floppy hats pruning their rose bushes. The increased emphasis on food education, namely knowing your food source, and, even better, knowing your farmer, and a bit of a throwback to the WWII era "Victory Garden" grow-your-own grub trend, means home gardeners are getting their veggies from their own backyard, front yard, side yard, or community garden plot. more ›

Turns out those bodies we so often find buried in our backyards are not necessarily those of murder victims or Jimmy Hoffa but, more likely than we'd think, centuries-old remains of the L.A. basin's pre-European invasion inhabitants. While gardening in her backyard last month a South Pasadena woman dug up a skull with a few teeth still intact. She called authorities, certain it must have been a homicide victim, only to find out it was just another Native American skull. more ›

Starting at noon on Sunday, the Milagro Allegro Community Garden in Highland Park will be giving away 400 bare-root fruit and nut trees, thanks to an anonymous donor, reports the LA Times. Milli Macen-Moore, Milagro Allegro's resident master gardener and teacher, was reportedly contacted by the donor who... more ›

Last year I traveled to Washington DC for the People's Garden Summit. Nothing odd in that: school bureaucrat on a trip to the nation's capitol to meet with federal bureaucrat and talk about "bureaucrat things." I was going on behalf of my school groups and the National Gardening Association, a great group that gets kids all across the country outside and in the garden. Great right? But what makes this unusual is that the second leg of my flight from Philly to DC - canceled. more ›

It's the third day of 80 degree-weather in Los Angeles and you may be feeling like we missed spring. Spring is planting time and that takes the right seeds. I've written about companies that offer really great product, but nothing is better than the experience of friends. Their favorites might be your favorites too. Seeing that there is no "Yelp" for backyard gardens, I rely on my cadre of gardeners, garden writers and twitter cohorts to aide my planting decisions for the 2011 Season. I've leaned over the virtual fence of the internet to ask for advice from my community of gardeners. I've asked a dozen of stellar plant geeks to share their favorites with you. more ›

It could be my laziness, my deeper interest in the distracting end-products of “Cocktail Gardening” and its logical basil-infused cocktail hour or the simple fact that almost no major or minor home garden seed companies advertise Genetically Modified Organism products, but I haven’t been able to find any GMO products in the local garden center aisles. I’ve really, really tried. more ›

We will be in the “heat” of spring in just over two months. The days will be lengthening as we pass the December 21st Solstice; you hippie freaks will undoubtedly be worshiping the Mother, and I’ll be looking at new varieties of available seed to put in her. Here are some of my fave vendors whose catalogs that I have dog-eared and love to support. more ›

In what used to be her daughter's bedroom, Joanne Clarke of Costa Mesa, is now raising marijuana plants. She opened up her home to reporter for a piece on the current crop of legal at-home growers of the medicinal plant, which is published in today's LA Times. more ›

For those interested in learning how to eat locally, seasonally, and sustainably, an event taking place in Downtown next month could be a delicious solution. more ›

Silver Lake's Forage is a restaurant based on the eating experience of preparing food brought in from customers as grown in the area. But in mid-April, Forage found themselves having to put on hold their program of accepting homegrown foods for preparation because of the uncertainty of the practice's legality. more ›

Up until Monday, the portion of the yard at Saturn Street Elementary school marked as the garden was still asphalt. It's taken much hard work by the staff, students, parents, and local community, but today marked the launch of their school garden. To get things started, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa made Saturn his first stop today as part of his Mayor's Day of Service. more ›

There's not a lot of good news out of the LAUSD very often these days, but there is some hope growing, and it smells a little bit like fresh dirt. That's because today Board Members Monica Garcia and Marguerite La Motte and the Mayor's Day of Service staff are teaming up with the LAUSD Green Program to give away 50,000 organic vegetable, herb and ornamental seedlings to school garden groups in the area. more ›

Cube Marketplace is setting down roots to the east in Downtown, and are gearing up to run a day full of fun and learning next Saturday. Last month their debut day was a big hit, so if you missed out then (maybe you were at a little Street Food Festival going on at the same time?) then reserve a spot now in one of their classes. more ›

