Guerilla Gardening
Think that ugly grass-covered road median could use a flower or two? Perhaps even stalks of corn? Transform ugly patches of neglected grass in public spaces to the beautiful and productive land it should be by becoming a guerilla gardener.
The Los Angeles Times covers the prevalence of guerilla gardening in L.A. fronted by "green enthusiasts who plant without approval on land that's not theirs." While these gardens aren't always welcomed with open arms, some people recognize the benefit of "citizen gardeners helping cities turn wasted space into food and flowers" and encourage the activity. Long Beach's superintendent of grounds maintenance Ramon Arevalo wants to work with guerilla gardener Scott, who dedicates much of his time to cultivating a lush garden on a road median—but only during early morning hours to avoid detection by law enforcement.
For more information about guerilla gardening, visit guerillagardening.org, which features guerilla gardening around London and gives you tips for how to start your own garden.
Add a comment:
Previewing your comment:
HTML Hints
Some HTML is OK: <a href="URL">link</a>, <strong>strong</strong>, <em>em</em>
Comment Guidelines
Post whatever you want, just keep it seriously about eats, seriously. We reserve the right to delete off-topic or inflammatory comments. Learn more at our Comment Policy page.
If you see something not so nice, please, report an inappropriate comment.
5 Comments:
I love this idea. I've often thought about it, but don't have the guts to do it myself.
azured00 at 12:00PM on 06/02/08
Me too! ...Nor do I have the guts. But now I'll pay more attention to what sad patches of grass are in my neighborhood. >_
roboppy at 12:07PM on 06/02/08
Um, so why are guerrilla tactics necessary? I would think that most any municipality would welcome the assistance of volunteer gardeners.
Library Lady at 4:19PM on 06/02/08
@Library Lady: I don't doubt that the municipality would welcome volunteers, but I think the difference with guerrilla gardening is just...you garden wherever you want to, not in a space the city designates as garden-able (which may not be much of a space, depending on the budget), and without any bureaucracy. It's unfortunate that anyone would be against creating a more diverse landscape but it happens (project 26).
roboppy at 11:02AM on 06/03/08
every inch of empty space i see i long to have a flowering garden! community gardens, guerilla or not, are the greatest thing ever and are so necessary for community wellbeing and our planet. that's what i say.
arobotar at 1:34PM on 06/03/08