The first time I met Del Ray resident Kevin Tullier, he was ferrying plants from an older woman’s car to her garden plot at the Chinquapin Organic Gardens.
Tullier, a first-time gardener who waited two years for a spot in the gardens, had just met his new garden plot neighbor and immediately embraced the spirit of “community” that makes the gardens such a special, sought-after place. He helped carry her plants, listened to her gardening tips and chatted happily as he ripped weeds from his overgrown plot (and broke a couple garden tools in the process).
Tullier is one of a small crop of lucky, patient gardeners who made it off the enormous waiting list of people who want to join the gardens. Currently, there are more than 350 people waiting for a single plot to open in the 171-unit gardens that stretch across a hillside behind the athletic fields near T.C. Williams High School.
“It’s a three-year wait for a plot,” said John Walsh, the horticultural supervisor with the Department of Recreation, Parks and Cultural Activities. “I just added three more people to the wait list today.”
I joined the gardens in 2007 after I read a feature in The Washington Post about community gardens in the D.C. Metropolitan area. I had developed a love for gardening as an adult, but I’d only ever played with flowering plants, shrubs and trees. Not vegetables. Everything about growing food was new to me, but the article piqued my interest and I thought, “Why not?” Like many in Del Ray, I had space constraints on our property at home—too much shade, too little room—which made the gardens even more attractive.
I called Walsh in the spring and he told me there were a few people waiting for a spot but not to worry, the list moved quickly. Sure enough, a few months later, I got a call back.
Like Tullier, I didn’t know a thing about gardening but within days of preparing my plot and planting seeds, I realized I didn’t need to. I had years of expertise and no shortage of opinions from the gardeners around me. I wasn’t ashamed to ask either: How do you know when to pick a tomato? Should I thin these basil seedlings? How? What can I do to eradicate these weeds?
I’m still waiting for an answer on that last one.
The plots vary by sunlight exposure, soil quality and size. At 18 feet by 20 feet, my plot is one of the biggest. It sits next to a mature stand of trees so it gets significant shade in the late afternoon. The soil is unbelievably rich. City residents pay $55 a year for a full plot, $25 for a half plot or berm, and gardeners have full access to free mulch, wood chips and water.
Tullier wanted to try his hand at vegetable gardening, but he didn’t want to invest the time and money in creating a spot at his house on E. Del Ray Avenue if his experiment turned out to be a colossal failure. So, he applied for a spot at the gardens.
“Then I forgot about it because I never heard back,” he said. He got a call a few months ago, though, and now he has a patch planted with okra, carrots and tomatoes, among other things.
“It quickly became apparent when you get out here that there’s so much help,” he said. “And then there’s the shared stuff—the mulch, the hoses. As long as you don’t break your tools, you’re good to go. … People out here want other people out here to be successful.”
Rob Gallo, who works the plot next to mine, joined at the same time as me. Unlike me, though, he grew up gardening with family and was overcome with nostalgia the first time he passed the gardens on his way to play tennis.
“I remember just how much joy and passion my uncle and aunt had for this,” he said. “I guess you could say it passed on to me. Their enthusiasm inspired me a great deal because I enjoyed gardening with them and it gave me a sense of community because other neighbors would take pride in their respective gardens.”
Of course, for Gallo, me and others, one of the best aspects of working your own garden is eating what grows. The gardens hold an annual summer picnic where guests share food and recipes, and compete for bragging rights in a contest for the best-tasting or oddest-shaped tomato.
Del Ray resident Marlin Lord got his plot more than 20 years ago because he wanted to grow cucumbers to pickle for a family recipe: chow chow, a relish his grandmother used to make Cornish meat pies. Now, he grows a vast array of vegetables, and helps organize and maintain the gardens as chairman of the Chinquapin Gardens Advisory Board.
He enjoys the gardens for simple reasons. “The fresh air, the hard work and exercise, you can exhaust yourself,” he said. “And just the pleasure of seeing your things grow.”
For those hoping to finally jump off the waiting list, Walsh said the city hopes to add an extra 20 spots at Chinquapin this year and is looking for another place in the city to create more gardens. His staff presented a proposal to the Parks and Recreation Commission last year to create gardens at Ben Brenman Park that could ultimately comprise 150 plots. The commission created a sub-committee to study the issue.
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