Taking Over That Vacant Lot

It is so annoying walking past vacant plots in your neighborhood day after day. That weed-choked chunk of greenage could be a groovy garden, planted with food for the community, or flowers and plants for people to look at. But seed bombing aside, you can't just move in and claim the land as garden space without doing some groundwork (sorry). Writer Stephanie Paige Ogburn has advice for ambitious urban horticulturalists on the city blog Oakland Local.

Ogburn's advice is aimed at Oakland, California, residents, but most of the advice is just as good for residents of other cities. Basically it's a matter of finding out who owns the land and leaning on the right people to get permission to garden there. Vacant lot owners may be worried about liability issues with a bunch of folks tromping around on their property, so a certain amount of finesse (and plenty of urban gardening know-how) will come in handy.

[Via SFGate]

Image source: Flickr member sflovestory under Creative Commons