Community Kitchen Garden

Aug 26th, 2021

Afghan Women’s Garden Beds

This blog post about the Afghan Women’s garden beds was written before the events in Afghanistan the week of August 16, 2021. The women continue to visit their garden beds […]

Aug 16th, 2021

Renovating the Kroger Community Kitchen Garden

The Kroger Community Kitchen Garden (KCKG) at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden is one of many of our direct connections to the community. Since its inception in 2009, the KCKG has […]

May 5th, 2021

Overcoming Obstacles: The Kroger Community Kitchen Garden

Everyone should be able to enjoy fresh fruit and vegetables. The Kroger Community Kitchen Garden at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden helps make that possible by growing and harvesting produce and […]

Apr 21st, 2020

Tips for Starting Your Vegetable Garden

Need some tips for starting your vegetable garden? We have them here! Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden’s Senior Horticulturist Laurel Matthew recently shared some of her insight on Facebook Live and […]

Sep 17th, 2019

Emily Herr Adds a Welcome Mural

The iconic view of the Conservatory and the Central Garden leading up to it immediately draw in visitors. However, hidden behind the Conservatory, an oft-overlooked treasure awaits. The Kroger Community […]

Jun 14th, 2019

Feed More Receives A New Herb Garden

The Garden is full of beautiful landscapes, blossoming flowers, art installations and small wildlife. It is beautiful year round and always offers something new to engage with. However, one of the […]

Aug 7th, 2018

Growing Food for Those in Need

People right here in Central Virginia struggle with hunger every day. The populations most likely to be affected by hunger, children and the elderly, may have trouble not only getting enough […]

Oct 9th, 2017

Southern Blight & a Natural Solution

How We are Using Mustard Greens to Fight Southern Blight Soil is vital and essential because it sustains life. You cannot have a healthy garden without healthy soil. The rear portion of […]

Aug 12th, 2016

Southern Blight in the Garden

Sadly, we recently discovered southern blight on some of the tomatoes and peppers in our Community Kitchen Garden. Since our mission is education, we wanted to take this opportunity to talk […]

Jul 1st, 2016

Summer is for Tomatoes

Tomatoes are a favorite summer vegetable for many, and for good reason. There is nothing like a sweet juicy tomato fresh off the vine in the middle of July! Tomatoes […]

Jun 25th, 2016

CarMax Cares for Our Garden

CarMax Cares about our Garden What would you do with 295 hours? You could sleep for 16 days straight, or brush your teeth 8,850 times. Or you could help with […]

Jun 25th, 2016

Heritage Plants Are Live History

As heirlooms are cherished, so are heirloom vegetables and heritage herbs of yesteryear. Virginia’s rich lineage of historic perennials, annuals, herbs, shrubs and trees are still available for planting today, including […]

Jun 19th, 2016

Our Apiary is for Beelovers

A new apiary is open for visitors to learn about bees. The Bob Stapleton & Keith Tignor Apiary, adjacent to the Community Kitchen Garden, will definitely add some sweetness to your visit […]

Mar 29th, 2016

Ready, set, grow!

It’s that time again! It’s time to come out of winter hibernation and get the garden ready for spring planting! If you’re like me, you’ve been waiting for the warmer […]

Sep 10th, 2015

What’s Cooking in The Community Kitchen Garden?

If 1,200 pounds of fresh-picked summer squash appeared on your doorstep one summer day, what would you cook? Amory James knows. He is the Food Production Manager at FeedMore’s Community Kitchen, […]

Aug 23rd, 2015

Butterfly & “Rockstar” Mina

Sometimes, you just get lucky with the camera. That’s what happened earlier this week when we had our staff “huddle” (a weekly 15-minute stand-up staff meeting) next to the Community Kitchen […]

Aug 10th, 2015

Craft Beer Craze

For those you out there that consider yourselves lovers of craft beer and beautiful gardens, you might already be aware of a fun new partnership that started in 2015. The […]

Jul 23rd, 2015

A Hippopotamus-sized Harvest!

This is turning out to be a very successful season in the the Community Kitchen Garden. It’s the second week of July, and this week we delivered 518 lbs. of […]

Jun 27th, 2015

Food for Those in Need

It’s been another hot but productive week in the Community Kitchen Garden. We hit our first 1,000 lbs. of produce this week with help from a group from Forest City […]

Jun 22nd, 2015

Helping Hands in the Garden

It’s been a great, but hot, week in the Community Kitchen Garden. This week we took two deliveries to Feedmore’s Community Kitchen for a combined total of 478 lbs. This one […]

Jun 14th, 2015

Volunteer’s Bountiful Harvest

This week Genworth Financial sent another great group of volunteers to work in the Community Kitchen Garden. The volunteers helped harvest 159 lbs. of fresh vegetables to take to Feedmore’s Community Kitchen, […]

Jun 7th, 2015

A Rainbow of Nutrients

Lewis Ginter Botanidal Garden is usually a pretty colorful place, but in the Community Kitchen Garden those colors equate to a wide variety of nutrients! Red vegetables like tomatoes and […]

May 30th, 2015

Pink Poppies, Oh My!

Being a volunteer at the Garden means you sometimes get the best view of the blooms. Plus, you have an insider’s perspective on the Garden. When horticulture volunteer Hillary Liddick emailed […]

May 15th, 2015

Celebrating our First Harvest

Last week was an important week in the Community Kitchen Garden: we made our first harvest of the season! On Monday morning I had the pleasure of working with Lewis […]

Apr 17th, 2015

Vegetable Gardening Help: Harlequin Bugs

by Laura Schumm, Community Kitchen Garden Horiculturist, Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden A recent Tweet from the folks over at Kersey Creek Elementary School in Hanover County got us thinking about Harlequin bugs and […]