{"id":3689,"date":"2026-01-26T16:15:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-26T21:15:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/arlingtonurbanag.org\/?p=3689"},"modified":"2026-03-27T21:10:54","modified_gmt":"2026-03-28T02:10:54","slug":"2026-spring-garden-kickoff","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arlingtonurbanag.org\/es\/2026-spring-garden-kickoff\/","title":{"rendered":"2026 Spring Garden Kickoff"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><strong><em><strong><em>Update 3\/27\/26 10 pm<\/em><\/strong><\/em><\/strong>: <strong><em>Registration has now closed. There will be a limited number of on-site tickets available, so if you&#8217;d like to participate, we suggest you arrive early!<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-left\">Mark your calendars for FOUA&#8217;s largest and most popular&nbsp;event of the year. We&#8217;ll have workshops, garden talks, seeds &amp; seedlings, and great plant discussions&nbsp;at Marymount University&#8217;s Ballston Campus. This free event location is easily accessible by car, metro or bus. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-left\">Our theme this year is <strong>Urban Agriculture is Climate Action.<\/strong> Urban gardeners are creative in their methods.&nbsp;We encourage producers to be thoughtful in what they grow, how they grow, and be knowledgeable about the potential environmental impact of their decisions. Join us for this important discussion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-left\"><strong>Date:<\/strong>&nbsp;Sat,&nbsp;March&nbsp;28, 2026, 10:00 am \u2013 2:00 PM. Doors will open at 9:15 for registration and to visit our event partners.&nbsp;<br><strong>Ubicaci\u00f3n:<\/strong> Marymount University Ballston Campus, 1000 N Glebe Road<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-left\"><em>Marymount University\u2019s Ballston Campus at 1000 N Glebe Rd, Arlington. We\u2019re a 7 minute walk from the Ballston-Marymount University Metro station (Orange\/Silver), and parking will be also available.&nbsp;<strong><a href=\"#transport-and-parking-at-MU\" data-type=\"internal\" data-id=\"#transport-and-parking-at-MU\">See transportation and parking info here.&nbsp;<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<a class=\"gb-text gb-text-20693397\" href=\"https:\/\/arlingtonurbanag.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/SGK-2026-Agenda-FOR-PRINT.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">PDF version of agenda here<\/a>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table><tbody><tr><td><strong>Time<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>Activity<\/strong><\/td><td><strong>Location<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>9:15 AM<\/td><td>Doors open for check in &amp; registration<\/td><td>1st Floor\/Lobby<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><br><\/td><td>Visit our partners and garden tables and have a coffee<\/td><td>2nd Floor<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>10:00 AM<\/td><td>Main program &#8211; General Session<\/td><td>1st Floor\/Auditorium<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><br><\/td><td>FOUA Welcome<\/td><td><br><\/td><\/tr><tr><td><br><\/td><td>Hon. Susan Cunningham, Arlington County Board<\/td><td><br><\/td><\/tr><tr><td><br><\/td><td>Rich Dooley, Director of Climate Policy, Arlington County Manager&#8217;s Office<\/td><td><br><\/td><\/tr><tr><td><br><\/td><td>Seed saving highlights&nbsp;<\/td><td><br><\/td><\/tr><tr><td><br><\/td><td>Plot Against Hunger Garden Spotlight: Sue Howell &amp; LP Mitchell<\/td><td><br><\/td><\/tr><tr><td><br><\/td><td>Plot Against Hunger program updates<\/td><td><br><\/td><\/tr><tr><td><br><\/td><td>Closing &amp; information for the day<\/td><td><br><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>11:15 AM<\/td><td>Chat with partners &amp; garden tables &amp; learn about volunteer opportunities. Have a snack break with local food &amp; pastries!&nbsp;<\/td><td>2nd Floor<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>12:00 PM<\/td><td>Workshops. Choose from four workshop options:<\/td><td>3rd Floor Classrooms<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><br><\/td><td>Bees &amp; Pollinators &#8211; Dan Benson<\/td><td><br><\/td><\/tr><tr><td><br><\/td><td>Root Knot Nematodes &#8211; Alyssa Bette<\/td><td><br><\/td><\/tr><tr><td><br><\/td><td>Plan it Right\/Maximize Garden Harvest &#8211; Rebecca Halbe<\/td><td><br><\/td><\/tr><tr><td><br><\/td><td>Marymount Student Presentations: Improving Food Access in Hispanic Communities: Addressing Food Insecurity in Northern Virginia, Growing Healthy Families: How Community Food Supports Maternal &amp; Infant Health, Nutrition for Diabetes &amp; Cholesterol: A closer look at Self-Efficacy<\/td><td><br><\/td><\/tr><tr><td>12:45 PM<\/td><td>Break time! Grab your lunch bag, pick up a snack, &amp; get ready for roundtables.&nbsp;<\/td><td>2nd &amp; 3rd Floors<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>1:00 PM<\/td><td>Lunch roundtable discussions. Choose from School Gardens, Faith Based Gardens, Get Involved with Plot Against Hunger (Optional)<\/td><td>3rd Floor Classrooms<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>1:00 PM<\/td><td>Seed &amp; seedling give away begins! Note: No soil allowed in the building, so seedlings will be distributed outside.<\/td><td>1st Floor\/Lobby &amp; Outdoors<\/td><\/tr><tr><td>2:00 PM<\/td><td>Thank you for joining us! Have a great garden season!