Bruce Monroe Community Garden is a relatively new community garden at Bruce Monroe Park, which is located between Irving St. and Columbia Rd. at the intersection of Georgia Avenue. The park’s address is 3000 Georgia Ave., N.W. The garden is located at the rear of the park, away from Georgia Avenue. It is about 3-4 blocks from the Columbia Heights metro station on the green line. The community gard
en is comprised of raised beds mainly divided into nearly 200 3′ x 6′ plots, which are maintained by individuals or families, shared plots that are maintained by a group of gardeners, and lower to the ground kids gardens. Bruce Monroe Community Garden was established in 2011 through an initial $10,000 appropriation from DC government as part of the development of Bruce Monroe Park. The garden was organized by Ecolocity, a nonprofit organization that assists in creating a self-reliant, educated and purposeful Washington, DC community, addressing the issues of environmental, social, and economic sustainability. A series of community meetings was held to gather ideas for the garden, identify community gardeners, and create a design for the garden. When the design was approved by the DC Dept. of Parks and Recreation, community volunteers began a series of construction days to build and fill the raised beds. In June 2011, Phase I of the garden officially opened. In 2012, Ecolocity and Keep Washington, DC Beautiful joined forces to apply for a Keep America Beautiful Fund/Lowe’s grant. This $20,000 grant allowed the garden to complete the construction of all raised beds in the design, build a toolshed for storing tools and other equipment, plant 20 fruit and nut trees, 50 berry and nut bushes and shrubs in our forest garden adjacent to the community garden, and begin to establish a series of compost bins for our gardens and neighborhood. We are thankful to our many community partners in the development and maintenance of our garden, including the DC Dept. of Parks and Recreation and the Dept. of General Services, Ward 1 Councilmember Jim Graham, Keep America Beautiful Fund, Lowe’s, many teams of volunteers coordinated by Greater DC Cares, Casey Trees, and Ecolocity, and our many individual volunteers and community gardeners. The D.C. Dept. of Parks and Recreation allows Ecolocity to operate the community garden at Bruce Monroe Park, which is governed by a board of community gardeners. Plots are available to individuals for $30 per year. Community gardeners using shared plots may participate free of charge.
