Gardening is a culture in a world as vast as the country or as local as your neighborhood. There are traditional media outlets that focus on gardening across the nation and there are local media outlets in our neighborhood. Below is a list of the traditional, gardening-related media in the Washington, DC, metropolitan area. This is a great resource for people new to the area or new to gardening in this area. This does not include social media – only because social media is too vast to capture here but it certainly serves as a resource as well. This is current as of July 2014 and will be saved in the Media tab above.
Newspaper
Every Thursday, in the Washington Post’s Local Living, local garden editor Adrian Higgins writes a gardening article and Barbara Damrosch, who lives in Maine, writes an article on growing edibles. These are in the print edition and online (http://www.washingtonpost.com). During the growing season, on some Thursdays, Adrian answers questions from the public from noon to 1:00 pm. You can e-mail the question in advance or e-mail during that time period. If you missed the session, you can read the questions and answers in transcript format, online.
You may find local gardening clubs’ meetings in the Washington Post’s Local Living section. There are many small, local papers that list such clubs as well.
Magazines
The Washington Gardener is a locally produced magazine, published four times a year. To subscribe, contact the owner, Kathy Jentz, 826 Philadelphia Avenue, Silver Spring, MD 20910; (301) 588-6894. WGardenermag@aol.com; http://www.washingtongardener.com,
The Virginia Gardener is produced by State-by-State Gardening, P.O. Box 13070, Ruston, LA 71273; (318) 255-3149; http://www.statebystategardening.com/va. There does not seem to be a magazine for Maryland or Washington DC.
Television
Fairfax Public Access sponsors the Gardening News & Views show with Dr. John Buckreis on Monday, 9:00-9:30 pm; Saturdays 8:30 am; and Thursday 7:30 am on channel 10.
Merrifield Garden Center has the Merrifield’s Gardening Advisor show, Saturday, 8:00-9:00 am, on NewsChannel 8; http://www.wjla.com/news/newschannel-8/. At the end of their presentation you can call in with a question. If you missed the show, you should be able to view it on your computer by visiting Merrifield’s web site (see the What’s Happening tab) — really it is on YouTube. http://www.merrifieldgardencenter.com.
Home and Garden Television (HGTV) has gardening and landscaping shows, check the TV guide or their web site at http://www.hgtv.com. PBS has a variety of shows, check out your local station. The old Victory Garden has now become Edible Feast, check out http://www.ediblefeast.com. They also have special gardening shows that you can view online on your computer.
Radio
Andre Viette has a live, call in radio program called In the Garden with Andre Viette on Saturdays 8:00-11:00 am aired at several local radio stations (http://www.inthegardenradio.com for all of them or http://www.viette.com). You can listen live from your computer or podcast as well, 1-800-274-4273. In Washington DC, it is WMET, 1160 AM; in Leesburg, VA, it is WAGE, 1200 AM; in Annapolis, MD, it is WNAV 1430 AM; and in Frederick, MD, it is WFMD 930 AM.
Mike McGrath, garden editor for WTOP, 103.5 FM, an all news radio station in Washington, DC, has one-minute “Garden Plot” sessions on Saturday and “Yard Warrior” on Friday morning. He writes a gardening column every Friday on http://www.wtop.com and you can e-mail him your gardening issue/questions. Mike also hosts a Public Radio Show called You Bet Your Garden on Saturday mornings but depending on where you live you may not be able to hear it as it originates in Philadelphia (http://whyy.org/cms/youbetyourgarden).
Garden Sense Radio is hosted by Rick Fowler and Jos Roozen of Roozen Nursery, Inc., are on Saturday, 8:00 to 9:00 am., WMAL AM 630 and 105.9 FM. Call 1-800-721-6003 or visit http://www.radiogardensense.com for more information.
Kingsdene Nursery and Garden Center, Monkton, MD; sponsors “The Garden Club” radio show with Alan Summers on Saturday, 7:00 to 8:00 am, WCBM 680 AM. Call (410) 343-1150 or visit http://www.kingsdene.com for more information.
