Community Garden Sows Idea for Using Idle School Ground

Hoes in hand, some Woodland Hills residents have broken new ground in the use of surplus West San Fernando Valley school land.

They have turned a one-acre weed patch at Parkman Junior High School into a community garden that is yielding fresh fruit and vegetables by the ton--and is sprouting offshoots at other schools.

Twenty adult gardeners have subdivided the school’s abandoned horticulture class area into 60 outdoor plots. The vegetable growers include nearby homeowners and apartment dwellers as well as workers at an aerospace engineering plant in the area who spend their lunch hours watering and weeding.

Along with tomatoes, cucumbers and corn, adult gardeners are cultivating the good will of Los Angeles school officials, who say they are delighted that the weed patch on a corner of the campus is being put to good use.

Elective Classes Reduced

Officials said Parkman’s on-campus horticulture program withered and died four years ago when the school’s enrollment declined and administrators were forced to reduce their offering of elective classes.

Soon afterward, residents began their planting after the school system agreed to a joint campus gardening program at Parkman with the University of California extension. The school district allows the use of the old horticulture class’s potting room and greenhouse and provides water for irrigation.

“It’s worked out very well,” said Karen Kent, who has kept her plot thriving since the gardeners were given the combination to the padlock that secures the school’s garden gate. “We’re able to grow some excellent vegetables and we’re maintaining the horticultural area while the school system is unfortunately lacking in funds.”

School officials say the gardeners help deter campus vandalism after school and on weekends, and their work gives the campus a well-tended look. The garden borders busy DeSoto Avenue and is visible to thousands of passersby.

School administrators say other community gardens modeled after Parkman’s have been started at Porter, Madison and Millikan junior high schools, all in the Valley, and they note that space is available at unused horticulture plots at 66 other junior and senior high schools in the city. Fifty-four of the city’s secondary schools, including 20 in the Valley, continue to offer horticulture classes for junior- and senior-high students.

Prospective gardeners should contact the schools in their areas for information about program availability.

“In schools where enrollment is low, there often is not a horticulture program,” said Ted Hiriyama, a school district specialist in agriculture and environmental education. “Unless someone uses it, the land often goes to weeds.”

Hiriyama said Parkman administrators can reclaim their campus gardens whenever students regain interest in horticulture courses. He said adults will be given six-month notice if student gardening classes are to be resurrected. “The main intent for these areas is for an instructional program,” he said.

Want Program to Grow

The Parkman gardeners, meanwhile, said they intend to see that their program grows. Nine 11-by-25-foot plots are available to community gardeners for an $18 yearly fee. The money is collected and banked by the growers and will be used to buy a Rototiller.

“You get a sense of accomplishment when you see your crops grow and you get a sense of fulfillment when you eat it,” said Herb Katzen, a retired accountant who is raising corn, cantaloupes, tomatoes and zucchini.

Another gardener, Mae Greenhalgh, said there is no produce-rustling among the gardeners, either accidental or otherwise. She said she resists the temptation to help weed other gardeners’ plots. “I thought one man near me was growing weeds, but it turned out it was a German potato,” she said.

Kent said she grows more vegetables at the school than her family can eat.

“We don’t use pesticides or artificial fertilizers. I don’t even have to wash my vegetables. Half my green beans disappear before I get them home. I eat them right there in the plot.”