Community Garden Rules

  1. You must be a resident of Arlington County.
  2. Plots are limited to one per family.
  3. Plots are assigned on a first-come, first-served basis.
  4. Gardeners must pay the Arlington County rental fee and any other garden association fees, deposits or assessments; renewal fees are due no later than March 15.
  5. You must work yourself at least five hours per week in your garden; all authorized gardeners for your plot must be listed on your application with their signature.
  6. Plots that haven’t been cleaned and prepared for gardening by May 15, in the opinion of the chief gardener (or Executive Committee) and/or the Horticulture Office, may be assigned to another applicant without further notice.
  7. Gardens must be kept free of weeds and weedy vines; this includes the walk adjacent to your plot as well as fences.
  8. The gardens must be cleaned for winter no later than Nov. 30. This involves removing dead plants, stakes, temporary fences, jugs, trash, etc. It’s important to keep the community gardens looking tidy throughout the year, and picking up common areas, to prevent complaints about the program.
  9. You must not practice any horticultural technique such as fertilizing, watering, using pesticides, etc., that will in any way affect adjacent plots.
  10. You must comply with both County community garden rules and the bylaws of each garden association.

The penalty for failing to comply with the County community garden rules and/or the garden association bylaws and/or penalties may be cancellation of your privilege to garden. You’ll receive a two week warning prior to cancellation.