Category: Community Gardens

WASHINGTON — There’s still a two-year wait list, but 190 gardeners have become increasingly involved at Newark Street Community Garden and Park in this Northwest neighborhood near the National Cathedral.

Since its creation on National Food Day in 1975, the garden and park have expanded to four acres and grown to encompass all families in the District. The environment includes 200 plots to grow flowers or vegetables, and also a dog park, children’s playground and tennis courts.

Newark Street, the largest of the District’s 26 urban gardens, still dominates the four-acre park and offers what many members found in the first place — a respite and an opportunity to give back to the community.

Stephanie Cope, a sophomore at nearby American University, works as a nanny and visits the playground three times each day.

“It has a lot of different activities for different ages,” Cope said. “And it’s safe.”

The garden offers a free children’s program, in which kids are taught about the fundamentals and learn about different types of worms. They harvest and water plants in a separate area by the playground.  Susan Akman, coordinator of the program, doesn’t recall families being so involved in the gardens when her children were young, and said she is glad that kids are learning the importance of growing food and flowers alongside their parents.

The park, open to the public, gives families a spot to grill and picnic, too.

And even if a member is too elderly to perform certain tasks, others help them so they don’t lose their plot.

“We invite people in because we feel like we’re an education source,” Akman said. “It’s to be an inviting, pretty park.”

Elwood Gautier, 76, maintains a neat garden. He washes and packages his vegetables and plants and donates them to Miram’s Kitchen, Akman said. Other gardeners donate to So Others Can Eat (SOME) in the District. And those at St. Alban’s Senior Citizen Centre come to the gardens to collect produce as well.

And when times are difficult, some members of the community came to the gardens for refuge. After the 9/11 attacks, Akman recalled one woman coming here before she went anywhere else.

“The first place she came was the gardens because she found such solace in it,” Akman said.

WASHINGTON ­­­­— Hidden from the rest of the bustling city, the Newark Street Community Park and Garden features a playground, dog park and tennis courts. But the hallmark of this four acres of public land is its community garden, the largest in D.C., which gives city residents the chance to plant a variety of veggies and flowers.

This year the Newark Street Community Garden Association celebrates their 40th anniversary. Where military offices and housing stood during WWII, is now green space, founded on National Food Day. Susan Akman, former president of the garden association, said nothing formal is yet planned but she hopes they find a way to commemorate the occasion.

Vibrant colors fill the 200 plots with an assortment of vegetables from carrots to radishes, zucchini and lettuce. And because the District is such an international city, Akman said, “We have people from all over the world.” Gardeners learn from each other and bring ideas from their native countries as well.

Akman coordinates the children’s progam, and said she likes to think of their organization as an educational one in general, for all ages. “We have a lot of families with children and they’re learning,” she said, adding that she often sees the tasks of planting, weeding and watering become a family affair, especially with the adjacent playground and dog park,

At the other end of the spectrum, Akman said some gardeners keep at it even into their 90s, but sometimes that means needing the help of fellow gardeners.

“We are a community and we promote that community by helping each other,” she said.

To be a member of the garden, owners of a plot must volunteer 10 hours of service a season or pay a $15 fee.  The goal is to beautify the whole area, she said, and that means everyone pitching in. Many residents also donate produce to area food kitchens.

“We never asked the city for anything. We give back to the city,” Akman said.

WASHINGTON — When Nancy Reid joined the Newark Street Community Garden in the fall of 2009, her designated plot of land had previously been used as an Asian vegetable garden. There were different kinds of onions growing from the ground and the layout of the garden itself made it impossible for Reid to plant the colorful flower garden she had envisioned.

She had only just arrived at the 4-acre community garden, less than a mile away from the National Cathedral in the city, but for Reid, a lot of work needed to be done from Day One.

“One thing about gardening is that it evolves and changes all the time,” Reid said. “When I first got to this space, nothing was going to be able to grow. At the very beginning, I had to do a lot of infrastructure.”

After five years of hard work and dedication, Reid’s garden has evolved into a perfectly organized arrangement of plants and flowers of all different colors, shapes and sizes — a far cry from what it was when she first acquired the plot of land in 2009. Some are green, some are blue, some are pink and some are purple, but all are meticulously arranged in specific parts of the 15 x 15 plot in order to make the colors and contrast stand out and make the garden look its best.

“One of my favorite things about this is gardening with colors,” Reid said. “I wanted to have my garden be purple, blue and pink while making sure green didn’t take over. But you not only want different colors, you also want different shapes.”

Reid’s garden now consists of many different plants, including yarrows, Boston sage, blanket flowers and autumn joy. Although Reid’s garden has become one of the many highlights of the 200-plot community garden, its colorful beauty took years of hard work to create and takes an equal amount of hard work to maintain.

