Master Gardeners of Northern Virginia
Promoting environmentally sound gardening practices for over 35 years!
No discussion about how we can help cope with climate change would be complete without addressing the critical importance of trees. Trees offer habitat, nesting sites, and a variety of food to wildlife and the life functions of trees provide many other beneficial ecosystem services.
The new trend toward hotter summers and warmer winters is necessarily changing the way we garden. While the DC metropolitan area has previously been designated as Zone 7 on the USDA’s Plant Hardiness Zone Map, our current lowest average temperature of 14 degrees now would place our region in Zone 8, which is presently located around Virginia Beach, a little over 200 miles further south.
Learn about adaptive approaches necessary as response to climate change for home vegetable gardening. These include general steps for reducing the garden’s carbon footprint, such as minimizing the use of power equipment and purchased fertilizers, building soil health, and conserving water as well as responding to increases in invasive weeds and insects.
Climate-Conscious Gardening To quote David W. Wolfe, Professor of Plant & Soil Ecology at Cornell University, “We are in the unfortunate situation of being the first generation of gardeners, ever, …
Recent studies are documenting dramatic declines in the number and diversity of insects around the world. Entomologists, ecologists, and other scientists are expressing shock at the speed and scope of these losses, and they are pointing to these steep declines as a sign of broader ecosystem collapse.
Master Gardeners of Northern Virginia manage the Organic Vegetable Garden at Potomac Overlook Park in Arlington. Each year, this demonstration garden produces hundreds of pounds of produce which it donates to the Arlington Food Assistance Center. These Notes from the Field, compiled by Judy Johnson and Judy Salveson, highlight some of the challenges the garden faced in 2018 due to record-breaking weather.
What can we as gardeners do to adapt to climate change? While predictions about climate change and its impacts appear nothing short of apocalyptic, adapting to the changes to come will require a return to gardening fundamentals.
