As we prepare for the season ahead, below are some opportunities that could deepen our engagement with the SW community, sustainability efforts, and explore alternatives. If either of these sparks your interest, let me know!

1️⃣ Citizen Science in the Garden
Thanks to Emma, who works in community & citizen science, we have an opportunity to bring more interactive, science-based activities to the community through the garden! Some possibilities include:

• 🌿 Pollinator Monitoring – Observe and track the vital pollinators in our space.
• 📸 Bioblitzes – Document and identify local plant and animal species.
• 🍂 Phenology Studies – Track seasonal changes in plant life to understand climate patterns.

2️⃣ Repurposing Food Packaging for Zero-Waste Gardening
Community member, DeBorah, is working toward a zero-waste household and has been creatively repurposing food containers—like seaweed trays, water bottles, and broth containers—into seed-starting trays and garden tools. For years, the garden has benefitted from the gifts of the crafty, sustainability-minded, organizational-guru, Christina, (a.k.a. Everything Elsie) for similar projects. If you’re also interested in brainstorming more ways to reuse materials in the garden and possibly offer them to community members for their own home gardens, reach out!

📖 Grassroots Economics Book Club!
The garden is about more than just growing vegetables and connecting with nature; we’re also about collective liberation.

This year, there will be a focus on exploring how the garden can be a hub for Grassroots Economics — an alternative economic model centered on mutual aid, sustainability, and local resources (you can download the book for free or order it for minimal cost here). If you’re interested in joining a book club and getting a SW hub started, reach out!

Looking forward to seeing you in the garden and collaborating on these new initiatives. Feel free to reach out with ideas and questions.

Don’t forget:

• 12th Annual Spring Kick-off, April 19. If you’d like to volunteer to lead an activity on the 19th, click here.
• Pre-kick-off work day, April 5!

🎉 The 2024 garden year has begun! ⛏

Thanks to over 50 volunteers last Saturday, the garden is open for the year! Starting May 1st, we’ll have regular work days on Wednesdays 6-7pm, and Sundays 4-6pm until the end of October. The only thing that stops a work day is inclement weather.

Although we’re only at the beginning of the growing season, we have so much gratitude to show for so many people who have helped us start off right:

• The 19 people, as well as the Thelma D. Jones Breast Cancer Fund and the SWNA Youth Action Task Force, for donating to the garden and helping us exceed our $1000 goal;
• Miranda, Atlas Brew Works, and Andy’s Pizza for organizing a Happy Hour fundraiser and donating 12 free pizzas for the kick-off;
• Sarah for hooking us up with wood chips and helping take care of our orchard;
• Christina (a.k.a. Everything Elsie) for selling shirts and seeds and engaging in miscellaneous G.O.A.T. organizing and tabling activities;
• All of our volunteers, especially the folks who took lead on different tasks, to help make the kick-off a success!

Over the next couple of weeks, we’ll mostly be watering and waiting to see our sprouts emerge. We’ll plant sweet potatoes later on in May, and our first harvest will likely be strawberries around Memorial Day and mulberries soon after. Stay tuned, or better yet, stop by to witness and participate in the garden’s ecosystem.✌🏾

👨🏾‍🌾 🌺 👩‍🌾 🥕

🌱 Garden Year #11 🌳

Garden year number 11 is upon us! “Welcome,” to those of you who will be gardening with us for the first time, and “welcome back,” to those who have helped us get to this point! 

Now that it’s March, spring is only a few weeks away, and we’ve already started planning our first gardening activities. We hope you’ll be able to join us:

• Wednesday, April 3rd: we will be working with the DC Department of Parks and Recreation to rebuild some of our garden beds. Thanks to a grant from Friends of SW, we were able to purchase 12 cedar timbers to restore some of the wood that’s been damaged over the last decade. This will be taking place in the afternoon, but a specific time has not been set. Once it is, we’ll let you know and hope you’ll be able to help!  
• Saturday, April 14: we will be doing a pre-kick-off work day to turn over our cover crops and prepare the garden beds for . . .
• The Spring Kickoff! Which will be on Saturday, April 27 from 10am-1pm. At the kickoff, we’ll plant our first crops for the year, weed out the plants that think they found a good spot to grow (but little did they know), and have a paint & planting project for all ages. Sign up here to help lead an activity that day!
  • While we’re on the topic of the kick-off . . . we also need your support to help raise funds for the event! Click here to donate toward the costs to provide this event for free to our community.

