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. (Note: we're meeting on some Sunday mornings in early March instead. Stay tuned here or on Facebook for updated dates as the season progresses.)
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:
Our native asters and goldenrod. A veritable 🐝 ...
At first, we thought someone had gifted us a hawk ...
A pollinator garden full of blooms, but this butte...
You know you’re a gardener when getting a tr...
The weather is looking great for this Saturday. Bring a friend and get your community action volunteering and socializing in one sunny weekend morning, Saturday 10-noon. ... See MoreSee Less
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Thanks to our volunteers at last weekend’s garden workday! We weeded, planted seeds and spring green seedlings, mulched around our compost bins, and covered an empty garden bed to keep the weeds off until we are ready to plant. We are all ready for Garden Club to start after school on Friday. #schoolgarden #plotagainsthunger #springgarden #lettuce #cabbage #mulch ... See MoreSee Less
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Join us in the garden this Saturday from 10-noon. We will be planting peas and transplanting winter greens and doing more garden maintenance to prepare for the 2025 growing season. Park at the TJ Community Center and follow the sidewalk between the school and soccer field/basketball courts to the garden. ... See MoreSee Less
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We were so happy to meet with these HS students working with the Global Co Lab Network to work on the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals with a focus on ending hunger. They’ll be building out the garden at Dorothy Hamm MS to grow more produce for donation to local food pantries. We were thrilled to meet with them and tell them about how we’ve grown the TJ garden over the last decade and a half and give them some tips on dealing with challenges in schoolyard gardening, from managing water to harvesting over the summer months to finding community volunteers. ... See MoreSee Less
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Early Girl tomato seedlings living up to their name a week after indoor sowing. #springgarden #schoolgarden #tomatoes ... See MoreSee Less
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We can't wait to work with Senior Experience students again this year. They did such great work in our pollinator garden and vegetable garden last year. We've already started making mental lists of work we can do together this spring. Interested? (Or more likely, given this is our FB page, know any Seniors who might be interested?) Here's the contact info to set it up: ... See MoreSee Less
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Fun with planning! We've got a Trello board up for this year's garden season. In addition to the peas we planted outside on Sunday, today's teacher workday saw lots of tomato and jalapeno pepper seeds get potted up for eventual transplant into the garden (or gifting to other Plot Against Hunger gardens, if we overshoot). We hope to get them into the ground in early May.
Take a peek (and follow along with our garden planning) ... See MoreSee Less
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Can you explain what a Trello Board is?
Thanks to our volunteers, new and old, who came out on Sunday morning to help us plant peas, weed, process compost, and solarize/cover the ground. We can't wait to see you again on Sunday, March 15, 10-noon, to transplant lettuce and cabbage, direct-seed chard, and plant another row of peas. ... See MoreSee Less
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Join us in the garden tomorrow, 10-noon as we kick off the 2025 garden season. We are excited to get our hands back in the dirt and plant our first cool weather vegetables of the season. ... See MoreSee Less
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Join us in the garden for our first volunteer workday of the season this Sunday 10-noon! ... See MoreSee Less
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The world’s tiniest spinach peeking its head up after a long cold winter. #schoolgarden #winter #greens #spinach ... See MoreSee Less
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We’re starting to shake off Winter and prepare for Spring. Join us 10-noon on Sunday, March 2 to open the garden for the season— and weather permitting, plant our first peas. ... See MoreSee Less
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We hope to turn compost, so bring your coffee grounds! (I’ve got two months worth saved up!)
Reminder: No Workday Tomorrow
(We are DONE for the year) ... See MoreSee Less
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A quiet morning in the garden. Closer to done, but this is like the math problem where every day you get halfway there and NEVER ARRIVE. 😫🤣 ... See MoreSee Less
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With the unseasonably warm temps we have been keeping even our tomatoes and basil in the ground at my school garden. Are you leaving summer crops or taking out now?
Join us for a community workday in glorious weather Saturday morning from 10-noon. ... See MoreSee Less
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If you’re looking for an idea for the last few zucchini in your garden, may I suggest this recipe? It was perfect to send in a care package to my summer-garden-volunteer college student who was sad to miss the Harvest Festival. Three regular sized (ok, a *little* big) zucchini let me triple the recipe, and we had two loaves to keep, two to send.
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Our regular volunteers also showed up to help us close down the garden. I think we will only need one or two more days of work to put it to bed for the winter. @arlingtonfoua @afacfeeds @apsvirginia #schoolgarden #compost #volunteer ... See MoreSee Less
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Fleet families came out to help us with garden cleanup today— lots of chopping basil and bean plants so they will break down in our three-bin compost system faster. We will have great soil amendments next year! #schoolgarden #volunteer #fleetelementary @apsvirginia @arlingtonfoua @afacfeeds ... See MoreSee Less
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The last of the okra as we take them down and chip the stalks for our compost. We will be here until noon, drop by and get a little cardio cleaning the garden with us! #schoolgarden #fallgarden ... See MoreSee Less
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That’s a wrap on our Harvest Festival. Join us tomorrow at 10AM for garden cleanup and closing the plot. We will be pulling down light strips, composting okra and beans, and if we have time, rolling up our landscaping fabric. #harvestfestival #schoolgarden #plotagainsthunger ... See MoreSee Less
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