Episode 1 - Urban tree care 

Date and time: Tuesday, May 25, 2021, 6-7pm 

Instructor: Richard Jones, Board Certified Master Arborist 

Description: Trees in the urban environment have different needs than stands of trees in wooded areas or forests. These individuals have to combat soil compaction, erosion, construction, and many other challenges. In return, they provide wildlife habitat in the city, mitigate heat islands, improve air quality, and many other benefits. Learn what you can do to help urban trees live their best lives.  

Watch recording here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yf09tN9sC68

Episode 2 - Return of periodical cicadas: Fear, fascination, and fun in 2021 

Date and time: Tuesday, June 8, 2021, 6 –7pm  

Instructor: Michael J Raupp, AKA "The Bug Guy" 

Description: Known for their 13 and 17-year life cycles and massive synchronous emergences periodical cicadas are unique in the insect world. We will explore the natural history, ecology, and behavior of the seven species of periodical cicadas indigenous to North America. Predator satiation, the periodical cicada’s bizarre strategy for survival, will be contrasted with defenses of their kin the dog-day cicadas. Learn when cicadas will appear and how they will impact humans, pets, wildlife, and plants in our region. 

Watch recording here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJQOhRdTyGs&t=113s

Episode 3 - Container Gardening 101 

Date and time: Tuesday, June 22, 2021, 6-7pm 

Instructor: Rachael Smith, Cultivate the City 

Description: The popularity of container gardening is growing by leaps and bounds. From front porches to kitchen windowsills, you see them everywhere. And the beautiful thing about them, other than the plants themselves? Container gardens are simple to create and easy to maintain; apply a few basic principles and even first-time gardeners can bloom. If you love plants but have limited space and time, this is the class for you. 

Bio: Rachael is a garden manager and the CSA (community supported agriculture) organizer at Cultivate the City. She makes sure that we grow delicious, high quality produce on our rooftop and in our community gardens to be brought to your table every week. She has experience working at a goat dairy farm, an organic blueberry farm, as well as at an indoor vertical farm. 

Watch recording here: this recording is not available to the public and saved in a private link. Please email MG coordinator if you'd like to watch it. 

Episode 4 - From concrete jungle to urban oasis: how to build an ecosystem in the DMV  

Date and time: Tuesday, July 6, 2021, 6-7pm  

Instructor: Christian Melendez, Mary’s Land Farm 

Description: If you want to cultivate your landscape to be more in sync with the larger ecology of the DMV, this class is for you. Covering topics from native plants, soil, pollinators, water and more, you will learn how to create an urban oasis in the concrete jungle.  

Bio: For the past 14 years, Christian has worked and managed several urban and rural farms in the DMV. He has installed and coached homeowners on their residential garden projects and has taught farming to youth and adults. Previously fat Eco City Farms, Christian currently co-manages Mary's Land Farm in Clarksville, MD, a 165-acre farm with animals, orchards, vegetables, a nursery (that includes native plants), and farm events all year round.  

Watch recording here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udgPceN7IhI

Episode 5 – Garden Planning & Seasonality 101

Date and time: Tuesday, July 20, 2021, 6-7 pm

Instructor: Samaria King, Dreaming Out Loud

Description: Learn tips and tricks for planning a successful garden. The winter is a wonderful time to reflect and plan your garden for the next year. In this class, we will discuss crop planning and seasonality, two tools you can use to ensure that you get your plants in the ground at the right time to experience optimal harvest.

Watch recording here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKkxECDnVDs

Episode 6 – Composting for Soil Health: A Review of What, Why & How

Date and Time: Tuesday, August 3rd, 2021, 6-7 pm

Instructor: Brenda Platt, Institute for Local Self Resilience

Description: In this workshop, master composter Brenda Platt will cover the benefits of composting, the basics of hot and worm composting (two very different methods!), home composting systems, troubleshooting, and how to use compost.

