We often design gardens for spring enthusiasm and summer abundance. But planting plans are infrastructure documents — shaping labor, water, energy, and expectations long before harvest. What if long-term sustainability begins by asking: What season are you truly designing for?

When a government shutdown halted work in the Arlington House Kitchen Garden, I was reminded how fragile urban land access can be. Growing on borrowed ground means accepting uncertainty—but it also deepens our understanding of stewardship, resilience, and the shared responsibility of caring for land that sustains us all.