Tag Archives: Garden Talks

Peg’s Picks of August Gardening Events Washington DC Metro Area

Peg’s Picks of August 2014 gardening events for the Washington DC Metropolitan area with an emphasis on edible gardening

Virginia
The Master Gardeners of Northern Virginia host many events. The following are free, open to the public (that is, you do not have to be a Master Gardener), and registration is required. Call (703) 228-6414; e-mail mgarlalex@gmail.com; http://mgnv.org

  •  August 23, Saturday, 10:00 – 12:00 p.m., Fall Vegetable Gardening, Burke Branch Library 4701 Seminary Road, Alexandria, VA
  •  August 26, Tuesday, 7:30 to 8:30 p.m., Composting for Home Gardeners, Fairlington Community Center, 3801 S. Stafford Street, Arlington VA

The Master Gardeners of Prince William County has “Saturdays in the Garden.” Every month, from April through October, the Master Gardeners host an event from 9:00 am to 12:00 pm at the teaching garden at St. Benedict Monastery, 9535 Linton Hall Road, Bristow, VA., Free; must register in advance, (703) 792-7747. http://www.mgpw.org

Arlington Central Library hosts the “Garden Talks” series of free presentations every Wednesday evening from 7:00 to 9:00 pm starting mid-March through end of October. The website lists the topics and provides gardening resources for gardeners in the area. 1015 N. Quincy Street, Arlington VA; (703) 228-5990; http://www.library.arlingtonva.us/events/garden-talks/

Green Spring Gardens has several classes and workshops. Gardeners may be interested in “Backyard Composting Basics” on Saturday, August 2, 10:00 to 11:00 am. Registration and fee required via Fairfax County Park Authority’s ParkTakes; (703) 222-4664. 4603 Green Spring Road, Alexandria, VA (703) 642-5173; http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/parks/greenspring

Washington DC

Casey Trees is sponsoring a free Fruit Tree workshop, but must register in advance, Saturday, August 9, 9:00 am to 4:00 pm, Stuart Center, 821 Varnum Street, NE, Washington DC 20002; (202) 833-4010; http://www.caseytrees.org

The U.S. Botanic Garden is hosting “Fruits and Berries from City Lots Workshop,” in their conservatory classroom on Saturday, August 9, 10:30 am to 12:30 pm & a repeat performance on Sunday, August 10, 2:00 to 4:00 pm. The USBG has many other exhibits and events, check out their calendar on their web site.100 Maryland Avenue, SW, Washington DC (202) 225-8333; http://www.usbg.gov

Maryland

The Washington Gardener magazine is hosting its 7th annual tomato tasting at FreshFarm Market in Silver Spring, Ellsworth Drive between Fenton Street and Georgia Avenue, Saturday, August 23, 10:00 am to 12:00 pm, free; http://washingtongardener.blogspot.com

The Behnke Nurseries Company has a variety of workshops including “Planting for Fall Crops” on Saturday, August 2, 10:00 am and 1:00 pm & Sunday, August 3, 10:00 am and 1:00 pm (same topic delivered four times). Free but registration required, (301) 937-1100l 11300 Baltimore Avenue, Beltsville, MD; http://behnkes.com

Peg’s Picks for July Events

FRONTmdfarmtourfinal2014July is the time to visit the public gardens, many of which have tours. Because there are too many to list here, see the tab or page above entitled “Public Gardens” and call to find out if a garden near you has guided tours and/or events. July is also National Park and Recreation month, sometimes local parks have demonstration gardens, classes, and tours. Below are just a few edible gardening related events this month.

Brookside Gardens, 1800 Glenallan Avenue, Wheaton, MD, has a catalog of classes for the season and the July edible related ones are below. Great place to take kids too. Must register, fee involved; (301) 962-1451.
http://www.montgomeryparks.org/brookside/
July 10, 10:00 am to 11:30 am, Dealing with deer
July 16, noon to 1:30 pm cooking class, truly tomatoes
July 19, 9:00 to 10:30 am, Low Tunnel construction Demonstration

University of Maryland Extension’s “Grow it Eat It” has a free summer open house on Saturday, July 26, 8:30 to 1:00 pm at the Agriculture History Farm Park, 18410 Muncaster Road, Derwood, MD.
http://extension.umd.edu/growit

The Montgomery County Farm Tour and Harvest Sale will take place on Saturday and Sunday July 26 & 27. Most farms will be open 10:00 am to 4:00 pm both days. A map and brochure are on the website.
http://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/AgServices/agfarmtour.html

Open to the public, the Takoma Horticultural Club will have a speaker at their meeting on Wednesday July 16, 7:30 to 9:00 pm, Historic Takoma Building, 7328 Carroll Avenue, Takoma Park, MD. The speaker is Mike McConkey, who will talk about growing and propagating fruit trees. Mike owns Edible Landscaping, a nursery in Afton, VA, that specializes in edible fruit trees/shrubs for the Mid-Atlantic area, see http://ediblelandscaping.com).
http://www.takomahort.org

The Virginia Cooperative Extension in Prince William County has “Saturdays in the Garden.” Every month from April through October the master gardeners will host an event from 9:00 am to noon at the teaching garden at St. Benedict Monastery, 9535 Linton Hall Road, Bristow, VA. Free but must register in advance, (703) 792-7747. On July 12, there is a lecture on simple ways to use water wisely in your landscape plus a talk on the fall vegetable garden, tips for planting the fall vegetable garden and extending the season.
http://www.pwcgov.org/grow

The Arlington Central Library hosts the “Garden Talks” series of free, one-hour presentations every Wednesday evening from 7:00 pm to 8:00 pm starting in mid-March through the end of October. The web site lists the topics and also serves as a resource for gardening in the area.
1015 N. Quincy Street, Arlington, VA; (703) 228-5990.
http://library.arlingtonva.us/events/garden-talks/

July 2: no events
July 9: Gardening with and for kids
July 16: Foraging the wild edibles
July 23: (indoors) How vegetables are used around the world
July 30: Therapeutic gardening