Reid visits the garden two to three times a week, usually in the evenings after work to avoid the scorching daytime heat that can make gardening impossible. On occasion, Reid visits Rock Creek Park to dig for large rocks that she uses to surround the center piece of the garden.

Since some parts of her garden are elevated, Reid is often forced to transfer plants to other areas of her plot to ensure that each plant receives the proper amount of water.

“In the fall, I’m going to dig up one of the yarrows and put it on the other side because it’s too wet where it is now,” Reid said. “The garden evolves, and you find out what’s good, what isn’t good and, most importantly, what you like. I probably move things around more than other people because I’m an interior decorator — I’m always moving furniture around, too.”

Fortunately for Reid, her garden does not face some of the issues that other members of the community garden deal with on a daily basis.

According to Reid, under-watering is usually not an issue because the plants in her garden are drought-tolerant and are, therefore, more resistant to the unpredictable weather in the region. The community garden is also prone to visits from hungry deer that eat plants and vegetables growing on the land. Although a metal fence meant to keep out the deer surrounds each plot, Reid’s garden is further protected, she said, because the deer simply would not like what grows in the garden.

Reid is one of roughly 190 people of all ages who take advantage of the unique opportunity that the Newark Street Community Garden offers for hopeful-gardeners living in the urban Washington region.

Anybody who lives in the District can apply to join the garden, which was founded in 1974, but there is a waiting list that often lasts as long as two years. Susan Akman, former president and board member of the community garden, said gardening is becoming more popular because of growing environmental awareness in the region, among other reasons.

“We have so many applicants now, it’s not even funny,” Akman said. “They’re excited; they bring their families. It’s a lot of hard work but it’s a beautiful community.”

In order to maintain the beauty of the garden, Reid and the other gardeners must follow strict rules and procedures when maintaining their plot of land. Akman said gardeners are not allowed to use chemical sprays, plant vines on fences, use invasive plants outside of pots and must keep their plots chipped and weeded.

For some, the hard work required to maintain their garden is too much to handle. On average, there is a turnover of 25 to 30 plots each year — temporary vacancies that are quickly filled by those on the ever-growing waiting list.

“It’s very hard work,” Akman said. “It’s not easy. Some people just abandon it in the middle of the year.”

Reid, however, has turned what was once a small plot of soil containing remnants of onions and roots into an awe-inspiring display of color and nature that is rarely found in a large city like Washington. For Reid, gardening is not only something she greatly enjoys, but also something that offers her a unique opportunity that most city-dwellers rarely get to experience.

“I wanted to recreate a backyard for myself since I’m living in a condo,” Reid said. “Someday, if I ever have my own backyard, I can dig up this garden and use it there. We’ll see.”

WASHINGTON — Behind the National Cathedral, in the center of the urban political jungle that is Washington D.C., lies a 4-acre haven for those looking to escape the hectic city through gardening. The Newark Street Community Garden is the largest community garden in the D.C. area and has been growing in plot size and popularity since Anne Chase founded it in 1974 to support National Food Day. Filled with 200 plots and with 190 members, the garden offers a variety of programs and opportunities for people of all ages.
“We have tried to create an environment where the neighborhood is welcomed into it,” former president Susan Akman said.
During the 30th anniversary of the garden, around 2004, Akman created a children’s program for little ones under the age of 4. It began just for people living in the nearby McLean apartments but has since expanded to include all residents in the District. The program now has an email list with more than 90 recipients. There is an average attendance of 25-35 children, each with a supervising adult. The program begins with a 5-10 minute story that leads into the planting and later harvest of that season’s vegetable. Akman always tries to plant new things each year, in order to display a variety for the children.
“When my children were little, I tried to plant something different every year to try to expose them to many types of plants,” she said.

This year, the older children planned the program as Akman was too busy to organize it alone. Akman asked several of the regular juvenile gardeners if they would be able to help coordinate the activities for the younger children.
“”[The older children] could reminisce about their time here,” Akman said.
Along with the children’s garden, the community garden also has a playground. Children and adult caregivers from all over the area have found their way to the jungle gym which has a garden theme. One family from Florida found their way to this park during a walk.
“This place looked really cool and the flowers were really pretty,” said Eden MacClave, 12.
Both she and her mother found the area a welcoming environment in comparison to their home in Florida.
“People are super super nice. Where I’m from people are too busy and too important to talk. Everyone is smiling here. The human element is so friendly,” said Maria Teresa Kline.
Whether you come from Florida or are a native of the District, the Newark Street Community Garden draws even the youngest of patrons in with its bold foliage and friendly playground.