Master Gardeners of Northern Virginia
Promoting environmentally sound gardening practices for over 35 years!
Would you like to create more gardening spaces and reduce your lawns without digging deep and flipping or cutting turf? Learn easier and quicker methods to go from grass to a garden filled with flowers, native plants, or vegetables.
Sustainable landscaping builds on the conditions of your yard to create a healthier and more ecologically-friendly outdoor space. Explore how the principles of sustainability coupled with conservation gardening methods offer resourceful solutions for improving and managing your home landscape.
Winter is an excellent time to prune many trees and shrubs. Learn why and how to prune to remove crossing and rubbing branches, suckers, water sprouts, and damaged wood as well as the best practices for reducing shrub size, trimming hedges, and carefully removing larger limbs.
Join Extension Master Gardeners Dona Lee and Susan Wilhelm to learn the many aspects of vegetable gardening – including selecting a site, improving your soil, planning your garden layout, attracting pollinators, and obtaining seeds, plants, and equipment.
Join Extension Master Gardeners Susan Wilhelm and Dona Lee to learn best vegetable garden practices, including proper watering techniques, identifying and controlling weeds, managing pests and diseases, and harvesting your crops.
Join Extension Master Gardeners Rebecca Halbe and Jane Longan and longtime gardener and educator Puwen Lee to learn about foraging for safe, edible plants that may be growing in your yard or neighborhood.
You will learn about the history of peppers and the many varieties; how to select peppers that suit your needs; when to start seeds inside (optional); how to plant and nurture your peppers; and how to identify pests and diseases common to peppers.
Kids are invited to come "play with dirt," plant a carrot seed to take home, and learn about the soil we grow our vegetables in - for kids around 4-7 (with their parents). Join Master Gardeners in the Small Space Garden at the back of the Fairlington Community Center (3308 S. Stafford St., Arlington), Sunday, March 20, 11:00-11:30 am. These junior gardeners will also dig a soil test sample. Celebrate the first day of spring and get a spring garden started! Like all Master Gardener events, this is *FREE*.
Learn techniques for introducing diverse layers of vegetation in a variety of garden contexts, from reestablishing forest edges and planting around trees to refreshing foundation plantings, creating perennial beds, and rethinking front yard designs.
In this talk, you’ll learn some of what Extension Master Gardeners have learned either through training or hard experience. Expect a mix of affirmation of tried and true techniques, myth busting, and ideas worth exploring.
Join Kirsten Conrad, Extension Agent for Arlington and City of Alexandria, to learn how to recognize the invasive Spotted Lanternfly, what to do if you see one, how to report it, and how to manage the damage that it may cause to your landscape and fruit crops.
As our changing climate brings more unpredictable weather patterns, gardeners play an increasingly important role in serving as stewards of the environment. Join Extension Master Gardener Elaine Mills to learn about five categories of practical actions that homeowners can take in their own backyards to either mitigate or adapt to changes in our climate.