In 2025, our goal is to develop community programs that focus on the following:

1. Preserving and promoting farm and forest lands: Provide workshops on conservation programs.
2. Protecting Natural resources: Create educational information and workshops that support conservation and provide general gardening, turf, and landscaping education.
3. Strengthening the local food system: Incorporate the Buy Local campaign into community programs and highlight the importance and impact of local foods.
4. Helping Youth develop leadership, citizenship, and other life skills to address community-identified issues: We will support this goal through participation in Ag Day, MWEE, Bug Bizarre, encourage community service, recycling, carpooling, and no littering campaigns

We love helping you grow and serving our community.  Here are just a few of the ways we did that in 2024 in Hanover county.

• Hosted our free Home Gardening Series at the Atlee Library in Mechanicsville and at the Horticultural Learning Center.  The series consisted of several presentations and hands-on demos on topics such as lawn and tree care, Virginia snakes, creating a trap garden, growing mushrooms and sweet potatoes, and more topics to help Hanover gardeners be more successful growing food, building healthy soil and being a better steward of the land.
• We had an amazing gleaning program in 2024 thanks to collaborations with local farmers. Master Gardener Gleaners picked 6,650 lbs of raspberries, blackberries, tomatoes, and watermelons. They logged 312.39 hours, for an average of 15.62 per volunteer. Other totals: 14 gleanings, six food pantries served, and 41 pantry deliveries. This season’s efforts bring HMG’s total produce poundage to 37,903 lbs for four seasons.  WOW!
• The Horticultural Learning Center hosted 21 teaching events, including working with Parks and Recreation, YMCA, 4H, Boy Scouts, Reynolds Community College, Virginia State, Rappahannock Electric Coop, Ashcake Women’s Club, and Hanover County. We also held an Arbor Day Celebration in coordination with Hanover County and Tree Stewards and a Day of Service to remove 3 dump truck loads of invasives near the Cannery.
• Master Gardeners were invited to speak to various groups and organizations in the area on a variety of topics.
• We established a Native Tree Walk at the Horticultural Learning Center with QR codes to learn about various native tree species and how to add them to your landscape.  The Tree Stewards also collaborated with Covenant Woods Continuing Care Community for their native tree walk and Hanover/Caroline County Soil and Water Conservation Commission and the VDOF at the Mechanicsville Elementary School related to tree safety issues.
• During the height of the growing season, Hanover Master Gardeners went out into the community and set up tables to demonstrate how to use a Cold Frame to extend their growing season and grow food during the winter months and create a Square Foot garden for home gardening in a small space.  We also answered countless gardening questions from Hanover home growers. 
• Our seed bank focused on repackaging hundreds of donated seeds for distribution to the public at master gardener events. Seeds were also used to start plants for local food banks.
• We welcomed 17 new Master Gardener Trainees into the program.

These are only the highlights of how we helped Hanover growers learn and succeed in 2024.  We are so excited to share our knowledge and have fun helping you grow better in 2025.  We hope to see you at our programs.