Watch recording here: this recording is is only available for MGs who registered for the class. Please contact Patricia for the link.  

Episode 7 - Tree communication

Date and time: Tuesday, August 17, 2021, 6 -7 pm

Instructor: Richard Jones, Board Certified Master Arborist

Description: Trees not only can communicate with one another; they use fungi to do so. Ecologist Suzanne Simard discovered this revolutionary process twenty years ago when conventional wisdom saw trees as individual competitors. Research into the how's and why's continues today and reveals a much more complex and fascinating interwoven world.

Watch the recording here: https://youtu.be/fxECCCLKLxY

Episode 8 - Prune with a Purpose: An Interactive Discussion

Date and time: Tuesday, August 31st from 6 - 7 pm

Instructor: Jake Hendee

Description: Based upon the Smithsonian Let’s Talk Gardens series episode Prune with a Purpose: A Gardener’s Guide to Thinking Like an Arborist, this talk will be a virtual, yet hands-on, session about trees (and shrub) pruning. The first half of this talk will review an arborist’s perspective about the most important points of taking your pruning to the next level.

The second half will be an interactive discussion of several case studies in pruning, including case studies from participants. Bring a photo or two of your biggest pruning conundrums to screen-share with the group!

Watch the recording here: https://youtu.be/Cb2WdL_hjj4

Episode 9 – Grow Healthy, Easy-Care Roses 

Date and time: Tuesday, September 14, 2021, 6-7pm 

Instructor: Carol Edwards, DC MG 

Description: Carol Edwards will describe some favorite easy-care roses that she grows without using synthetic chemicals.  She will share tips for keeping them healthy without the fuss and bother that so many gardeners assume roses require. 

Bio: Carol Edwards has been growing roses for over thirty years.  Like many gardeners, she fell in love with David Austin’s “English roses” in the 1980s and her passion for all roses grew over time.  Since moving to Washington, DC, Carol has served in many roles for the Capitol Hill Garden Club, including program chair, vice president, and president.   In 2009 she became a District of Columbia Master Gardener and has since participated in many garden improvement projects in the city’s public spaces. Carol is a regular volunteer at the U.S. National Arboretum and Hillwood Estate and Gardens.  Active in the rose community, she currently serves as First Vice President of the Potomac Rose Society.  Until they were discontinued in 2020, Carol was a judge for the Biltmore International Rose Trials, which annually gave recognition and awards to newly developed disease-resistant roses. 

Watch the recording here: https://youtu.be/Dtst60pE6Yc

Episode 10 – The Work is in Our Hands 

Date and time: Tuesday, September 28, 2021, 6-7pm 

Instructor: Abra Lee 

Title: The Work is in Our Hands 

Description: Through determination, enthusiasm, and willpower Black women overcame ugliness in America to cultivate beauty in the landscape. This is an exciting discussion of their historical legacy, self-expression, and activism in garden clubs. 

Bio: Abra Lee is a national speaker, writer, and founder of Conquer the Soil a community dedicated to celebrating the history, art, and culture of horticulture! She has spent a whole lotta time in the dirt as a municipal arborist, extension agent, airport landscape manager, and more. Lee is a graduate of Auburn University College of Agriculture and an alumna of the Longwood Gardens Society of Fellows, a global network of public horticulture professionals.

Watch the recording here: https://youtu.be/5ejAOazTu6s

Episode 11 – Rain Gardens: Cleaning our rivers by capturing stormwater 

Date and time: Tuesday, October 12, 2021, 6-7pm 

Instructor: Arielle Conti 

Description: We're going to do a deep dive into rain gardens! Why they're important in our urban context, where to place one on the property, tools for sizing a rain garden, choosing plant material, amending your soil and installing the garden.  We will also discuss local rebate and incentive programs for rain garden (and other green infrastructure) installations. 

