Blair Road Community Garden

Congratulations to the Blair Road Community Garden Association 2021 Board of Directors!

​T​he election committee collected 48 ballots by the end of the day on December 7 and the votes were unanimous for the appointment of the existing board members as well as a new Section B captain, Medhanit Ephrem. A special thanks to all who voted and to the election committee members Christiane Rosamont and Andy Robie for their assistance and support. — ​Betsy Taylor, Election Committee Chairperson.

MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT: ​
 The Board of Directors thanks you for supporting the efforts to keep our organic garden community safe and thriving. 2021 will bring much more news, education, and assistance.

• Committees are being formed now to accomplish essential tasks for the community. Please contact your Section Captain or a board member using their dedicated emails about how you can be an active part of the BRCGA.
• Please note that our new website address is blairroadcga.org.​
• BE SAFE – Wash your HANDS, wear a MASK and maintain DISTANCE from others not living in your home.

Enjoy the holidays! – Greg King

GARDEN INFORMATION:

• ​Winter is a great time to add compost, hay and leaves to build up the nutrients in your plot for a successful summer season
• Please take all non-organic trash out of the garden.​ Use large (30 gallon) ​paper​ yard-waste bags for organic trash of stems, leaves and weeds to discard responsibly.
• The water in the garden has been turned off for the winter season.
• Please share the enclosed info about available food security options.

 SUMMARY OF THE NATIONAL PARK SERVICE (NPS) PRESENTATION:

During our November 14, 2020 General Membership meeting, Jamie Euken, the National Park Service (NPS) ​supervising permit specialist for the Capital area network of federal community gardens reviewed the year and shared expectations for the 2021 season. Each year, the BRCGA is awarded a permit from the NPS, our landlord, to garden on this Federal public park land.

Since the start of the pandemic, the NPS was happy to allow us to continue to garden this year, but they had to cut back their services to focus on essential tasks for the safety of their staff and the public. Wood chips are no longer being provided by the NPS, as they are not cutting trees to maintain social distancing. Illegal construction dumping and abandoned cars in and around the gardens has increased and will be addressed by more frequent NPS Police patrols.

Invasive Jumping Worms​ have been found in the gardens within the District of Columbia. If you see that your soil looks like coffee grounds, make a mixture of mustard and water, sprinkle around your plants/soil and capture the worms when they come to the surface. Bag and dispose of them in the trash. ​[Check out the BRCGA website, Facebook page or follow-up with your Section Captain for more information].

Gardeners must maintain organic practices. ​Do not use chemicals. Avoid monoculture by not planting only one type of plant in an entire garden plot as it promotes negative pests and depletes the soil. The garden board is required to police these regulations and act accordingly.

Very specific to the NPS and BRCGA rules, you can donate foods but ​you cannot sell​ the produce that you grow on this public Federal land. While the NPS has not yet caught anyone, they will be increasing their policing of this rule. Gardeners who are caught will have to immediately surrender their plot and the NPS Police may pursue this as a violation of the Federal law.

Due to the pandemic, there is an increased demand for plots by families in need of space to grow their food. NPS will be more diligent about ensuring that only one household/individual has ​one​ p​lot​ in any garden and only one plot in any of the ten NPS community gardens across the city.             _______________________________________________

Please stay in touch with the Board of Directors through your Section Captains with any questions, comments and to support the garden by serving on a committee!