New Announcements:
1. Virginia Tech Giving Day – February 24-25 2021: Virginia Tech is hosting its annual “Giving Day” from February 24 at noon to February 25 at noon. We have a matching challenge: if we can get 25 donations, we’ll unlock a $2,000 gift
a. FOR LOCAL SOCIAL MEDIA/NEWSLETTER MANAGERS: If you manage your unit’s social/newsletter, resources for creating giving day posts are here: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1QRc6QfuU1c4kuJrtWKCD9wNdViCqNf0h?usp=sharing
2. Hours requirements have been updated for 2021, view here https://drive.google.com/file/d/1DuoxFD9cUooLYrizDsGtI79nxhTy0PGK/view?usp=sharing
3. State Office Webinar Series:
a. March 18 | Vegetable Grafting for Home Gardens: Why & How to Graft Your Own Transplants with Josh Kardos
b. Register in advance for this meeting: https://virginiatech.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZwtduigqzgsG9Al5hgp3lrvI_iunj6KjO4w
4. Invitation to the Central Rappahannock Virtual Garden, April l 10 via Zoom:
a. CALLING ALL GARDENERS…Please join us in our Virtual Garden for the 8th Annual Garden Symposium, presented by the Master Gardeners of the Central Rappahannock Area. Our lively cast of 4 professional gardeners will provide 5 exciting hours of perspectives on “Gardening for Your Lifestyle”, and be available for discussion with symposium participants. Registration is now open for the symposium on April 10, 2021. Please visit our website, https://www.mgacra.org/2021-symposium.html to register for this event.
5. Garden Basics Workshop: Starting Plants from Seeds, February 20, 2021:
a. The Piedmont Master Gardeners will offer “Starting Plants from Seeds,” a free online Garden Basics workshop, from 2 to 3:30 p.m. Saturday, February 20. Learn seed-starting techniques for vegetables and flowers and how to care for seedlings once seeds have germinated. To reserve a spot in the workshop, register by February 15 at https://piedmontmastergardeners.org/events/ An invitation to the Zoom session will be sent the morning of the class.
6. Piedmont Master Gardeners Schedule Spring Lecture Series, Thursdays in March: The Piedmont Master Gardeners have lined up an outstanding slate of speakers for their 2021 Spring Lecture Series and will present them online from 7 to 8:15 p.m. over four Thursday evenings in March.
a. Online registration starts February 1 on PMG’s Events webpage (piedmontmastergardeners.org/events/) and is required to receive an invitation to the Zoom sessions. Schedule here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1sD-RAwdSTiGEw7koZyrgzYjhgMgxoEdZ/view?usp=sharing
7. Plant Virginia Natives 2021 Spring and Fall Landscaping with Natives Webinar Series
a. The Plant Hampton Roads Natives campaign is pleased to be collaborating with other campaigns across the state to offer a series of 12 webinars – 6 this spring and 6 this fall. The webinars will guide you through the why and how to turn your home garden into a beautiful retreat for your family and a native habitat for birds and other wildlife. The series kick-off is on Friday, March 5 at 6:30 pm with an engaging presentation by Dr. Douglas Tallamy, renowned author of Bringing Nature Home and of Nature's Best Hope.Sign-up for all 12 webinars for just $10! More details on the series and registration is available at www.PlantVirginiaNatives.org
8. American Community Garden Association conference, Hampton September 23-26, 2021. Virtual and in person.
a. If you’re interested in volunteering: “Volunteer opportunities include conducting tours, facilitating workshops and/or demonstrations, hospitality, registration, directing attendees and vendors, conference set up, sponsorship opportunities, silent auction and many other options. If you are interested, please email wendy.iles@hampton.gov” style=”color:blue”>wendy.iles@hampton.gov with your specific area of interest.” More info here.
9. AmpleHarvest 2021 Survey: AmpleHarvest surveys America’s gardeners to learn how much more they grow than they can use (i.e. what was being lost to waste) and the desire of gardeners to donate that if they had the opportunity. Please visit www.AmpleHarvest.org/survey to participate
Old Announcements
10. IMGC Search For Excellence – Deadline May 1. The David Gibby Search for Excellence (SFE) Awards recognize the outstanding volunteer work of Extension Master Gardeners (EMG) & Volunteer Coordinators. Please submit your projects! It would be great to see lots of VA entries/awards! Apply here: https://www.imgcsfe.com/
11. Call for recipes for a Virginia IMGC Cookbook (email recipes to Wanda Gerard Wanda vagardengurl@aol.com). Recipes should feature Virginia agricultural products or have some historical/cultural significance to the commonwealth.
