Community Garden Program : Department of Parks and Recreation : Arlington, Virginia

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Department of Parks and Recreation

Community Garden Program

Whether you live in an apartment or condominium or have a yard that just won't support plantings, Arlington's Community Garden Program provides a wonderful opportunity to let your garden grow!

Rose Garden The garden sites are organized as individual associations with their own set of by-laws; however, County regulations supersede all garden association regulations. Each association has a Chief Gardener and he/she is responsible for assigning plots as they become available and for collecting all related fees. The Arlington County Board has set a base rate for community garden rentals at $60 (with water) and $50 (without water) for full plots, $30 and $25, respectively, for half plots. The monies collected from the rental fees offset county costs for fence and water system repairs as well as maintenance.

A surcharge is added by each community gardening association as part of their dues to cover additional expenses (water, mulch, locks, etc.). Each association handles these differently, and some may assess a "new gardener" fee in the form of a security deposit. Costs may range accordingly.

Because of exceedingly high demand for garden plots, particularly in the Metro-accessible area of Arlington, waiting lists for many of the gardens are very long. For this reason, half plots are assigned to new gardeners; you may ask for a whole plot after gardening in good stead, but assignments are at the discretion of the Chief Gardener and/or the governing committee of each garden association. Names are retained from one year to the next on all waiting lists, so you do not need to reapply each year.

At present, there are eight garden sites, of which seven have access to water. The total number of garden plots is just over 200. The garden locations are:

Clickable Map of Community Gardens in Arlington

S. Four Mile Run Drive along the Bike Trail
S. 9th Street and S. Buchanan along the Bike Trail
Fort Barnard (S. Walter Reed Drive & Pollard Street)
S. Glebe and S. Lang Streets
N. Barton and N. 10th Streets
S. 9th Street and Rolfe Streets
N. Harrison Street (near Chestnut Hill Park)
1601 Key Blvd.

To be eligible to apply for a garden plot you must be an Arlington County resident and plots are limited to one per family unit. Review the Community Garden Rules (58KB PDF) and Application Guidelines (20KB PDF) and fill out an Application Form (25KB PDF) or contact the Horticulture Technician, by phone at 703-228-6426 for an application and more information on garden plots.

For gardening tips and information about gardening, please visit the Virginia Cooperative Extension Service site.