Category: Community Gardening

Animal repellant products / Community Gardening / Compost / Deer / Edible Plants / Garden Design / Garden Maintenance / Gardening on the Wild Side: Working in Harmony with Nature / Heirloom plants / Organic Vegetable Gardening / Raised Beds / Seeds / Spring

 by Elizabeth McCoy

The Real Magic- Starting With Seeds

  Growing our own plants from seeds opens up a wide horizon of choices never even imagined by those who depend on the big box stores for their starts each spring.   There are many varieties of vegetables, herbs, flowers, and trees that have never been marketed in our area as seedlings.  Even within a popular type of vegetable, like tomatoes, there are many delicious named cultivars, many of them heirloom, not in commercial production as seedlings. Malabar spinach, a vining...

Community Gardening / Fall / Sustainable Gardening / Teaching Garden / Water Wise / Watering

 by Elvin & Kay Clapp

The JCC Community Wellness Fair

The Water Wise Team was busy preparing and hosting a tour of our Water Wise garden at the JCC Human Services Center (5249 Olde Towne Rd.) for the JCC Community Wellness Fair on September 10, 2022. The Fair was a great success with approximately 300 people visiting our Water Wise garden. Master Gardeners Kay Clapp and Linda Neilson had 57 adult visits to the JCCW Master Gardener booth and delighted over 35 children in a garden lesson on butterflies. Project...

Community Gardening / Edible Plants / Gardening on the Wild Side: Working in Harmony with Nature / Heirloom plants / Keystone Species / Native Trees / Permaculture / Planting Trees / Propagation / Wildlife Gardening

 by Elizabeth McCoy

Growing Indigenous Trees from Seeds

  What Are Indigenous Trees? Indigenous trees are those native species that have grown in our area since before European colonization.  They are uniquely suited to our climate.  They support our indigenous wildlife and make our landscape unique.  Trees produced from long generations of the same species, that have all grown in our immediate area, are considered indigenous.  A tree ordered from a mail-order nursery, even of the same species, was likely grown from seed, or a cutting, indigenous to...

Community Gardening / Fall / Farming / Garden Maintenance / Herbs / Teaching Garden / Vegetable Gardening

 by Louann Martin, Master Gardener, Class of 2014 and Nan Snyder, Master Gardener, Class of 2020

Mattey’s Garden

Mattey’s Garden is a hands-on learning garden at the Matthew Whaley Elementary School. And while the students were absent due to COVID-19, the garden continued to grow, including the weeds. Luckily, Louann Martin, who heads up this project for the James City County Williamsburg Master Gardener Association (JCCWMGA), assembled a team made up of the elementary school’s families and students as well as JCCW Master Gardeners. This team has been tending the garden with a watchful eye pruning, weeding, and...

Community Gardening / Fall / Gardening on the Wild Side: Working in Harmony with Nature / Teaching Garden / Vegetable Gardening / Watering

 by Pam Arnold, Master Gardener, Class of 22018

Blayton’s Garden – Growing Knowledge Starts Here

Click here to Watch the Video! 11 years and Going Strong The student garden at J. B. Blayton Elementary School on Jolly Pond Road in Williamsburg is 11 years old and going strong. The garden was started by a pair of teachers and parents who were interested in creating a special outdoor space where students could learn about all types of plants and pollinators. The PTA supplied funds to construct a pavilion for shade and to serve as an outdoor...

Community Gardening / Edible Plants / Fall / Farming / Gardening on the Wild Side: Working in Harmony with Nature / Vegetable Gardening

 by Marion Guthrie

But Is It Ripe?

When do you harvest watermelon? There are several factors that indicate ripeness First, the underside ground spot turns from whitish to creamy yellow. Next look at the tendrils closest to the melon, they should be brown and shriveled. The rind loses its gloss and appears dull. And last but not least, when thumped the melon produces a dull thud, rather than a ringing sound. Not just water and sugar Watermelon has many health benefits. One is that it is loaded...

Community Gardening / Edible Plants / Farm-To-Table / Farming / Vegetable Gardening

 by Michele Garrard and Elizabeth Myers

Farm to Table in Williamsburg

A Tour of KelRae Farm, by Michele Garrard, Master Gardener, Class of 2022      Boots on the Ground Tour – As part of their training, the James City County Williamsburg Master Gardeners (JCCWMG) recently received a “boots on the ground” tour of KelRae Farm, located in Toano, VA. Leading the tour was the farm’s owner-operator, Michelle Gulden. Michelle together with her husband Randy, took over the farm in 2001 from Randy’s great uncle, Henry M. “Buck” Hazelwood, and they...

Community Gardening / Container Gardens / Edible Plants / Herbs / Organic Vegetable Gardening / Therapeutic Gardening

 by Elizabeth McCoy and Karen Brooks

Therapeutic Gardening in a Botanical Garden

A Special Needs Gardening Program! A collaboration between our Master Gardeners and Arc, the Arc of Abilities Day Support Program is for adults with special needs.  The program teaches participants how to grow and use flowers, vegetables, and herbs that they cultivate in four large, raised beds year-round in the Williamsburg Botanical Garden’s Therapeutic Garden, and on rainy days in the Park’s Visitor’s Center. In a partnership that has lasted for more than five years, Master Gardeners meet with Arc...

Community Gardening / Edible Plants / Garden Design / Garden Maintenance / Organic Vegetable Gardening / Pollinators / Vegetable Gardening / Wildlife Gardening

 by Bill Dichtel

What Is Going on at the Historic Triangle Learning Garden?

  The Historic Triangle Learning Garden is one of many projects led by members of the James City County/Williamsburg Master Gardeners.  It is located  right behind the CDR building and next door to Waller Mill Elementary School, at 312 Waller Mill Road. Originally known as “Incredible Edibles,” the project changed its name to the Historic Triangle Learning Garden in 2021 to reflect a broader range of interests, including growing flowers, supporting pollinators, and practicing other aspects of organic gardening, in...