Our Grow It Eat It garden plots demonstrate sustainable practices for growing your own food, featuring:

• Annual & perennial veggies & fruits

• Two types of drip irrigation

• 4-plot crop rotation

• Signs marking items of interest

The University of Maryland  Extension  initiated the Grow It-Eat It (GIEI) program in 2009. The purpose of the Grow It-Eat It program is to promote backyard and community food production. The Master Gardeners teach classes, develop demonstration gardens and educate Marylanders how to grow their own affordable food utilizing sustainable horticulture practices.

The Baltimore County Master Gardeners began developing the Demonstration  Garden in 2010  beginning  with the construction of a nine foot fence to keep the deer out. The GIEI vegetable garden was the first garden installed. It started small, with  4 plots and over the next several years developed into the 9 plots that it boasts today. The plots  are: small space/containers, University of Maryland Extension’s GIEI “Vegetable of the Year”, a 4-plot crop rotation of summer fruits, shoots (leaves), roots, and legumes, asparagus, perennial vegetables, and blueberries .  The  GIEI garden is actively maintained throughout the growing season which is primarily March/early April through October. Some plots contain over-wintering crops, such as garlic, that is planted after the official garden closing for harvesting the next year. Starting in late March or early April, the public is encouraged to attend, to observe and to be educated about sustainable food gardening.

GIEI encourages master gardeners to participate in the vegetable garden. Environmental methods are practiced and taught through Integrated Pest Management. It is  extremely rewarding to have the fruits of your labor given to charity.  All produce is donated through churches to people in need.  In 2024, over 400 pounds of fresh produce from the Grow It Eat It plots in the BCMG Demonstration Garden were donated.

Pictures from the Grow It Eat it Demonstration Plots in mid-summer

There is an abundance of beneficial information about sustainable fruit and vegetable gardening on the Maryland Extension website.  Learn how to start a vegetable garden,   how to improve the soil,  controlling garden pests without toxic chemicals, and growing vegetables in containers.

There are pages with information for growing specific vegetables and fruits.

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