Learn to grow your own vegetables at the Natural History Museum’s Edible Garden

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Last April, Natural History Museum mycologist Florence Nishida and her husband, Gordon Hendler, curator of Echinoderms, started an edible garden near the south entrance of the museum. Their first gardening class sounds like it was a success: The group recently harvested their first crop of beans, squash, cucumbers, lettuce and chard. ‘Then we had great bruschetta and kale soup,’ Nishida said.

Now that it is officially fall, Nishida is leading a fall/winter basic gardening class at the museum’s teaching garden.

‘I have set a reduced fee rate for residents of the local neighborhood to encourage them to learn how to grow their own food and to eat healthy,’ she said.

Her goal, she said, is to see at least one kitchen garden on every block in Los Angeles.

Nishida will demonstrate how to create good soil, watering and feeding, starting plants from seeds, transplanting and making compost.

The classes are held from 1 to 4 p.m. on Sundays through Oct. 10 at the Edible Garden at the Natural History Museum (outside the Pavilion of Wings), 900 Exposition Blvd., Los Angeles. The cost is $25 to $30 per class; discounts are available for the museum’s neighbors.

Registration is required: [email protected]; (213) 763-3520.

-- Lisa Boone