How the Sepulveda Garden Center Is a Cool Oasis in a Hot City

The Sepulveda Garden Center is a green-thumb oasis featuring 800 gardening plots on 20 acres, and despite the triple-digit heat wave this summer, residents and visitors alike cultivated a bumper crop of fruits, vegetables, flowers and herbs.

The Garden Center, flanked by the 101 Freeway and Magnolia Boulevard, is operated by the Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks.  The city supplies garden hoses, hand tools, wheelbarrows and soil amendments and even waters the plants once a week.  A greenhouse is located near the main building and is available to gardeners for germinating seeds.

Many of the growers like to personalize their 10- by 20-foot plots with everything from ornate garden decorations to wooden gates, stepping-stones or scarecrows.

Bob George has been an Encino resident for five years. He first started his plot about three years ago, after he built an addition in his backyard and ran out of room for a garden. He says the Garden Center was an ideal alternative for him, and at only $25 annually per plot, it was certainly an affordable option. George now has two plots side by side that he tends to in his spare time.

The summer heat wave hasn't had a negative effect on his crops. "They seem to really like the heat," he said. "I just keep the soil moist."

George plants two gardens a year: a summer garden, where he grows zucchini, tomatoes, cantaloupe, artichokes and a variety of colorful bell peppers, and a winter garden, where he grows lettuce, broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower. "We had a great year for artichokes," he said. "We had a ton of them."

There's a special camaraderie that develops among the people at the Garden Center.  "The guy behind me is my next-door neighbor," George said.  "You get to know the people who are in here. It's pretty friendly and a nice place to meet folks." 

The Garden Center is not exclusive to Encino residents,  but with a year-long waiting list, the center won't be taking in any new members anytime soon.

Don Feinstein and his wife, Snow, have been tilling their double plots since 1996. They reside in Brentwood and come every other day to nurse their six types of tomato plants, Chinese amaranth (a very strong spinach), cilantro, Japanese cucumbers and Chinese pumpkins, which grow 3 feet long and a foot in diameter and have what Feinstein calls "a very sweet meat." The Feinsteins also plant Asian long beans and bitter melon, a common Pacific Rim delicacy high in anti-oxidants.

They use a 50-percent shade cloth to protect their crops from overheating in the summer and average three growing seasons a year, given the abundant Southern California sunshine.  As they transition into fall, the Feinsteins will be planting cold-weather crops such as cabbage, broccoli, squash and another round of tomatoes.

"It's not a cheap way of getting your vegetables," Feinstein admits. "It's probably more expensive than what you can get at Whole Foods, but it's our food, and it tastes better, and it's a way to relax and stay in touch with nature."