If you live in Virginia and have the capacity to see, a simple glimpse outside the window may elicit a quickened pulse if you’re lucky enough to be within eyeshot of the Eastern Redbud (Cercis canadensis) tree, currently ablaze. From pink to purple, with the occasional touch of red, this brilliant native is a showstopper for two weeks or so in the early spring. Half a century from now that might be February, but let us all take actions to prevent that. We are back in the garden. Group volunteer hours are Fridays from 3:00-5:00 and Sundays from 2:00-4:00, weather permitting. For more informati ..read more

Hi all, Yesterday was the 2023 United Way Day of Caring and we had nearly 40 people from two areas of UVA volunteer from 9-12. Again, it was a beautiful weather day. Just amazing how this happens on this special volunteer day year after year. One team was led by Rose Oliveira-Abbey and came from the Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library. The second team was lead by Tim Robinson with UVA’s Communications team. It was just awesome to work with them and I hope that they will come back to the garden again. When you next come to the garden take a walk around and admire all the work t ..read more

Approximately a dozen members of this wonderful community-based organization volunteered in the PVCC Community Garden a few Sundays ago. We had a wonderful few hours spent cleaning up a garden bed and planting two fruit trees: an apple and a peach. We were fortunate, and the days weather was perfect, sandwiched between hard rain the day before and rain the day after. The ladies worked hard! And they are welcome back anytime to work in the garden and watch their donated trees grow. Thank you to all of them, especially Dr. Keisha Taylor for arranging the date ..read more

Recently we said farewell to this spring’s student volunteers. A few will stay on for summer, managing individual plots. Others will be back in the fall to volunteer again. A few, some of who have spent years with us, are graduating. Included among that last group are “Boss Lady” and “The Admiral”, Madison House Project Directors who have been such a huge part of the garden. They will be greatly missed ..read more

The weather Sunday was sunny and beautiful but it couldn’t compare to the smiles of the women’s volleyball team as they spent several hours in the garden learning about growing food and helping ready the beds for the next season. And oh, did they get a lot done! Five plots were readied, plus the community flower section, plus the communal herb bed, and they also helped weed, wheelbarrow and integrate fresh compost/topsoil mix, plant potatoes, and lots more. They couldn’t have been friendlier or more gracious, and we would love to welcome them back someone later in the season when there is more ..read more

September 21st dawned clear and bright the way the Day of Caring always does in Charlottesville, VA. It shone on hundreds, perhaps thousands, of eager folks looking forward to the largest day of volunteering of the year. Or maybe they were really just looking forward to getting out of their workplaces. We’ll never know. About thirty of those volunteers came from the UVA department of student athletes to volunteer in our community garden. Students, coaches, and staff joined Debbie Ashby and Nehali Patel of PVCC’s Student Success Office and worked on a number of tasks throughout the morning. The ..read more

Gardening in the summer can feel so overwhelming at times with the heat, humidity, insects, groundhogs, occasional drought (not this year) and sheer exuberant growth. So by late summer many gardens look overgrown and a little bit neglected. Even passionate gardeners feel a little bit of summer wilt. But then cooler weather begins to steal in and as temperatures slide down into the 80’s and cooler nights make being outdoors a little more enjoyable again, so does our attention turn back to the garden. It has, after all, not only continued to produce but as always, we’re trying to remain one seas ..read more

Recently the garden received some great donations from two wonderful local gardening resources. Last Friday Snow’s Garden Center at 1875 Avon Street welcomed five of us and donated plants (herbs, marigolds) and bags of soil and mulch, along with as much loose straw as we could gather into bags. One of their employees even pitched in too, then Snow’s Garden Center Manager Zachary Pittinger walked us around pointing at things we could take. This is not the first time that Snow’s has supported the garden and we really appreciate their plants, knowledgeable staff, and great upbeat attitudes. Then ..read more

Our community garden is volunteer led and driven and I’m pretty proud of that. I mean, if we had paid staff, a large budget and fine, shiny resources I’d be proud of that too – but in a different way. One of the garden’s raised beds Schoolyard gardens are funny creatures in the summer if you think about it. Between late May and early September is often when the garden is at it’s most productive – and neediest. The weeds are growing fast, insects are eating and multiplying in large numbers, and here in Virginia it constantly seems like a month will go by without rain. Raised beds drain pretty q ..read more

Saturday, October 2nd was the quintessential Virginia fall day with a sky so blue it almost hurt to look upwards. And, for the first time in a few years, the community gardeners gathered in celebration – a community harvest festival, if you will, a chance to be joyful in each other’s company. The food was delicious – these people can really cook – and the conversation was better. It was great to see smiles unhidden by masks ..read more