The Arlington Food Assistance Center’s Spring Garden Kick-off will take place on Saturday, March 18. This annual event gives new gardeners and old gardeners a chance to meet each other and share knowledge about gardening. There will be a full morning of demonstrations and presentations and free seeds.

The event will be held at Arlington Central Library (1050 N. Quincy Street, near the Virginia Square metro) on from 10 a.m. – 1 p.m. The library is the site of a vegetable garden for AFAC which utilizes several areas of the library property — a large raised bed, raised beds and containers on patios, and a tennis court berm site.

Some of attendees are social workers at local community centers that have gardens. Some are home gardeners, some are teachers involved with school-age populations, and others work with faith-based organizations who have gardens for AFAC.
Whatever your background, the morning’s presentations are for gardeners and gardeners-to-be to learn more about gardening and to connect with others who are doing the same. In particular, there will be presentations on maximizing yields in raised bed gardens; succession planting for a four-season harvest; root-zone irrigation techniques to prevent plant diseases and save water; and safe environmental pest controls. Margaret Brown, head of Arlington Central Library, will talk about the library gardens and how they have helped “grow” a sense of community. For those who garden in urban spaces, these are useful topics.

March 16 is the final day to register at afac.org/plot-against-hunger/pah-events.