The TJMS Community Garden 2025 Season is Under Way.
The TJMS Community Garden has been a Plot Against Hunger participant for over a decade, donating produce to AFAC and other local food pantries. The Jefferson Community Garden is the largest school garden in Arlington, and we are taking our community responsibilities seriously. But more than that, we are working to become a hub for joyful community and learning. Have you ever thought of starting your own garden, but you feel a little overwhelmed? Volunteering with our experienced gardeners is a great way to learn more about starting a garden, managing pests and diseases, and how to plan for seasonal harvests. A sunny Saturday morning in the garden is a great family activity, and it's the perfect place to meet friends to socialize while volunteering and getting a bit of fresh air and exercise.
Bring Friends or Family and Join Us in the Garden:
We would love you to join us in the garden. We have regular garden workdays every week from 10 AM to noon Saturday mornings. Not quite ready to start gardening today? Sign up for our newsletter and we'll send you weekly updates about our workday plans, and pictures of what we're doing in the garden.
Stay tuned to our Facebook page for late-breaking schedule updates and weather cancellations.
Garden videos:
The last day of Garden Club, with the vines being ...
Bees on sunflowers at the volunteer garden workday...
Milkweed pods, fluff and milkweed bugs in the poll...
We are planning a hugelkultur mound, and collectin...
Look at this amazing spread of donuts, cookies, and coffee for our end of garden celebration. We have more donuts than people, so join us! ... See MoreSee Less
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Wish I could join, am at a party out of state. Congrats on a productive season!
Windy last day of Garden Club ... See MoreSee Less
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The last day of Garden Club, with the vines being tossed in a gale, despite the beautiful sunny weather. (I’m feeling both happy and sad at the end of the season…) ... See MoreSee Less
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What does 102 pounds of produce look like? Here’s our final harvest of butternut squash, beans, okra, tomatoes, and greens for the season. This takes us up to 898 pounds donated to @afacfeeds, with an extra estimated 74 pounds grown that didn’t make it all the way to the donation center. That’s almost a thousand pounds of produce from the garden this growing season! Thank you to all of our volunteers and especially to our garden management team. If you’re interested in learning more about the garden, join us Saturday morning 10-noon for our end of season celebratory coffee hour and garden closing workday. (We are hoping to get enough volunteers to finish all the end of season work in one day! Bring your friends! Respond here to let us know you’re coming so we bring enough donuts.) ... See MoreSee Less
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Congratulation TJ team you rock!!!!!!
Congrats! That’s a huge achievement and especially timely given the demand for food in our community.
Our herb gardens got a refresh, just in time for Thanksgiving. We like to create herb bouquets for teachers to take home and use when cooking Thanksgiving dinner, and now we will have enough sage and oregano, as well as rosemary and thyme. ... See MoreSee Less
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Beans, okra, and a few tomatoes tipped us ALMOST over the 750 pound AFAC donation mark this week. We're sure to tip right over by Saturday. Join us in the garden 10-noon to harvest yet! More okra! and beans! (There are ALWAYS more beans and okra. We love that for us.) ... See MoreSee Less
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That’s a lot of nice vegetables!
Look at the amazing new sign Kathryn Ely painted for the pollinator garden! Now people walking past the school grounds will know more about our gardens. Thank you for working with us to showcase plants and pollinators native to Virginia and growing in our gardens. ❤️ ... See MoreSee Less
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It’s beautiful!
The tail end of the zinnias heading home with volunteers at the volunteer workday. #communitygarden #zinnia #arlingtonva ... See MoreSee Less
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Collards in front of zucchini and tomatoes at this morning’s workday. #schoolgarden #volunteer #communitygarden #fallgarden #october ... See MoreSee Less
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Caprese pasta salad with sun golds and basil from the garden. #schoolgarden #growyourown #cooking #tomato #basil ... See MoreSee Less
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If you’ve ever walked past our native pollinator garden and wished you knew more about how to garden with native plants, sign up for this webinar with an expert. ... See MoreSee Less
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Tuesday evening
Garden workday cancelled
See you Saturday at 10! ... See MoreSee Less
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Hi Folks. Just an update on this morning. Greater than 50% chance of rain starting at 10:00am. All we really need to do today is pick beans and do a bit more okra. Not going to cancel, but dress for getting wet. As soon as harvest is done we can head home.
Friday Garden Club and Saturday’s post-workday donation receipt. We have topped 500 pounds donated to AFAC this year, woohoo! ... See MoreSee Less
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Yesterday, while eating watermelon we’d just picked, a 6th grader told me that Garden Club was the best part of middle school, and that was my best moment all week. 💕🍉 ... See MoreSee Less
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This. This was the best part of my work in Arlington- knowing that we made this kind of difference in people's lives. Thank you.
Wow. Thank you for sharing this. That heart-felt comment is a testament to what you are providing students and the community. I will post this to the Plot Against Hunger Facebook page.
It really makes a difference for the students!
Don’t forget:
10-Noon today
See you in the garden 🌻 ... See MoreSee Less
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Tuesday PM workday CANCELED
DUE TO RAIN ... See MoreSee Less
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A teeny tiny native bouquet, with obedient plant, black eyed Susan, NY iron weed, cup flower, blue mist flower and I think boneset. Next week we will have the Garden Club out harvesting seed heads to package for native seed giveaways. #schoolgarden #nativeplant #volunteer #communitygarden ... See MoreSee Less
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So pretty!
We’ve moved our evening workday to Tuesday now that Garden Club has started on Fridays. Join us in the garden at 6PM to help us harvest our endless bounty of beans, as well as okra, peppers, and tomatoes! ... See MoreSee Less
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In addition to crows, we’ve got some really nice sunflowers going on this morning. ... See MoreSee Less
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