Lasagna mulch

The day before leaving for three weeks on a trip to Vermont I got a bit worried about my gardens so I borrowed a truck and went to DaMoors Feed and Tack in Burbank to pick up some straw. A very young girl named Mallory who works there suggested I get one bale of straw and one bale of Alfalfa and layer the two. The straw is great mulch but the Alfalfa provides nitrogen. So instead of packing for my trip I spent the hours before my flight lasagna mulching the foreclosure garden and all my garden beds and the worlds smallest community garden (I think I'll start calling it the parkway garden from here on.)
I hooked up a hose with a nozzle at the FC garden so that the neighbors could thoroughly wet down the garden the next evening- the 4th of July- which can get a little out of hand on this block.
I then spent my whole flight feeling like such an idiot for putting all that flammable material down. Our tenant promised to be home and wet down the house gardens as well as keep an eye on them that night. Last year had been a pretty mild fourth but the year before....
The year before was when the gang had taken over the house and they put on a stadium display from the street in front of the garden. It was amazing. Giant guys in giant white t shirts hoisting crates of fireworks walked out into the middle of the street and set them all off at once while holding them above their heads. One younger guy dropped his crate and giant fireworks displays went shooting down the block, skimming the pavement. A new style was born. Meanwhile kids with bottle rockets took aim at one another on the sidewalk playing war while their parents looked on and laughed. Bill and I sat on the roof watching in amazement shouting greetings to neighbors through the growing clouds of smoke and trying to let go of our panicky worry for the safety of the kids' fingers.