Arlington Central Library (1015 N. Quincy Street) is now lending gardening tools to Arlington residents, and all they need is a library card.
This morning, the library held a “vine cutting” to open the toolshed on its east plaza, next to its community garden. The shed, built from cedar for free by Case Design, will be open for lending from March through November on Wednesdays, 5:00-7:00 p.m., Fridays 3:00-5:00 p.m. and Saturdays from 10:00 a.m. to noon. Borrowers must be residents of Arlington County and at least 18 years old.
“We want people to dig in and get their hands dirty,” Arlington Central Library Manager Margaret Brown said.
Brown was joined by Arlington County Board Chair Jay Fisette and Board member Libby Garvey at the toolshed’s unveiling. Brown said the library was inspired to develop the toolshed and its neighboring vegetable garden — with produce going to the Arlington Food Assistance Center — through Fisette’s sustainability initiative when he was Board chair in 2010. The plan and location for the shed was developed by the Urban Agriculture Task Force last year.
“I really think the library has done a great job of taking some of the big picture ideas the county has,” Fisette said, “and to find ways creatively… to further goals of the county and the [Urban Agriculture] Task Force.”
Fisette donated a shovel he was given from the groundbreaking of Virginia Hospital Center’s new wing in 2001. The other tools, available for borrowing immediately, are:
- Bow rakes
- Bow saw
- Bulb planters
- Dandelion puller
- Four-tined soil turner
- Flat blade shovel
- Garden hose
- Hand rakes
- Hedge clippers
- Hoes
- Hook and ladder
- Loppers
- Long-handled shovel
- Pick axes
- Pitchforks
- Post hole digger
- Seed spreader
- Trowel
- Walk smoother
- Wheelbarrow