Finally, help us decide what to plant this year. Some vegetables are staples that are grown every year, like peanuts, collards, sweet potatoes, and carrots. But beyond that, we’ll need your suggestions. Let us know by sharing your top 3 choices via our Veggie Vote!✌🏾

👨🏾‍🌾 🌺 👩‍🌾 🥕

Yesterday, Christina, provided a tour for kids in the Million Mats DC, Show Up, Stand Out summer program. At the end, the kids drew photos of what they remembered from the experience. All photos/videos courtesy of: Million Mats DC.

😅 Celebrating despite the weather ⛈
The forecast leading into our 10 Year Celebration last Saturday did not indicate a downburst of rain and gusts of up to 80 miles per hour would be happening. We anticipated that it was going to be hot, so we set up a unicorn sprinkler, had the splash version of Twister ready, and knew that we could rely on the big oak trees for shade in the early evening. Nonetheless, Mother Nature does what she needs when she wants, and attendees witnessed how quickly blue skies and white clouds can change. Shout-out to all the people who joined us under the pavilion during the deluge and kept each other company. As friend-a-teer, Christy, summarized: “It was a blast … we were ONE! Laughs, singing, food, chalk art, bubbles, high winds, heavy rains, and everyone wet while eating 😂😂 A UNICORN all alone stood her ground 😂” 

The rain last Thursday and Friday that preceded the downburst on Saturday was also unsuspected, which damaged some of the portraits of farmhands that were wheatpasted to the sidewalk as part of an Inside Out Project. You can view what the installation looked like Friday afternoon here. Thank you to everyone, photographed or not, that has contributed to the garden being what it is today! We literally would not exist if it weren’t for you! 

Let’s try this again: save the date — Saturday, October 7th the JoGo Project will be back to perform (time still to be determined)
– The JoGo Project is worth rescheduling, so we’re planning on having them perform on Saturday, October 7th in Lansburgh Park. Trust me, you won’t want to miss this!This time, we’ll be asking folks to bring their own snacks and drinks (we’ll have water available). More information will be shared as it becomes available.
– We’ll have another reason to celebrate: thanks to a grant for over $3,000 from Friends of Southwest, we’ll be able to order 12 cedar timbers to replace some of the garden beds! Hopefully, by the concert, all the cedar timbers will be installed. We’ll need help with this, so if you’re interested, stay tuned for an opportunity to sign up and help out.

👏🏾 The 2023 Garden Season Has Begun! 🥳

Thank you to everyone who came out and helped open the garden for its 10th year (we even had a visit from Ward 6 Council member, Charles Allen)! Special thanks to Desiree, John, Barbara, Kelley, both of the Jessicas, Leysha and Sarah for volunteering for special assignments to make the day fun and successful.  

Now that the kick-off is behind us, our regular work day schedule will begin. Starting this Wednesday, May 3rd, every Wednesday between 6-7pm, and Sunday 4-6pm, we’ll be in the garden (unless there’s inclement weather). We’ll need your assistance for upkeep, spreading wood chips, and little projects that pop up along the way, so join us!

🙌🏾 Our Garden of Gratitude 🌱

After reading Robin Wall Kimmerer’s, Braiding Sweetgrass, somegarden farmhands have been moved to bring some of the teachings and perspectives from the book into the garden, in particular, promoting an ethos of abundance, gifting, and gratitude. 

For those that were not at the kick-off, SW Community Gardens President, Pamela McKinney, shared a quote from Kimmerer and some of her thoughts on the topic:

[Quoting Kimmerer] “When we speak of these (nature, abundance) not as things or products or commodities, but as gifts, the whole relationship changes.” Gratitude is so much more than a polite “thank you.” It is the thread that connects us in a deep relationship, simultaneously physical and spiritual, as our bodies are fed and spirits nourished by the sense of belonging, which is the most vital of foods. Gratitudes creates a sense of abundance, the knowing that you have what you need.

What will we give this garden in return? Today is a day where we show our thanks through our actions — weeding, planting, painting, sharings tools, soil, water, and later a meal with each other. So we thank you for your gift of time and hope you will think of this space as your own and come back after today to see how your gifts have lead to an abundance for your community, including the pesky squirrels.✌🏾

On June 19th, 2022, we began our community supported agriculture program where we pay young farmhands to harvest fruits, vegetables, and herbs from the garden then deliver them to seniors living in public housing. 2 of the youth participating are two sisters that first started coming to the garden in 2015!

