Growing Produce, Growing Community at Walter Reed Annex

As head gardener Catherine Connor puts it, growing fresh produce for AFAC is also an exercise in growing community at Walter Reed Annex garden. This season both regular volunteers and “one timers” have already contributed close to 450 hours of their time to serving their community as Plot against Hunger gardeners.

Their team effort has included many of the tasks that growing fresh produce requires, like preparing new beds, seeding crops and transplanting seedlings, installing and maintaining irrigation systems, hand watering, installing plant supports and crop covers, tending compost piles, weeding (lots and lots of weeding), as well as packaging, labeling and delivering the harvest.

Harvesting is the fun part: a clear sign of a successful season. As of early July, the Walter Reed garden has provided almost 850 pounds of produce for AFAC clients, including beets, broccoli, collard greens, cucumbers, green beans, kale, lettuce, onions, hot and sweet peppers, radishes, spinach, and summer squash.  Catherine celebrates and thanks her Walter Reed gardening team for their dedication and hard work.