Too many people boil down gardening savvy to how green their thumbs happen to be, says Bill Johnson, staff horticulturist and volunteer coordinator with Hillwood Museum & Gardens in Northwest.
The average person, he says, doesn’t realize gardening is both “an art and a science.”
Some established gardeners had the seeds of their knowledge fertilized by a kindly grandparent or neighbor. For many others, horticulture education began and ended with planting a few bean seeds in elementary school.
It doesn’t have to be this way, say local gardeners who point to a wealth of resources waiting to be tapped.
The best way to begin one’s horticulture education is to enroll in a master gardener program sponsored by the various state land-grant universities, which support efforts toward teaching, research and public service, Mr. Johnson says. Neophyte gardeners can contact their local cooperative extension for more details, though waiting lists for these classes are common.
Mr. Johnson says a spin through the cable-television dial also can enlighten. Home & Garden Television and other channels offer shows such as “Gardening by the Yard” and “Landscape Smart,” which give excellent information for the uninitiated. The shows also provide strong reinforcement of their lessons by flashing the names of the various plants and flowers on screen, he says.
An underrated way to glean good gardening know-how is to volunteer at a local garden center or botanical garden, says Mr. Johnson, whose group holds monthly training sessions for its volunteers. A good volunteer program involves a measure of instruction, which is enforced when the volunteers march out to the fields and repeat what they’ve learned for curious guests.
Virginia Cooperative Extension Master Gardener Association volunteers, for example, undergo about 60 hours of training in basic horticultural topics such as vegetables, fruits, insects and disease.
Volunteers with the Loudoun County master gardener program run an organic demonstration garden at Ida Lee Park in Leesburg that’s open during park hours.
Tom Tyler, extension agent for environmental horticulture with the Arlington County Extension, says the public needs to keep a sharp eye out for classes. Some sessions are one-time-only affairs, while others schedule a series of programs.
The classes through the Arlington County Extension focus not just on gardening but also on working the earth in a way that protects the environment. Toward that end, gardeners can concentrate on recycling trash for good compost material.
“Many of the ingredients in compost are available in your yard,” he says, including leaves, weeds and grass clippings.
Any vegetable matter can make suitable compost material, says Marianne Polito, manager of gardening information services and volunteer programs at the American Horticultural Society in Alexandria.
Mrs. Polito says the District and its neighboring communities offer some obstacles the green gardener needs to avoid. Local soils tend to have higher clay levels than other parts of the country.
For that reason, she recommends beginners plant “natives,” plants and flowers — such as the currently blooming Virginia bluebells — that commonly grow around these parts.
“Our summers can be very hot and humid. Using native plants, you have a better chance of being successful,” she says. The native plants’ sturdy nature also can keep new gardeners from getting discouraged quickly.
Local soil also tends to be more acidic than soil in other parts of the country, another factor fledgling gardeners should be aware of.
“That’s why our hydrangeas have that incredible blue color,” she says.
Jon Traunfeld, regional specialist with the Ellicott City-based Maryland Cooperative Extension, says another valuable resource for would-be gardeners is the garden centers sprinkled throughout the state. Centers such as Valley View Farms in Cockeysville and Homestead Gardens in Davidsonville offer seminar series in the spring and fall, often for free.
Mr. Traunfeld contributes to the Web site of the Home and Garden Information Center of the University of Maryland Cooperative Extension, www.hgic.umd. edu, that lets visitors download gardening fact sheets and e-mail questions to gardening experts.
The most common questions Mr. Traunfeld hears from the public concern battling weeds, starting a garden from scratch and dealing with pest problems without resorting to chemicals.
Horticulture can be a demanding business, considering the variations in soil, fertilizer, plants and, most of all, weather. Complicating matters is the drumbeat of questionable advice doled out by some manufacturers urging consumers to buy more, more, more of their products.
Consumers today “are bombarded with ads that lead them to believe there’s magic bullets,” Mr. Traunfeld says. “If they use this product, everything will be peachy,” he says, referring to the latest insecticide and lawn-care chemicals. They’re also told, he says, to apply fertilizer throughout the growing season.
“That’s counter to what we recommend,” Mr. Traunfeld says. “For turf in our area, the fall is the best time. We don’t recommend people fertilizing in the spring, unless they have very weak turf or if it’s brand new.”
Just the right time to fertilize is something every gardener needs to know, Mr. Tyler says.
They also should test their soil periodically — about every three or four years, according to the Maryland Cooperative Extension — to make sure all the hard work isn’t wasted.
“We don’t pay enough attention to the soil,” Mr. Tyler says. “Sometimes, no matter what you do to the soil, if certain things aren’t right,” the flowers won’t grow like they should.
“It’s like getting your blood pressure taken. If something’s out of kilter …, you’ll never get better.”
Mr. Traunfeld says that perhaps the most overlooked source of gardening wisdom can be a few feet from home.
“Talk to your neighbors,” Mr. Traunfeld says. “In every established neighborhood, there are real serious gardeners. They’re a wealth of information, and they’ve already made all the mistakes you might avoid making.”
More info:
One of the best ways new gardeners can learn about horticulture is to start with the World Wide Web. A number of sites offer practical information, troubleshooting tips and listings for the latest classes. The short list below is a fine place to start.
• Virginia Cooperative Extension — www.ext.vt.edu
• Maryland Cooperative Extension — www.agnr.umd.edu/MCE/index.cfm
• Home & Garden Television — www.hgtv.com
• National Garden Clubs — www.gardenclub.org
• National Capital Area Federation of Garden Clubs — www.ncafgardenclubs.org
• Hillwood Museum & Gardens — www.hillwoodmuseum.org
• Home and Garden Information Center — www.hgic.umd.edu
Please read our comment policy before commenting.