On June 25th, 2022, we held our first cooking demonstration of the year for seniors living in Greenleaf public housing. Nutritionist, Stephanie Eyocko, prepared a cucumber salad, a salad with arugula and butter lettuce, two different types of dressing, and a rosemary flavored seltzer water using produce that came from the garden. The theme was Salads Aren’t Boring, and Ms. Jewel, one of the attendees, definitely agreed!

☀️”Many hands make light work”💪🏾

A big thank you to everyone who attended the garden’s 9th annual spring kick-off last Saturday! More than 65 people contributed their time and energy to caring for our little green space in the city! Seeds were planted, weeds were pulled, signs were made, a mural was painted, compost was turned, a turtle was spotted, and a fruit orchard was cared for. All thanks to our collective efforts! 

Of course, we’re only getting started, so we’ll need contributions from our garden community throughout the next 6 months. Starting April 27th, you’ll be able to join in every Wednesday (6-7pm) and Sunday (4-6pm) until the end of October (please note: work days will be canceled when there’s inclement weather). 

Over the next several weeks, some of the activities we’ll be doing will include: watering, weeding, planting, designing, adding compost and spreading woodchips. In early/mid-May, we’ll plant sweet potato slips, and then in mid-June, we’ll start reaping what we’ve been sowing.

We hope you’ll join us!✌🏾

✨Our 9th Garden Year🤗

This year will be the garden’s 9th year in operation. We have some exciting events and opportunities planned, and would like your help creating even more. The garden won’t open until mid/late-April, so we’ve got some time to put our heads together and come up with some ideas. But first, here’s what we already have planned:

New garden mural: The current mural sitting outside the garden was created in 2018 by artist, Eric Ricks, and was painted by a variety of community members through a paint-by-the-numbers method. The mural has formed some large cracks and will need to be replaced. SW Gardens President, Pamela, applied for a grant to pay local artist, Shani Shih, to lead another paint-by-number mural creation during our April kick-off. If there are particular themes or images you think the mural should feature, you can share your ideas via this Jamboard.

Learning how to grow mushrooms: The Department of Parks and Recreation, in conjunction with the University of the District of Columbia and Sharondale Farm, are launching a series of workshops on how to grow gourmet and medicinal mushrooms. They have chosen a site in each ward in DC to host a workshop, and our garden was the selected site for Ward 6. The workshops will teach the cultivation of several different types of mushrooms using low-tech, low-cost methods with the goal of training more people to provide this training, and help the DMV area market locally grown mushrooms. Each workshop will be limited to 25 people and is free of charge to the participants. Each participant will receive two logs and will inoculate them during the workshop. If you’re interested in participating, sign up here.

There are a few other things planned but you’ll have to wait until the next newsletter to learn more 😉. If you’d like to help plan activities for the kick-off or throughout the garden year, reach out in the next week, so we can begin planning!

✌🏾That’s a wrap for 2021😢

Yesterday was the last garden work day of 2021, completing the garden’s 8th year of operation! 

To help wrap everything up yesterday, we had some familiar farmhands and some new ones (a group of students from Howard University). We removed the remaining pepper, spinach, and tomato plants, all the marigolds and Cramer’s roses, and planted cover crops.

As our last day coincided with Halloween, the garden also participated in the trick-or-treat event happening in Lansburgh Park. Christina, who made garden bouquets for volunteers throughout the year, led our magic wand making table, using sticks, stems, and flowers from the garden. The wands were popular with kids and parents alike, so there’s bound to be spells casted and magic happening this week! We were also able to display our first ever garden-grown pumpkin.

This year the garden had many firsts: including our community supported agriculture (CSA) pilot to Greenleaf public housing residents. Our two farmhands, Tiffany and Ty’Quan, made 19 deliveries of fresh garden produce, floral arrangements by Christina, and balms and jams by Kelley. We couldn’t have made this possible without our many SW neighbors who supported the effort by helping us grow the food, donating to our farmhands fund, and helping harvest produce. Last week, Tiffany and Ty’Quan surveyed the CSA recipients and all asked to be part of the CSA next year. Rosemary, blackberries, and green peppers were a hit, and their favorite part was seeing the deliverers and getting the food delivered to their doors. We’re excited to add more residents to our CSA route next year!

The garden is prepped and primed for another successful year in 2022, and for that, we thank you! Every single one of you who helped plant, water, harvest, weed, compost, mulch, transplant, prune, organize, create, and share made the year successful and made our garden an actual community garden rather than just a garden in a community.

