Garden | Steve Lopez: Growing A Garden, And A Community
No such thing as a free lunch?
Guess again, farmer.
Last week, when I wrote about Ron Finley’s edible garden near the Crenshaw district, Finley had one little quibble. He wished I had mentioned that he and his partners will come to your house and help you plant your own garden for no charge, supplies and plants included.
It’s the deal of the century.
Finley, who studied gardening in a UC Cooperative Extension class taught by Florence Nishida, later hooked up with Nishida and a couple of other folks to address what they call the food desert in South Los Angeles, where healthful options are in short supply. The group is called L.A. Green Grounds.
“We try to locate people who want to grow vegetables but don’t know how,” said Nishida. “We go out and visit the property and make sure it’ll work. Does it have enough sunlight? And we want to assess the person to make sure it’s sustainable, because a garden is a lot of work.”
She has a word of caution, though. If you’re thinking they’ll come by and help you clean up a mess, forget it.
“We are not a weed abatement program.”
There’s another caveat or two:
Their primary focus is on South Los Angeles, and while they’ll
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