Last fall we heard about plans Arnaud Ozharun, owner of Natural Mind Beauty & Beyond on Sunset Boulevard in Silver Lake, had to convert the exterior of his business into a vertical garden. This weekend we caught some of the installation in process, as vibrant greenery was being set into small pockets all up and down the outside of the building--a total of 20,000 will eventually be in place in the vertical garden, which Ozharun said he hopes will look "like Amazonia." Head to Silver Lake and check it out! more ›

Tonight the Food Network's Iron Chef America's season premiere is a 2-hour episode with some very special guests, and it's a show we've been looking forward to for some time now. Facing off in Kitchen Stadium will be White House executive chef Cristeta Comerford and Bobby Flay versus Mario Batali and Emeril Lagasse, as the two teams try to take on the heat while using the unique secret ingredient. While usually the item or category is somewhat of a surprise to participants and viewers, tonight we know already that it's First Lady Michelle Obama who will assign the chefs the task of working with anything grown in the White House garden. more ›

Legendary Bay Area restaurateur, chef, cookbook author, and educational garden advocate Alice Waters is in town today to take part in the launch of the first Los Angeles branch of her Chez Panisse Foundation's Edible Schoolyard. more ›

In a discussion about the upcoming trend (and hopefully long-term habit) of residents taking part in urban farming and apartment gardening, commenter trishells points out her illegal use of water under current city ordinances. However, she has a great point: more ›

Okay, everyone. An apology in advance, but seriously, it's time for a Martha Stewart moment. Thanks to a reader comment on our urban farming-pinkberry connection post, we learn a little trick that will be exciting to try out. LAist commenter LadyAMC points out an article on Cookthink about re-growing green onions on your window sill. Basically, keep about an inch of the bulb-end, place it in a cup of water on a sunny windowsill, let them grow and clip bits off as you need. "It works, I've got 6 of'em growing right now," she exclaimed. more ›

Improving a blighted neighborhood could be as simple as a covering up unsightly walls and rusted fences with a vertical garden. For nearly two months, the Nelson brothers have been selling a new concept in this burgeoning field. Their business, the Woolly Pocket Garden Company, began serendipitously when they were looking for a vertical garden solution to their eco-conscious Chinatown event space, Smog Shoppe. But no product existed to meet their needs cost effectively, so they did it themselves and figured it was a product others might want, too. more ›

This weekend's Dwell on Design at the Convention Center features an extensive amount of activities, offering something for everyone, from mobile food to pre-fab homes, all in the name of sustainable design. more ›

On Tuesday May 12th, the Environmental Media Association, along with Yes to Carrots launched their new partnership with the Los Angeles Unified School District to sponsor educational gardening in several of their schools. At an event held in the new garden at Helen Bernstein High School in Hollywood, many of the EMA's celeb board members were on hand to lend a hand and to share their interest in organic gardening and its role in both education and the Los Angeles community. more ›

This week, the Environmental Media Association's Young Hollywood Board is putting on the gloves and digging deep in support of organic gardening in Los Angeles-area schools. Celebs on the Board, including Nicole Richie, Lance Bass, Rosario Dawson, members of Maroon 5, Amy Smart, Matthew Rhys, Emily VanCamp and Emmanuelle Chriqui, will each adopt an area school, help with the planting, and check in with their gardens during the school year, explains People. more ›

If you're an area resident and ready to dig in and get your hands dirty (and grow yourself some tomatoes and the like), there's a morning-long (9 a.m. to noon) work day happening today for the Fountain Community Garden at 5260 Fountain Avenue. The garden is the fruit of the neighborhood's labor; they have been working together to transform this empty lot at the southwest corner of Fountain and Mansfield Avenue into a beautiful community garden. Activities today include tree plants, weeding, laying mulch between the garden beds, and meeting new neighbors. The steering committee has finalized an 'application of interest' form for those interesting in securing a plot. Email Edith Darling if you're interested. more ›

Waiting lists for popular community gardens can be years long, but many have grown weary of waiting. As 21st Century "Victory Gardens" have come into vogue in our yards, in our neighborhoods, at our schools, at our state capitol, and on the White House lawn, many would-be green thumbs want to get their hands dirty and their veggies and flowers growing. more ›

LAist's own Green Thumb is here to help you get into gardening...So, as he says: "Get down on your knees and start planting." more ›