12. Continuing education reading list: Reading a book from this list counts for up to 3 CE hours: https://docs.google.com/document/d/11GcvQr_wm_oH2BaNCLZuXzY6POD2f0FXD0TgY5DlBs8/edit?usp=sharing
a. More CE opportunities here: https://mastergardener.ext.vt.edu/ce/
13. IMGC: Virtual Tours
b. With the switch to a virtual platform for IMGC 2021, we have had to reimagine how we will offer tours to participants. We are asking EMGs from across Virginia to submit links to virtual tours that have taken part in, seen, or created. From these submissions, our IMGC Tours Team will put together a Virginia Tours page for conference goers.
c. Additional details and virtual tours submission can be found here: https://forms.gle/NnSjPskPhGuXXhL49
14. Tree Classes and Walks– Charlottesville Area Tree Stewards is a series of 6 free classes and walks in the first half of 2021 either on weekday evenings or weekends so that all can enjoy them. Please follow the link below for more details and registration information.
https://www.charlottesvilleareatreestewards.org/learn-about-trees/take-a-tree-steward-class/
Old February announcements:
15. Grow The Good Life, February 20 and 27: Bedford Area Master Gardeners Association is sponsoring a two-weekend education event, called Grow The Good Life, to give gardeners a head start on their 2021 garden plans. The program will be conducted by Zoom on February 20th and 27th and will cost $15 per day. Presentations will include introduction to trending garden crops, composting advice and recommendations for beginners to “seasoned” gardeners, advice on how to control critters in the garden and gardening ideas for small areas. More info on the flyer, here. Sign up for both weekend sessions is available on the association’s web site, www.BedfordMasterGardeners.org
16. Communications workshop with Inga Haugen, February 24: Inga Haugen, Life Science, Agriculture, and Scholarly Communication Librarian at Virginia Tech, has created training materials on image attribution, creating presentations, and other technology content. You can be among the first to see the new materials, and you will have a chance to give feedback on how you prefer to view online training materials.
a. Register (must be current VA EMG): https://www.cognitoforms.com/GPMGA1/CEOMG Registrations deadline is 12:00 noon on Tuesday, February 23, 2021. Please only register only once.
17. How to have the best lawn in the neighborhood – February 22nd (7pm-8pm EST),
a. Spring is the perfect season to begin thinking about your lawn. Lawns and their problems is one of the topics that master gardeners get a lot of questions about, and now is the time to “bone up” on your turf grass knowledge. Adam Nichols, Research Manager for Turfgrass and Weed Science at the Hampton Roads Agricultural Research Station, will focus on how to establish and maintain your lawn. The presentation will be on Zoom and is free and open to the public. Zoom Link: https://virginiatech.zoom.us/j/89365867543
Old March Announcements:
18. Gardening in the Valley Symposium, March 6: Northern Shenandoah Valey EMGs present a VIRTUAL Gardening in the Valley Symposium, featuring “Urban Bee Keeping,” “Herbs for Health and Healing,” “Raised Beds vs Traditional Beds” and more. More info: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1L2cEsUAZA4rdESKvKgyh97ER_EMY4cSb/view?usp=sharing
19. Plant, Nurture, Grow: Gardening In Rhythm with Nature March 20, 2021: The Loudoun County Extension Master Gardeners are proud to present our 11th Annual Garden Symposium, Plant, Grow, Nurture: Gardening in Rhythm with Nature, on March 20, 2021. This year we are virtual, so attendees can enjoy the speakers from the comfort of their own home. Registrants not available on the 20th can watch a recording of the speakers at any time until the end of March. Event information can also be found at https://loudouncountymastergardeners.org/events/annual-symposium/ Registration is limited and opens on February 1, 2021. We hope to see you at the Symposium!
Other Announcements:
1. Send us your announcements! Have you converted educational programs to an online format? You can still submit those announcements for the biweekly email! Submit an item for the biweekly update here.
2. Follow the State Office on social media: Facebook | Instagram | YouTube
3. Subscribe to In Season, our quarterly newsletter
4. View our most recent webinar
a. View a recording of our most recent state office webinar – Jamie King on urban forestry
i. https://mastergardener.ext.vt.edu/webinar-archive/
- Resources for fertilization of lawns and for those involved with Healthy Virginia Lawns programming
- Do you have questions coming in to your Extension Master Gardener program and need to find some answers? Extension Search Resources for EMG Questions