We are always looking for feedback on how best to keep the garden relevant and helpful to our neighborhood. If you have feedback for us, you can use this Google Form to share your thoughts.

The garden is closed for now, but we’ll be in touch about its re-opening in mid to late April. Thanks again and we’ll see you all soon!

🍇Berry season is upon us!🍓 

Berry season has begun! For the past week, volunteers have been able to harvest strawberries and mulberries. In the next couple of weeks, blackberry season will begin as well. Remember, the darker the berry, the sweeter the juice! 

As for the rest of the crops currently growing in the garden, here is when you can expect them to be ready to be harvested:

• Lettuce – June 12th
• Garlic – mid-June
• Kale – June 18th
• Peas – June 19th
• Beets – June 23rd
• Carrots – July 7th
• Collard Greens – July 8th
• Peanuts – August 22nd

As some of these crops finish their growing cycles, we will replace them with season appropriate plants, like corn, cucumbers, peppers, and sweet and regular potatoes. If all goes to plan, we’ll be harvesting until we close in October!

Special visit from Jemma from the Jemmanade Stand

The garden had a special visitor on her first work day in June — Jemma of the Jemmanade Stand! Jemma picked mint, lavender, and took home a small batch of strawberries. The garden hopes to supply Jemma with more fruits from the garden for future lemonade flavors as they become available. You can read more about Jemma’s visit here. You can check out her tasty lemonades this Saturday, June 5th, 11:30am-4pm at the corner of I (eye) and Delaware.

🤒Gardening during the pandemic😷

We will be following the guidelines released by the DC Mayor regarding public activities for those who are vaccinated, unvaccinated or immunocompromised.

• Fully vaccinated people do not need to wear masks in any setting, indoors or outdoors.
• Unvaccinated people should wear a cloth face covering or mask at any indoor or outdoor public setting. People who have not yet received the vaccine may do the following activities without face masks:
  • casual outdoor activities with members of your household (e.g., biking, running, walking);
  • attending a small outdoor gathering with friends and/or family who are fully vaccinated;
  • visiting indoors with fully vaccinated people from one household.

Should anyone need a mask, we will have some in our shed.✌🏾

🤗Regular Work-Days Have Begun! 🛠

Thanks to a crew of farmhands who have volunteered over the past couple of weeks, the garden is looking in fantastic shape, and is primed for a great growing year. Thank you to all who have already contributed to this effort! 

We’ve only just begun, so there will be plenty of opportunities in the future to contribute to the stewardship of the garden. Starting April 28th you will be able to join us every Wednesday 6-7pm, and every Sunday 3-5pm (work days will be canceled when there’s inclement weather) to water, weed, and maintain everything.

Over the next several weeks, we’ll be watering, weeding, and monitoring the emergence of our seedlings. We’re still waiting on a delivery of woodchips, so once they arrive, we will be spreading them around the trees and the garden to suppress weeds. There may also be an opportunity to paint the newly built and planted herb beds, so stay tuned! 

The city’s current guidelines regarding public gatherings allows for up to 50 individuals at a time. In pre-pandemic times, the garden averaged 13 visitors per work day, so we will not be asking volunteers to sign up for work days ahead of time, just to wear a mask and stay home if you feel sick. 😷✌🏾

🚀The kick-off is this Saturday, 11am-3pm 🎉

This Saturday, April 24th, the garden will re-open for the 2021 growing year! We’ll be preparing and planting 7 garden beds, building and filling three new herb beds, and weeding and spreading woodchips all around. DC’s guidelines regarding public gatherings limits attendance to 50 people, so to keep track of our guest list, please add your name and email to this spreadsheet, if you plan on attending.


🛠The Beginning of Regular Work Days💪🏾
After the kick-off, we will begin having regular work days: every Wednesday, 6-7pm, and every Sunday, 3-5pm. Work days will be canceled when there’s inclement weather.


🤗New Year, New Initiatives👇
It’s a new gardening year and we’re launching some new initiatives. Here’s a brief overview of what we’ve got planned:

• A pilot youth-run community supported agriculture program that will pay young farmhands $10/hour to harvest and deliver fresh produce to families living at Greenleaf and James Creek. To raise funds, we’re selling garden t-shirts. If you’d like to donate, or purchase a t-shirt, contact us.
• Three new herb gardens: Thanks to our resident herbalist, Kelley, and farmhand, Barbara, there will be three new herb gardens in Lansburgh park for people to learn about herbs and add to their pantry. More info on the project can be found here.
• Mini flower arrangements in upcycled jars by Christina. Once our flowers and herbs are in bloom, Christine will be preparing flower arrangements in upcycled jars for people after work days. If you have jars or containers that you’d like to donate, or want to learn more, feel free to reach out to us.