Bio: Arielle Conti is an Environmental Protection Specialist at the DC Department of Energy and Environment. She leads the RiverSmart Homes program, which provides incentives to homeowners to install stormwater management practices that reduce non-point source pollution in the District. Arielle is an ISA Certified Arborist and a Chesapeake Landscape Professional. 

Watch the recording here: https://youtu.be/kcFAG9C6-oM

Episode 12 – Demo on building a raised bed

This short demo series is divided into 6 parts and cover the process from start to finish, from how to cut the wood to assembling the pieces and building the bed. They are  extracted from a course developed by Brian Barnes at UDC called Urban Agriculture Technician Certificate (UATC).

• • Part 1: Cutting boards with a miter saw

  • Part 2: Cutting boards with a circular saw

  • Part 3: Building the bed (1)

  • Part 4: Building the bed (2)

  • Part 5: Building the bed (3)

  • Part 6: Building the bed (4)

Video series on  DC Master Gardener YouTube channel with 32 demo videos by instructor Brian Barnes. 

Includes videos on bed preparation, building raised beds, transplanting, irrigation, watering, direct seeding, healthy root balls, thinning and more. 

Check out the complete playlist below:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJgMz31RTK2NKSWdZlMmwUjjY1DedBmC3

The DPR Urban Grower Webinar Series is available HERE. This is a FREE online course focused on teaching people all the basics of gardening from building a home garden to cooking and preserving your harvest. 

Please contact Joshua.singer@dc.gov with any questions. 

Join Smithsonian Gardens’ horticulturists and friends for a series of free lunchtime webinars on gardening basics on Thursdays 12 to 1 p.m.

https://gardens.si.edu/events/lets-talk-gardens/

You may also watch their past webinars here:

https://gardens.si.edu/learn/on-line-learning/ 

Cecil County Master Gardeners

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aET5hfq6yMA&feature=youtu.be

From University of Maryland Extension:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3kxZkyefCQ&list=PL8OwpJmur8ruk_SueQze3VPnTXxLS9FJ-&index=5

From University of Maryland Extension:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji95CxDroQA&feature=youtu.be

The University of Rhode Island Cooperative Extension created this great webinar in Spanish: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e88ITheE3ic&list=PLXL0ba4UPZKI7KCME8MJBOaTDdpNk-mlT&index=26&t=6s

https://www.foresthillsconnection.com/home-front/this-fall-leave-the-leaves-on-the-lawn-and-flower-beds-its-better-for-wildlife-and-our-wallets/

University of Minnesota Extension

https://blog-yard-garden-news.extension.umn.edu/2020/06/new-gardening-video-series-in-spanish.html

Charles County Master Gardeners

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vN3_xQNcPRU&list=PL8OwpJmur8ruk_SueQze3VPnTXxLS9FJ-&index=4

From University of Maryland Extension:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xoh7iuwq5kQ&list=PL8OwpJmur8ruk_SueQze3VPnTXxLS9FJ-&index=1

From University of Maryland Extension:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvH7E7A48mA&list=PL8OwpJmur8ruk_SueQze3VPnTXxLS9FJ-&index=2

From University of Maryland Extension:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0SydbXO_hw&feature=youtu.be

From University of Maryland Extension:

https://lts.umd.edu/Projects/Garden/EffectivePresentationsPart1/story_html5.html

From University of Maryland Extension:

https://lts.umd.edu/Projects/Garden/DeliveringContentEffectively/story_html5.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfLO1DKnwvk&feature=youtu.be

From University of Maryland Extension:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=squ2lLK9lfU&feature=youtu.be

Ohio State University, College of Food, Agriculture and Environmental Science

This 6-session webinar series focused on the ecological roles of native plants and some of the creatures that depend on them. Includes a presentation by Doug Tallamy. 

https://u.osu.edu/6plus/ 

From University of Maryland Extension:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zixi3Nyqrco&feature=youtu.be

Charles County Master Gardeners

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bEhCh37C8o&list=PL8OwpJmur8ruk_SueQze3VPnTXxLS9FJ-&index=3