Agriculture & Natural Resources

Welcome

Berkeley County is home to many small farms producing diverse commodities from fruit to honey, grain to meat, and dairy to poultry. Diverse farming operations offer diverse habitats of fields and hedgerows, orchards and woodlands for area wildlife to live, forage and rear young. Whether you are a back yard gardener, an orchardist, or a farmer, our focus is to be your local connection to up-to-date agricultural information. Scroll to bottom of page for links to external agriculture organizations and agencies in the local area.

Your Berkeley County WVU Extension Agriculture Agent is Mary Beth Bennett. Follow the links below to find the information you seek, call our office 304-264-1936, or send email to Mary Beth.

Lawn, Gardening & Pests

This Month in the Garden Calendar

Importance of Color in the Garden

An exciting benefit of gardening is the vast palate of colors that can be observed with garden plants. Vegetables, flowers, herbs and fruits contain natural pigments that can be visually seen as red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, white, black and brown.

The colors we find among our garden plants are the result of complicated genetic traits that are expressed over the course of the growing season. Color can even be an indicator of plant nutrition and overall plant health. Sometimes, poor color expression, like yellow or dull leaves, can be a signal for plant disease or nutrient stress. Colorful plants also attract pollinators and other beneficial insects to the garden.

More from the Garden Calendar

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In accordance with Federal law and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) civil rights regulations and policies, this institution is prohibited from discriminating on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, age, disability, and reprisal or retaliation for prior civil rights activity. (Not all prohibited bases apply to all programs).
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