Lawn, Gardening & Pests
A yard that feels and looks like home. A bountiful harvest. Grow your own and sow something beautiful.
Get the 2024 Garden Calendar
The WVU Extension Garden Calendar is produced and distributed each year as a service to West Virginia’s many home gardeners and agricultural producers.
Fresh from the Garden CalendarDownload the Garden Calendar
Lawn, Gardening & Pests Learning Activities
Germinate SeedsMaster Gardener Program
The WVEMGA helps West Virginians understand horticultural and environmental issues through community engagement in gardening and beautification projects at schools, parks, public institutions, and locations throughout the state.
How to Join WVEGMAUpcoming Lawn, Gardening & Pests Events
Recent News
The Classic West Virginia '63 Tomato
The West Virginia ‘63 tomato has been called “the people’s tomato.” Released in 1963 on West Virginia’s 100th birthday, the West Virginia ‘63 was developed by Mannon Gallegly, WVU plant pathology professor. Gallegly was hired by WVU in 1949 and was directed to research vegetable diseases. At the time, late blight was a huge concern for West Virginia farmers and gardeners.
Read The Classic West Virginia '63 Tomato
Plant Appalachian Garden Staple Hickory King Corn
If you are thinking of raising corn for homemade cornmeal, grits, flour, roasting or hominy, look no further than Hickory King, a variety that has been a staple for more than 100 years in gardens throughout Appalachia.
Hickory King, sometimes called Hickory Cane, is a popular white dent corn that was introduced close to 150 years ago by A.O. Lee of Hickory, Virginia.
Read Plant Appalachian Garden Staple Hickory King Corn
Reviving the Heirloom Rutabaga
Highland grassy sites in the Appalachian Mountains of West Virginia were popular sites for potato and rutabaga farming in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Rutabagas (Brassica napus) are a cool season root crop in the Brassica family and, in many ways, are a larger version of a turnip.
Rutabaga comes from rotabagge, the plant’s Swedish name which means “baggy root.” This cross between a cabbage and a turnip is sometimes called a Swedish turnip or swede. In West Virginia, it also has been referred to as a Hanover.
Read Reviving the Heirloom Rutabaga
Forage for Wild Creasy Greens
Creasy greens are cold-hardy edible plants that grow wild throughout Appalachia. The traditional telltale sign of spring in the Appalachian Mountains is when greasy greens start emerging from the soil.
For many decades, creasy greens have been hunted by foragers and grown by homesteaders, due to their ability to grow in nearly any type of soil and with limited maintenance.
Read Forage for Wild Creasy Greens
Growing Traditional Winter Potato Onions
Onions are a staple crop in central Appalachia. Before the popular green bunching scallions and bulb onion, multiplier onions were widely grown in gardens throughout West Virginia.
Multiplier onions are often called potato onions or shallots. Unlike traditional onions, multiplier onions produce clusters around a central bulb. As a result, the yield from multiplier onions is much greater than traditional bulb onions.