<\/td><td><br><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-left\"><br><strong>Want to volunteer on the day of the Spring Garden Kickoff? Interested in being a Spring Garden Kickoff event sponsor? Contact us at <a href=\"mailto:info@arlingtonurbanag.org\">info@arlingtonurbanag.org<\/a>&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><a href=\"#transport-and-parking-at-MU\" data-type=\"internal\" data-id=\"#transport-and-parking-at-MU\">Transportation and Parking<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Marymount University\u2019s Ballston Campus is located at&nbsp;<strong>1000 N Glebe Road (at Fairfax Drive.)<br><\/strong><br>It is a convenient 7 minute walk from the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.wmata.com\/rider-guide\/stations\/ballston.cfm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Ballston-MU Metro Station,<\/a>&nbsp;serviced by the orange and silver lines and multiple bus lines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Parking Options:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Parking under the building is $6 for the entire day. An elevator from the garage will bring you straight into the building\u2019s lobby.&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/marymount.edu\/admissions\/graduate-students\/meet-with-us\/ballston-center\/#:~:text=Shuttle%20Service%20Schedule-,Parking,12%20a.m.%2C%20rates%20vary).\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Ballston Center\u2019s parking garage<\/a>&nbsp;can be accessed from the rear of the building, off N. Wakefield Street.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Meter parking is available on N. Glebe Road and N. Fairfax Drive.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.arlingtonva.us\/Government\/Programs\/Transportation\/Locations\/Ballston-Public-Parking-Garage\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Ballston garage,&nbsp; 627 N. Glebe Rd.<\/a>&nbsp;(10 minute walk to Marymount Ballston) ($1 for 3 hours; $3 for 3-4 hours \u2014 remember that Ballston garage now requires prepayment at machines by the elevators.)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Free parking is available on neighborhood streets, but may be limited.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div style=\"display:flex; gap:10px;justify-content:center\" class=\"wps-pgfw-pdf-generate-icon__wrapper-frontend\">\n\t\t<a  href=\"https:\/\/arlingtonurbanag.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3689?action=genpdf&amp;id=3689\" class=\"pgfw-single-pdf-download-button\" ><img src=\"https:\/\/arlingtonurbanag.org\/wp-content\/plugins\/pdf-generator-for-wp\/admin\/src\/images\/PDF_Tray.svg\" title=\"PDF general\" style=\"width:auto; height:45px;\"><\/a>\n\t\t<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Update 3\/27\/26 10 pm: Registration has now closed. There will be a limited number of on-site tickets available, so if you&#8217;d like to participate, we suggest you arrive early! Mark your calendars for FOUA&#8217;s largest and most popular&nbsp;event of the year. We&#8217;ll have workshops, garden talks, seeds &amp; seedlings, and great plant discussions&nbsp;at Marymount University&#8217;s &#8230; <\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more-container\"><a title=\"2026 Spring Garden Kickoff\" class=\"read-more button\" href=\"https:\/\/arlingtonurbanag.org\/es\/2026-spring-garden-kickoff\/#more-3689\" aria-label=\"Leer m\u00e1s sobre 2026 Spring Garden Kickoff\">Lee mas<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":3870,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,7],"tags":[53,37,64],"class_list":["post-3689","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-events","category-plot-against-hunger","tag-events","tag-plot-against-hunger","tag-spring-garden-kickoff","infinite-scroll-item"],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/arlingtonurbanag.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/2026-Spring-Garden-Kickoff-for-site-social.png","author_info":{"display_name":"Emily Landsman","author_link":"https:\/\/arlingtonurbanag.org\/es\/author\/emilyl\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arlingtonurbanag.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3689","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arlingtonurbanag.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arlingtonurbanag.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arlingtonurbanag.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arlingtonurbanag.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3689"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"https:\/\/arlingtonurbanag.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3689\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3901,"href":"https:\/\/arlingtonurbanag.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3689\/revisions\/3901"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arlingtonurbanag.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3870"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arlingtonurbanag.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3689"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arlingtonurbanag.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3689"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arlingtonurbanag.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3689"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}