Gardeners urge Park Authority to reopen community garden plots

A sign closing the parking lot at Pine Ridge Park, barring access to the Bo White community gardens, as well as all other park facilities..

Many gardeners who rent plots from the Fairfax County Park Authority are unhappy that the community gardens are closed.

All parks, athletic fields, playgrounds, picnic areas. and parking lots are closed to minimize social contact during the coronavirus pandemic.

The Bo White gardens at Pine Ridge Park.

The community gardens, however, don’t attract big crowds. Each individual plot is 20 by 40 feet.

“Closing the gardens is completely the wrong move,” said Carmine Carosella, who gardens at and oversees the plots at the Bo White Gardens at Pine Ridge Park in Annandale and is launching a letter-writing campaign to urge Fairfax County officials to keep the gardens open.

Many of the people who have a garden plot live in apartments and don’t have a yard where they can grow food, Carosella said. And at a time when going to the grocery store carries some health risks, people need a place to grow their own food.

Carosella noted that many of the gardeners at Pine Ridge Park are immigrants who grow produce from their home countries that they can’t find in local stores. Also, there are two garden plots at Pine Ridge – one managed by volunteers from Columbia Baptist Church and another run by Boy Scouts – that raise food for the needy.

Related story: All Fairfax County parks closing, trails to remain

Debo Burk, a gardener with a plot at a small community garden in the Broyhill Crest neighborhood, said the county closed the gardens because of the need to close parking lots at the bigger parks to prevent people from using the athletic fields.

“Gardening has to be one of the healthiest activities one can do,” Burk said. “We feed not only ourselves, but a network of friends and family.”

There are about 800 garden plots across the county and about 200 in Pine Ridge Park.

The Broyhill Crest gardens which is much smaller and is at the end of a cul de sac with no parking lot, remain open. A sign at the gardens says: “Stop the spread of COVID-19 virus in Fairfax County. Limit groups to 10 or fewer. Larger group activities prohibited. Distance yourself from others at least 6 feet apart.”

Burk wrote to Mason Supervisor Penny Gross to request that the Fairfax County Park Authority allow all community gardens to stay open.

In response, Gross said, “Access to garden plots in parks may be an issue since parking lots are closed, but I do think this needs to be re-thought by FCPA.”

The community gardens in Broyhill Crest.

The county made the decision to close all the gardens in response to Gov. Ralph Northam’s executive order closing all recreational facilities, as well as schools, restaurants (except for takeout and delivery), and nonessential businesses.

However, Northam has identified agriculture as an essential activity, Gross noted, and gardening is agriculture, just on a smaller scale.

“I understand why people would like to get back into the gardens,” said Ron Kendall, the Mason District representative on the Park Authority Board.

Kendall would leave the decision whether to allow people to use the gardens to the Park Authority. “They’re the ones who can best understand what their staff can accomplish and what they need to do to keep people safe.”

“We get it. We understand the need for gardeners to plant and tend to their plants and crops,” a Park Authority spokesperson said. “We are monitoring and reviewing the virus situation each and every day to determine best options.” [UPDATED 3/30, 3:35 p.m.]: A subsequent notice from the Park Authority states: “In light of the governor’s announcement today since our last note to you, the gardens will not open before June 10 at the earliest.”

“Many of us already have crops planted and seedlings filling our basements,” Burk said. Many people have shady yards or no yards at all, she said, and residents can’t install an eight-foot fence to keep deer away from their crops.

Burk suggested that if the garden plots are closed, people should get a refund of their rental fee. It costs $135 a year to rent a garden plot, and it’s supposed to go up to $140 next year. When Burk started gardening about 25 years ago, it cost just $30, and that included plowing by the county.

Closing the gardens is “a complete disaster,” Carosella said. “These places will go down fast if people aren’t there to take care of them.” Just because the parking lot is closed, shouldn’t mean gardeners should be barred from walking in.

“These activities should be continued,” he said. “There is no reason to stop these activities when there is no contact at all.”