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:
We are planning a hugelkultur mound, and collectin...
A tour of our sugar snap peas and strawberries, ou...
A tour of our dry riverbed and surrounding plantin...
Our native asters and goldenrod. A veritable 🐝 ...
Thunder!
We are closing the garden and canceling this morning’s workday. ... See MoreSee Less
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Rescheduled for tomorrow morning though, for anyone who is available.
The garden is open, but we are looking nervously at the sky as it starts to sprinkle. ... See MoreSee Less
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Closing the garden due to thunder (and more rain).
Baby zinnias coming up from seed at our fence line. Even school gardens need street appeal! #schoolgarden #zinnias ... See MoreSee Less
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Join us in the garden tomorrow morning for our weekly volunteer workday! We will be planting squash, harvesting peas, and treating squash for powdery mildew and to prevent squash vine borers. If it’s dry enough, we will also mulch. ... See MoreSee Less
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We will be out in the garden at 9 tomorrow morning. Depending on how efficient we are, we will stay until either 11 or noon. Join us! #volunteer #volunteerworkday ... See MoreSee Less
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Our Senior Experience students planting tomatoes, beans, pumpkins, butternut squash, and watermelons today. Getting good and muddy, then leaving a bit early to get ready for prom! ... See MoreSee Less
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Last week was WET, but this week the weather looks like it’s going to be perfect! Join us in the garden from 9-noon for our volunteer workday. ... See MoreSee Less
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During Saturday’s volunteer workday, we got the okra bed ready for planting next week, as well as lots of weeding done. We are well into strawberry season, and the peas are just starting to come in. We found one secret pea vine with deep purple flowers and peas— see if you can find it next time you’re in the garden. ... See MoreSee Less
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We will be in the garden at 10, not 9 this Saturday. Volunteers can park in the Fleet staff garage on weekends if the Community Center lot is full. ... See MoreSee Less
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A lovely mix of garden flowers, cover crop blossoms, and native pollinators are blooming right now. ... See MoreSee Less
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Really pretty 🤩
Beautiful flowers!
The very beginning of strawberry season, and the first pea blossoms of the year. ... See MoreSee Less
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Our volunteers planted, weeded, wood chipped, and weeded and planted some more! We got the second round of zucchini, squash, and tomatoes in the ground this morning, and almost every single buttercup pulled out. What a productive and rewarding day! Between garden club and harvesting today, we donated 8 pounds, bringing our total so far this year to 14. ... See MoreSee Less
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Coming to the garden this morning? You can park in the Fleet Elementary parking garage on weekends when the Community Center lot is full of soccer families. Go to 115 S Old Glebe Road and turn into the access road just past the school building to park in the garage. ... See MoreSee Less
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Extra parking for volunteers at the Fleet Elementary garage if the Community Center lot Is full
maps.google.com/maps/place//data=!4m2!3m1!1s0x89b7b713c53b3413:0xc212b3136794f30b ... See MoreSee Less
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Our official workday hours this weekend are 10-noon, but if you’re in the mood to hit the garden while it’s nice and cool, the garden will be open at 9 to get a jump on the workday. Drop by and say hello! ... See MoreSee Less
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We can always tell it's getting closer to Mother's Day when our favorite rose starts blooming in the corner of the pollinator garden. You may have noticed that we've started planting a little early this year-- usually we start planting summer vegetables on Mother's Day, but we started last weekend. Summers are getting hotter these days, and last year our yield was a little lower than we'd hoped because of heat waves and droughts in the middle of summer. We're hoping that getting an early start will bump our yields back up a bit this year. Stay tuned to see if it works out for us!
Here are pictures of our favorite rose, and our slightly wind-beaten peppers and eggplant after all the wind we got mid-week. ... See MoreSee Less
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A very successful day— we planted everything we’d hoped, moved a lot of mulch, and made a big dent in the weeds. Thanks to all the volunteers who came out to help us. #schoolgarden #communitygarden #mutualaid #plotagainsthunger #spring ... See MoreSee Less
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Several new volunteers to celebrate as well!
We are planting at full speed this morning. Squash is done, and peppers and zucchini are halfway planted already. Great volunteers make the work go fast. 💕🍅🌶️ ... See MoreSee Less
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Where do you get your seedlings from?
It’s a lovely cool (slightly damp) morning, and we are out here ready to plant our first round of zucchini, squash, peppers, eggplants, and tomatoes. Join us! @afacfeeds @arlingtonfoua ... See MoreSee Less
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Sugar snap peas reaching for the sky! We got all of the peas tied up, so they’re ready to hit a growth spurt. Sugar snaps do better in cool weather, so we planted half of them early this year to try to get a longer harvest before they wilt in the heat. Did you know that snap pea shoots are edible as well as the pods? If we need to thin them, we can put them in a salad or stir fry. #schoolgarden #spring #snappeas ... See MoreSee Less
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Very tasty
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