TJMS Community Garden Volunteer Policy
Community volunteers help TJMS meet the needs of S. Arlington families with our produce donations to local food pantries. We can't do it without you! In the 2023 garden season, we donated over fifteen hundred pounds of fresh produce from the garden. It was a lot of work, and we couldn't have done it without our volunteers.
TJ families, neighbors, and community volunteers are invited to join us on Saturday mornings from 10:00am to noon. It's a great opportunity to get fresh air, learn about gardening, and spend time with our friends and neighbors. All ages are welcome, but children under 6th grade must be accompanied by a responsible adult. No need to sign up, just show up ready to garden. Wear sunscreeen and weather and mud appropriate clothes and shoes, and bring a water bottle. We will have gloves and tools to use.
We also welcome corporate volunteer workdays, National Honor Society volunteers, scout troops, and any other volunteer group that would like to join us. If you're interested in setting up a special workday just for your group, please send an email to tjmsoutside@gmail.com.
Parking:
If you need accessible parking, set your map address to: 125 S Old Glebe Rd, Arlington, VA 22204
Additional parking is available at the TJ Community Center, so set your map address to: 3501 2nd St S, Arlington, VA 22204
See the map below for how to find the parking lots and how to walk to the garden:
Volunteer News and Pictures
Sunday Workday this week
9-11 AM
(instead of Saturday) ... See MoreSee Less
Comment on Facebook
WE ARE ON FOR A 10AM GARDEN WORKDAY. SEE YOU THEN! ... See MoreSee Less
Comment on Facebook
Stay tuned for up to the minute notice about tomorrow’s garden workday. If the rain blows over, we will be in the garden at 9. If it’s still raining, we will delay until 10. Boy, does the garden need a good drenching! And after that, a good feeding. We will be fertilizing tomatoes, picking blackberries, tomatoes, squash, and okra tomorrow morning. And we hope to hang the new garden sign. See you there! Once the rain stops, it should be pleasantly cool, which we will all appreciate after the last couple of weeks. ... See MoreSee Less
Comment on Facebook
Thanks to our Deloitte volunteers, who helped us harvest tomatoes, squash, and okra, and infill plant zucchini, squash, and beans where the varmints have gotten to our plants. And hauling lots of mulch! #volunteer #corporatevolunteering #schoolgarden #plotagainsthunger ... See MoreSee Less
Comment on Facebook
The first blackberry of the season. Join us for a workday next week and you can probably pick some! #schoolgarden #volunteer ... See MoreSee Less
Comment on Facebook
When your “catch of the day” got away from from you for a few days prior. Our first baseball bat sized zucchini of the season. #zucchini #volunteer #schoolgarden #workday ... See MoreSee Less
Comment on Facebook
Garden Workday 9-11 Saturday Morning.
Join us! ... See MoreSee Less
Comment on Facebook
We cancelled our usual volunteer workday due to the excessive heat warning, but a couple of intrepid volunteers went out at 6:30AM to water everything and check for pests and other problems. Our shade cloth seems to be saving everything except our lettuce so far. Our squash, zucchini, cucumbers, tomatoes, beans, okra, and even kale look pretty happy today. #volunteer #schoolgarden #tomatoes #squash #plotagainsthunger ... See MoreSee Less
Comment on Facebook
Saturday’s workday is CANCELLED due to an excessive heat warning.
Gift link:
... See MoreSee Less
Comment on Facebook
Yes, careful!
Garden workday— mulching okra, weeding, and training beans over a net. ... See MoreSee Less
Comment on Facebook
Mulching, spraying milk-water for powdery mildew (already!), and taking out the last of the snap peas. A peaceful volunteer workday in the garden. The weather is perfect! #schoolgarden ... See MoreSee Less
Comment on Facebook
Thanks to Energix Renewables for their work in the garden this morning. We got at least a month’s worth of work done in two hours, including resurfacing our ADA-compliant garden pathway. #volunteer #schoolgarden #plotagainsthunger @arlingtonfoua ... See MoreSee Less
Comment on Facebook
We had quite a productive day with our Senior Experience and Garden Club students. We placed more landscape cloth, planted cucumbers, cleared out bolted kale, and planted Trail of Tears beans. We also made a lot of progress thinning out the pollinator garden. #schoolgarden #plotagainsthunger #pollinatorgarden #nativeplants #volunteer ... See MoreSee Less
Comment on Facebook
More photos from today’s volunteer workday. We had shady AND sunny garden tasks to work on, so everyone had a chance to rest a bit. #compost #pollinatorgarden #blackberries #volunteer ... See MoreSee Less
Comment on Facebook
We had a great volunteer workday today— new folks, old friends, so much planting and chatting and mulching and drinking lots of water and hanging shade cloth to protect seedlings. Productive and so much fun! We got almost all of our seedlings in the ground, with only cucumbers left tonight the light table. #volunteering #schoolgarden #squash #zucchini #tomatoes #peas #peppers #plotagainsthunger @arlingtonfoua ... See MoreSee Less
Comment on Facebook
The weather is looking great for a productive day in the garden. Join us 10-noon tomorrow at the TJMS community garden to plant squash and cherry tomatoes and harvest our last few strawberries. #volunteer #schoolgarden #spring ... See MoreSee Less
Comment on Facebook
It was a hot day for our Senior Experience and Garden Club students today, so we took lots of breaks in the shade. We got the pollinator garden weeds diminished, rows mulched, and the squash mounds covered with landscape fabric so they’ll be ready to plant tomorrow morning with our community volunteers. Thanks to everyone who came today! @arlingtonfoua #plotagainsthunger #volunteer #schoolgarden ... See MoreSee Less
Comment on Facebook
Not able to volunteer in the garden this summer? Here's another way to help Arlington Food Assistance Center (AFAC) directly.As summer approaches, many families who depend on school food programs during the academic year face a challenging time. With schools closed and these essential meal services paused, the ability to provide food for their families becomes a pressing issue. In response, many turn to the Arlington Food Assistance Center (AFAC) for crucial support to help bridge this gap.
You can make a significant impact this Spring and register a #fooddrive to help AFAC provide timely food assistance to the families who face a gap during the summer months when school food programs are not available during the summer months. Together, we can #EndSummerHunger.
Click the link to register a food drive: afac.org/food-drive/
#afacfeeds #volunteer4afac #volunteer ... See MoreSee Less
Comment on Facebook
The Custom Facebook Feed plugin