Garden Update!

A huge thank you to my wonderfully thoughtful roommate, Shannon, for donating several plants and gardening supplies to the Las Americas garden. We are all very appreciative. As you can see below, the grounds are growing. We now have a hanging hosta-like plant, a gardenia shrub, some tomato cages (excuse the sideways pic), and five different types of cacti.

We've also begun a small indoor garden. We have planted a number of seeds in different pots, hoping to sprout a few more vegetable plants.

Our next endeavor will be to jump the fence that borders the east side of the garden and cut the weeds down on the other side.

Beyond the fence is a small field that is, at least, 100 feet in length by about 30 feet in width. It is surrounded by several warehouse-type buildings, including one owned by the Department of Water and Power. Because of its lack of trees, the field receives far more sun than our courtyard garden space. Our idealistic hope is that we will be able to use a small portion of the field to grow even more future edibles.

Today, I got the go-ahead from the nice people at Beauty Treats International Co. to cross the fence and, at least, weed-whack. They are going to find out if we can make use of some of the space near our fence. Cross your fingers. This could get very cool.

The garden club members also suggested that we acquire a bike rack for the courtyard, so that we have one single space to park all of the tenants' bikes (currently, all of the bikes are randomly chained to various trees and benches in the courtyard). I thought this was yet another bright idea, so I contacted some bicycle non-profits here in L.A. John, a volunteer at the Bike Oven, in L.A., suggested that we ask someone to weld a custom rack for us. (Thanks, John). Then, the light bulb clicked on. Just two-doors down from us is a metal shop that, apparently, fabricates all sorts of custom metal objects. I put in a call and I'm supposed to meet with someone tomorrow to assess the possibilities. Hopefully, I'll be writing again soon with some good news about this little endeavor. Stay tuned.

Best wishes.