In this time of home isolation to curb the spread of COVID-19, the Piedmont Master Gardeners are encouraging local households to grow more of their own food. Call it a Virus Victory Garden, “Like the wartime Victory Gardens of the past, the home vegetable garden today provides benefits we all need right now, including nutrition, physical activity, food safety and the satisfaction of being more self-reliant,” said Pat Chadwick, a past president of the Piedmont Master Gardeners Association. “The growing season for most vegetable crops has arrived, so this is the ideal time to go outdoors and expand an existing edible garden or plant a new one.”
For help getting started, PMG recommends the downloadable publications on Virginia Cooperative Extension’s Home Vegetable Gardening web page. They cover a wide range of topics, such as how to plan and prepare a vegetable bed and how to preserve home-grown food. The site provides guides for growing specific vegetables, from asparagus to tomatoes, and it offers ways to grow food in small spaces, such as containers and raised beds. Advice on vegetable gardening is also available from our Horticultural Help Desk, staffed by Master Gardener volunteers. It can be reached at 434-872-4583 or albemarlevcehelpdesk@gmail.com
“Whether it’s on an apartment patio or in a large backyard, an edible garden can be fun and rewarding,” Chadwick said. “We hope home bound people in our community will take advantage of these resources and be inspired to grow a Victory Garden for our time.”
