By Mary Reid Barrow
Virginian-Pilot correspondent
© September 9, 2012
VIRGINIA BEACH
Has your garden suddenly become too shady because all the big trees have grown even bigger?
Is too much sun beating down on your shade-loving plants because you lost a tree in a nor’easter last fall?
Have the vines you used to love taken over your yard?
Has your landscaping shrubbery grown so big you can’t see out of your windows?
Has your garden just plain lost its oomph?
If so, the Virginia Beach Master Gardener Fall Festival from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday at the Hampton Roads Agricultural Research and Extension Center on Diamond Springs Road may be just the event you need for inspiration.
Every year, the master gardeners put on their annual garden party for gardeners and flower lovers. You’ll find a plant sale, a plant doctor, demonstrations on topics ranging from composting to pruning, butterflies and displays created by nonprofit organizations.
You also can tour the property and see the rain garden, buffer garden, compost demonstration area and more.
Throughout the day, there will be special programs, such as “Pot It Up,” all about planting decorative flower pots for fall, or “The Right Tree,” a talk about how to pick the tree that will be the right size and shape for your yard and will adapt to the yard’s environment.
And for that garden of yours that has lost all it’s oomph, Mike Andruczyk, a horticulture extension agent in Chesapeake, will have some suggestions. He’ll speak on “Starting Fresh, the Secret to Garden Make-overs.”
“My talk is on change in the garden,” Andruczyk said, “which deals with everything from a new pest or disease to dealing with an overgrown or changing landscape.”
Andruczyk said he knows everyone’s situation will be a little different, but he hopes he’ll have quick-fix ideas for a lot of the issues gardeners face, whether it be clean up after a big storm, a wet summer or an insect invasion – the major and minor disasters that strike in the garden.
“We’ll be looking at problems as they come up in the yard and what you can do about them,” he explained
For example, Andruczyk said, if suddenly your shade plants are in the sun because of a downed tree or branch, a quick fix would be to install a shade cloth. Long-term solutions range from moving the vulnerable plants, to installing quick-growing plants that will provide shade.
For a yard that is overgrown, Andruczyk will talk about when and how to prune back shrubbery. He will also discuss times when it might be necessary to bite the bullet and get rid of some plants.
Drainage issues are becoming more common as the climate warms, Andruczyk said. He will have suggestions for soil that is too wet. Solutions include everything from building a rain garden to vertical mulching. Vertical mulching is a technique where you auger holes up to 2-feet deep in the ground and fill with mulch to allow water to seep in.
If you suddenly, find a downed tree in your yard after a storm, be creative, Andruczyk said. Instead of chopping it up, you could leave it there to provide habitat for woodpeckers. Or, make it into a bench or even carve it into an eagle!
“It will be all about working with what you have,” he added, “making it work for you with as little work as possible.”
Mary Reid Barrow, barrow1@cox.net
Follow Mary Reid Barrow’s blog at www.hamptonroads.com/maryreidbarrow.
going?
What “Turn Over A New Leaf,” the Virginia Beach Master Gardener Fall Festival
Where Hampton Roads Agricultural Research and Extension Center, 1444 Diamond Springs Road, Virginia Beach
When 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 16
Cost Free
Info www.vbmg.org
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