✌🏾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!