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Plant Clinics Open2026 Plant clinics are now up and running. Drop into a library or farmers market with your plants & pest questions and receive expert advice. |
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Vegetable Sweets to the Sweet
Sweet potatoes are not just for Thanksgiving. You can enjoy these orange or purple colored root crops all year, providing salads, pies, and side dishes that are high in fiber and vitamins. Explore the varieties, growing methods, and problems you may encounter if trying them in your garden.
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Grow Your Own Mushrooms
Instead of foraging in the forest or in the grocery store for pizza toppings and ingredients for steak sauces, consider growing your own mushrooms. You can grow your own mushrooms outdoors or indoors, and can select from different varieties. They are relatively easy, take up little space, and require almost no care. Learn what you need to grow your own.
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Grass for Summer Heat
Zoysiagrass is a warm season grass that will thrive in our summer heat. It spreads and chokes out almost all other grasses and weeds, and requires very little care or water to retain its green summer appearance. Learn more about this turf and if it is right for your lawn.
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But It Looks Like a Caterpillar
The common rose slug makes its appearance at this time of year, devastating the leaves on your rose bushes just before the Japanese beetles arrive. Small holes or thin spots are its calling cards. But, these pests will be gone after a month. Learn how to control these late spring pests now.
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Grow Carrots Bugs Bunny Would Love
Carrots are very easy to grow, even in our heavy clay soils. You can grow them in containers, or grow a shorter variety that doesn’t require a soft loose soil. You can plant them now, and harvest them in late summer through Thanksgiving. Be aware though of a few pests that you only discover underground.
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A Striped Spring Menace
Be on the lookout for these spring insects. You might see their small red nymphs on a variety of plants at this time of year, but you will rarely see the adults that hide under leaves. You can recognize them by their damage of any small brown spots on foliage. Learn what these pests like and how to deal with them.
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News: More Invasive Species Protection
Virginia’s governor signed four new bills into law to combat invasive plant species across Virginia. The new laws place more invasive species on the list, as well and adding some restrictions to selling such plants in nurseries and retail stores. Planting invasive species will also be restricted on state lands and state road and construction projects.
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Virginia Cooperative Extension is a partnership of Virginia Tech, Virginia State University, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), and local governments. USDA and USDA-funded programs are prohibited from discriminating based on race, color, national origin, religion, sex, disability, age, marital status, family/parental status, income derived from a public assistance program, political beliefs, or retaliating for prior civil rights activity (not all bases apply to all programs). Remedies and complaint filing deadlines vary by program or incident. |