Sepulveda Garden Center
16633 Magnolia Boulevard
Encino, CA 91406
Phone: (818) 784-5180

Description:

General: The Sepulveda Garden Center is a community garden operated by the City of Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks.  The center occupies approximately 16 acres and contains  approximately 420 garden plots, about ten feet by twenty feet in size.

Hours of Operation: The garden is open daily from 7:00 am to 3:30 pm, and one evening a week during the summer.  Closed holidays.

Year-end is always 12/31.  Fees are due January 1^st and are delinquent if not paid by January 31.  Checks should be made out to the City of Los Angeles, Department of Recreation and Parks.  No CASH. NON REFUNDABLE.

Waiting List: The Garden Supervisor maintains a waiting list and when available, plots are assigned one at a time, on a first come, first served basis.

Garden Supervision: The garden is supervised by an employee of the Department of Recreation and Parks, who is generally in the garden from 7:30 am to 3:15 pm, Tuesday through Saturday.

Services: The Garden often provides soil amendments, which are piled in various locations in the Garden.  Sometimes seeds and/or garden literature are available in the main building.  When these items are available, a notice is posted on the Garden bulletin boards.

The Garden has provided various gardening tools and equipment (i.e. shovels, rakes and hoes) for gardeners to borrow between 7:15 am and 3:15 pm most days.  All equipment is located in the portable storage container near the covered area adjacent to the main building.  A sing-out/sing-in book is located in the storage container and all equipment must be returned before 3:15 pm each day.

Public Telephones/Washrooms/First Aid: There is a public telephone located on the north wall of the main building.  The closest hospital is Encino Hospital on Ventura Blvd. at Hayvenhurst.  There is a first aid kit located in the portable storage container where tools are kept, as well as in the Garden Supervisor's office.  Restrooms are located on the east side of the main building, and are locked after 3:15pm. (The combination is the same as the one at the walk-in gate).

Watering: The garden plots are watered once each week by overhead sprinklers unless there is rain.  Please see the Garden Supervisor for the watering day for your area.  The City provides water faucets within near proximity of each garden plot for supplemental watering, which is nearly always needed.

Walk-In Gate: A Walk-in-gate is located on Magnolia Boulevard at the east end of the Garden, next to the parking lot.  This gate may be used after 3:30 p m.  For the safety of the gardeners, and to deter theft, the combination lock on the walk-in gate must be locked at all times.

What to Plant: Fruits, vegetables, flowers and herbs may be planted in the garden plots.  Trees may not be planted because of their potential adverse effects on neighboring gardens (i.e. shade, invasive roots, etc.) Commercial activity is not permitted.

Number of Garden Plots per Person/Household: The number of garden plots per person/household is limited to three in order to extend a gardening experience to as many people as possible.  Plots are assigned one at a time.  Garden plots cannot be reassigned, subdivided or sublet to any other person.

Greenhouse: A greenhouse is located near the main building and is available to gardeners for germinating seeds and for propagation of transplants.  In order to maintain a healthful environment, diseased or insect-infested plants should not be brought into the greenhouse.  The greenhouse is maintained by the gardeners who use it.

Maintenance of Garden Plots: Design your own garden within Garden guidelines - but be considerate of your neighbors.  Weeds spread seeds to other gardens.  Wood and trash piles harbor snails and insects.  Tall plants or structures may shade your neighbor's garden.  Some weeds and other plants have invasive roots (berries, mint, kikiyu grass, nut sedge, etc.)  Some aggressive plants (grapes berries) can boil over into your neighbors' plots.  Be considerate.  Removing weeds before they go to seed is especially important.

Gardeners Maintenance Responsibilities: All garden plots and adjoining patheways must be well maintained and kept clear of weeds, plants and trash year-round.  New gardeners must have their plots cleared and start cultivation within six weeks of the plot assignment, weather permitting.  Failure to maintain your plot and adjoining patheways to the satisfaction of the Garden Supervisor or to start cultivation with six weeks may result in forfeture of your garden plot.

Guest and Animal Visitors: Gardeners are responsible for the conduct of any children or animal guest brought into the Garden. All dogs must be on a leash.

Garden Debris: Large bins for garden debris are located in the paved parking area and in the northwest corner of the Garden.  Small trash cans at various locations are for incidental trash such as lunch clean up.  Please do not overload the smaller trash cans with weeds. Etc.  Carts and wheelbarrows are provided and should be returned empty after each use to the covered area near the main building.

Privacy of Garden Plots: Garden plots may not be entered without the gardener's permission.  Established pathways should be used when walking through the Garden.  No fruit, vegetable, flower or any other item may be removed from another person's plot without their permission.

Forfeiture of Garden Plot (s): A gardener my forfeit his/her garden plot (s) if Garden rules are broken.  This includes (but not limited to):

The determination to require forfeiture of a plot rests with the City representative, in most cases, the Garden Supervisor, in accordance with the above rules, guidelines and information.

Notification and Communications: It is your responsibility to be sure that the Garden Supervisor has your current address and telephone number.  Notify the Garden Supervisor when you wish to relinquish a garden plot so that a person on the waiting list can acquire the plot.

Any notices, which the City may wish to send you shall be in writing and considered to have been served when delivered personally or three (3) days after deposit in the United States mail, postage prepaid, to your address.  If you change your address, it is your responsibility to notify the Garden Supervisor within (14) days in writing of the change of address, and he will change the address on file for you.  In order to notify a gardener of a violation of the rules which may lead to forfeiture of his/her plot, the Garden Supervisor will send a notice to the gardener at the address listed below.  If the gardener has failed to correct the violation with three (3) week s of the mailing date of the notice, the Garden Supervisor will send a second and final three (3) week notice.  The gardener must contact the Garden Supervisor to advise the City of any extraordinary circumstance for the violation and/or to appeal the violation. The Garden Supervisor will make the final decision, per direction from the City of Los Angeles, Department of Recreation and Parks regarding the appeal.  Unless the gardener corrects the violation or files an appeal, their garden plot will be forfeit and their gardening privileges terminated on the 43^rd calendar day following the mailing date of the first notice.  At this point, the Garden Supervisor will reassign the garden plot to the person at the top of the waiting list, and all crops, produce, and/or other property within the plot may be dispersed at the discretion of the Garden Supervisor.

Grandfather Clause: Trees planted prior to July 1, 1995, do not have to be removed.  However, these trees must be maintained (pruned, etc.) so they do not negatively impact the neighboring gardens.  (If unsure see the Garden Supervisor).  Those gardeners assigned more that three plots prior to July 1, 1995, are not affected by the three plots per person/household limitation. However, all their plots and pathways must be maintained.  Those plots that are not maintained will be reassigned to the next person on the waiting list.