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The story of the sprout starts the way many logos do: the synergy of an artistic mind and a client’s idea. My creative genius Rick Newlin understood my passion for urban gardening and my vision for what would eventually become Urban Plantations - so it didn’t take long to finalize the concept of a young plant as the identity of our corporate logo. Simple, right? Well, not exactly. The vision of the sprout used today took its time revealing itself to me. I had recently moved from a home with a … [Read more...]

The UP Beet: June 2015 Gardening tips, recipes, and helpful information you can use! "I had rather be on my farm that be emperor of the world." -George Washington Karen's Corner: A Message From Our Founder Family, friends and often friends of friends pull me aside with a huge list of gardening questions. One reoccurring theme I've noticed: folks hesitate when planting varieties of fruits and vegetables that vary from the mainstream. Not to worry! Regardless of what you're planting, … [Read more...]

↵ Back to Urban Plantation's California Drought Resource Page   Updated: June 2015 The California drought has burst into the headlines as Governor Jerry Brown announced new restrictions on water usage for 2015. Proponents of water conservation in California call attention to the greater issue of national water mismanagement. Many have reacted by pointing fingers at big-ag farms as the greediest offenders. The truth: it’s conservatively estimated that US lawns take up 40.5 million … [Read more...]

The UP Beet May 2015 Gardening tips, recipes and helpful information you can use!! Karen's Corner: Notes from our founder The big news in Southern California today is the drought. It doesn’t matter if it is a 100 year drought or a 5 year drought, the fact is this: we live in the desert. We should always conserve water. Water conservation and having a vegetable garden or fruit orchard are not mutually exclusive. We can have both! However, it does mean utilizing common sense practices when … [Read more...]

We stumbled across this fantastic article by Elizabeth Royte over at Ensia highlighting the benefits and the future of Urban Agriculture in United States and beyond! Discover how Urban Farming is helping the economies of cities like Detroit, Michigan and what the future may hold for this booming industry... "URBAN FARMING IS BOOMING, BUT WHAT DOES IT REALLY YIELD?" … [Read more...]

The UP Beet January 2015 Gardening tips, recipes and helpful information you can use!! Karen's Corner: Notes from our founder Happy New Year to all of you! I find that I enjoy the ‘calm’ that January brings after the craziness of the holiday season. The constant hum of Christmas carols has faded into quiet reflection. It’s a time of new beginnings and to start thinking about healthy habits for the upcoming year. I don’t know about you, but dreaming of my spring and summer garden always get … [Read more...]

The UP Beet December 2014 Gardening tips, recipes and helpful information you can use!! Karen's Corner: Notes from our founder In between the hustle and bustle of the holiday season, I love sitting down with a warm drink and perusing the seed catalogs that start to show up among the usual array of holiday flyers. Planning my spring garden always helps keep the holiday frenzy at bay, as I focus on a gift that will nourish my family (and some neighbors!) throughout the New Year. Gardening is … [Read more...]

The UP Beet October 2014 Gardening tips, recipes and helpful information you can use!! Karen's Corner: Notes from our founder Last month I had the opportunity to do some traveling. I tasted fresh Hatch chilies in New Mexico, drank amazing wines in Arizona, sampled savory “Chowda” and feasted on goat cheeses from Massachusetts. Of course, the food was delicious. But really, what brought me the most pleasure, were the people prompting me to taste their wares. Smiling faces cajoling me, You’ve … [Read more...]

The UP Beet October 2014 Gardening tips, recipes and helpful information you can use!! Karen's Corner: Notes from our founder October is my favorite month. It is the time of year that the angle of the sun’s rays begin to shed a golden hue on everything. The days are shorter and hopefully, the weather cooler. Gardens change and menus change. Spent tomatoes come out of the garden and lush kale plants go in, while caprese salad makes way for winter squash purees. For all of us at Urban … [Read more...]

The UP Beet August/September 2014 Gardening tips, recipes and helpful information you can use!! Karen's Corner: Notes from our founder This August, Urban Plantations celebrated our six year anniversary. I’m very excited to announce that we are finally “leaving home”, so to speak, as we move from our home office to a newly renovated commercial space in North Park. The past few months of hot weather and sweaty bodies crammed into the small studio behind our home has been a real testament to the … [Read more...]