Chef’s Secret Garden: Playa in West Hollywood

Spotted via Chalkboard Mag, a secret LA chef’s garden that you can find only by walking through the kitchen at Playa and climbing a narrow ladder to the roof. Up there, you’ll discover 35 aeroponic towers—translation: no soil—where a special timed system keeps the cucumbers, peppers, and corn perfectly irrigated without wasting water:

Photographs via Chalkboard Mag except where noted.

Above: On the roof of the West Hollywood restaurant, an irrigation systems goes off every seven minutes to keep plants constantly watered. The hydroponic towers are from Future Growing. Image via Future Growing.

Above: Chef John Seldar calls his garden “Cielo Verdo.” For more about the garden, see Chalkboard Mag.

Above: Baby greens, including beets and lettuces.

Above: Chef Seldar grows his own supply of herbs and vegetables from Mexico that are difficult to find in Los Angeles.

Above: Planted in March, the garden’s late summer harvest included cucumbers. Image via Future Growing.

Above: For more chefs’ gardens, see “A Chef’s Secret Roof Garden: The Fairmont in San Francisco” and “A Chef’s Secret Fifth Floor Garden.”