What a time to be alive . . . navigating each day responsibly has become more important than ever. Three states have ordered stay-at-home orders, and six others have implemented a “shelter-in-place” initiative, which is not a legal term, but nevertheless attempts to curb residents from leaving their homes.

The seriousness of the virus and halting its spread, while not overwhelming our health care infrastructure is no simple task. Thus, it’s important to not act selfishly or recklessly. As gardeners, we know the peacefulness, harmony, and perspective Mother Nature can provide to our minds. Something that is invaluable at a time like this. This is why we are attempting to strike a responsible balance between the two.

But first, the ground rules. The widespread adoption of “extensive social distancing” (physical, not social!) appears to be the best way forward. In short, that means:

• staying home when sick;
• maintaining 6 feet of distance between other people;
• covering your sneeze/cough with a tissue or your arm or elbow; and more . . .
• Wearing a mask over your face while in public;
• For the complete list of recommendations, read here.
• Please review and apply these principles in the garden and at home.

At 6pm on October 27th, the garden closed for the remainder of the 2019 year. The closing of the gates represented the 6th year of crop cultivation in the SW neighborhood. Like every year we’ve had so far, 2019 was unique and full of lessons learned, new and familiar faces, and plenty of fresh produce to share.

The garden year started with our annual spring kick-off. This year’s kick-off consisted of planting the communal beds, processing our 24-7-365 compost system, and gathering ideas and designs for our new garden flag.

The new garden flag made its debut a few months later in June. The flag was the culmination of ideas and preferences of volunteer farmhands and the careful curation of SW resident and artist, Sergio Jimenez. The end product represents popular crops that are grown in the garden (tomatoes, carrots, figs, and peanuts), and acts as a beacon for visitors to locate the garden from afar.

The success of our spring planting came to full fruition right before the official start of summer. In mid-June, we were able to set up a little garden stand in front of Safeway and Waterfront metro station to distribute 30 pounds of produce to our SW neighbors for free. Farmhand volunteers, along with members of the DC chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America, harvested collard greens, kale, beans, and swiss chard to supply the stand.

• The garden had over 700 visitors this year, averaging about 15 people per work day. 120 of those visitors were newcomers.
• 13 different crops were grown, producing over 150 pounds of produce.
• 30 different neighbors volunteered to sift and process other neighbors’ food scraps, which resulted in us producing the best compost in the city (according to the DC State Fair).

A few more highlights from inside the garden, included our annual peanut, sweet potato, blackberry and corn harvests. These crops are a staple at the garden and are grown every year. Volunteers were also able to experience a native treat: to try a ripe pawpaw from one of the trees growing around the garden. Sunflower Alley, a patch of dirt along the sidewalk outside the garden full of sunflowers, was more exuberant than ever. The garden was also featured in an extensive piece on community gardens in the Washington City Paper (you can read about it here).

The final two highlights of 2019 came from outside the garden. In September, at the DC State Fair, the garden obtained first place in the compost competition for best compost in the city! The second highlight came from a partnership with the band, the California Honeydrops, through their Spreading Honey project. In each city the Honeydrops tour in, they partner with a non-profit to help the organization raise money and share their story. The McKinney Farmhands have been fans of their music for years, so when this opportunity presented itself, they made sure it would happen!

In conclusion, 2019 has been another great year of growing produce, connecting with neighbors, and trying to make our community better. We recognize that fresh produce is just one part of making our community better. We strive to be more than just a garden, but a network of neighbors who organize and advocate for other forms of justice and a higher quality of living for all our neighbors. If you’re passionate about these same issues, then join us! Check out our website swgardens.org to get connected!

On October 15, 2019, the SW Community Gardens had the pleasure of partnering with the five-piece, Oakland band, the California Honeydrops, through their Spreading Honey project. The project, spearheaded by drummer, Ben Malament, features a non-profit in each of the cities the Honeydrops tour in. This allows the organization to raise some funds, share their story, and enjoy the good vibes Honeydrop live shows are known to bring.

Now, if you’ve been to enough of our garden work days, you know we like it funky — whether it’s the funky smell of decomposing food scraps, or the funky soul sounds we play and promote — we are one with the funk. And true to nature, the Honeydrops provide a show you can’t miss. If you get a chance, check them out, and you’ll likely find a few familiar faces!