Master Gardeners of Northern Virginia
Promoting environmentally sound gardening practices for over 35 years!
May is a great time to learn how to effectively prevent mosquitos and ticks in your yard! Best strategies for protecting yourselves from mosquitoes and ticks are to manage habitat, especially standing water where mosquitoes can breed, wear long sleeves and pants, and use a mosquito repellent
Learn how the Organic Vegetable Garden (OVG) Master Gardeners protect the vegetable garden from the deer, rabbits, raccoons, squirrels, chipmunks, insects, and birds that want to enjoy the garden’s bounty.
Controlling pests in our gardens can be frustrating whether they be blatantly furry and adorable or seemingly impossible to find as you search the ruins of a plant. Pests can even be invasive plants that bully the non-invasive vegetation. If you are experiencing pest problems in your garden or yard, the following classes and resources will help you.
The hot days of July pose challenges for the summer garden and the summer gardener. Whether it’s keeping plants and yourself well hydrated, learning to identify and combat pests and diseases that thrive in our local humidity, or adopting climate-conscious gardening practices to help your garden and the wildlife it supports thrive, our July classes have something for you.
As you enjoy the spring blooms this May, start strategizing ways to keep mosquitoes and ticks at bay in your yard without the use of pesticides. Our May 20 class, "Controlling Mosquitoes and Ticks in Your Yard Without Pesticides, describes an integrated pest management approach based on an understanding of the life cycles of these insects.
Protect yourself from ticks without destroying beneficial insects. Spraying pesticides to control ticks is ineffective because ticks reside primarily within leaf litter where the sprays cannot reach them, or they are brought in by animal hosts. The pesticides, however, are nonselective and will kill pollinators and other beneficial insects they come in contact with. There are much more effective ways to protect yourself, your family, and your pets and still enjoy the outdoors.
We are already seeing calls for spraying to control mosquitoes on neighborhood social media sites. Before you think of spraying, check out these better options for controlling mosquitoes that will not hurt beneficial insects.
The cicadas are coming!
Brood X, also called the “Great Eastern Brood,” will emerge in DC, DE, GA, IL, IN, KY, MD, MI, NC, NJ, NY, OH, PA, TN, VA, and WV in 2021. Beginning as early as late April and continuing into June, adults will emerge at sunset from their underground locations where they spend most of their lives 1 to 8 feet below the surface as nymphs feeding on sap of tree roots.
What’s Happening to the Oak Trees?
Urban and suburban trees also deal with urban heat islands, competition with turfgrass, pollution, and construction. Combined with the mature age of many of our oaks and the extreme weather conditions, we are seeing the decline of our tree canopy.
Organic Vegetable Garden (OVG), May 17th: Flea beetles are going after our eggplant seedlings so we started applying insecticidal soaps in addition to using other methods of protection such as …
Organic Vegetable Garden (OVG), April 26th: Protect Your Seedlings. In the next couple weeks, most people will be planting seedlings. Protect the tender young plants from cutworms and slugs with …
