Open House – Master Gardener Teaching and Demonstration Garden
Springtime is here! Bring your family and enjoy a Saturday full of gardening activities and knowledge.
Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service, El Paso County Master Gardeners, and the County of El Paso Parks and Recreation Department invite you to visit our Teaching and Demonstration Garden located at the entrance of Ascarate Park on Saturday, March 25th, 2023.
This will be a perfect opportunity for you to learn about gardening in the El Paso region.
There will also be an Information Table located at the event where you can bring your gardening questions and a certified Master Gardener will provide your with science-based information regarding that topic.
Newcomer’s Gardening Snapshot for El Paso County
Many new residents arrive in El Paso each year from climates and growing conditions much different than the Chihuahuan desert. This Newcomer’s Gardening Snapshot highlights some main features of El Paso’s climate and provides links to helpful, informative websites. It also provides links to local gardens exhibiting native and adapted plants for local landscapes. We hope this information assists new gardeners in getting off to a fast start in their new Texas home.
Save the Date! 
We’re planning some new learning opportunities for gardeners in our region. You can also learn from our YouTube video classes. Visit us at our Information Tables to get handouts and ask questions about landscaping or gardening. Here are some upcoming event dates so you can mark your calendar. Please check our Events page for more information.
March 25 – Open House – Master Gardener Teaching and Demonstration Garden
April 1 – Master Gardeners’ Information Table at Eastside Discount Nursery
April 1 – Master Gardeners’ Information Table at Earth Day Celebration
April 1 – FloraFest Native Plant Sale at UTEP
April 16 – Open House – El Paso Municipal Rose Garden
Read AgriLife TODAY for Texas Gardening News
Golden Columbine (Photo by CAJC: in the PNW, CC BY-SA 2.0)
Texas A&M AgriLife has a news blog page with several topics like Lawn & Garden, Environment, Life & Health, and Science & Tech called AgriLife TODAY. As gardeners, we’re especially interested the Lawn & Garden category and we want to share these articles with you.
March Gardening Guide: Prepare beds, prune and plant (Click here for our local March Gardening Tips)
Want to Start a Vegetable Garden?
Celebrity Tomato Latest Texas Superstar (2021)
How to Get a Beautiful Lawn
Don’t Let the Last Weed Standing Reproduce
Early Spring Lawn To-Do List A Little Different This Year
Looking for a Texas-Tough Petunia? Tidal Wave Series Has You Covered
Get the Most Bang for Your Buck When Choosing Fresh Flowers
The Positive Effects of Gardening on Mental Health
Plant and Gardening Questions
Do you have gardening or landscape questions and don’t know who to ask? The El Paso Master Gardener live online Chat Desk, part of our Help Desk is available to you. The Chat windows are opened by clicking on the blue Chat button on our web pages. When the Chat Desk Master Gardener volunteers are offline, the Chat buttons can still be used to leave questions and photographs. You’ll be asked for your email address, and we’ll reply by email as soon as possible.
Other ways to leave questions for our Help Desk volunteers are through the Ask the Help Desk contact form on our Ask Us page and through the Ask the Help Desk contact form on our Help Desk page. You will receive an answer from a Master Gardener volunteer by phone or email.
El Paso Master Gardeners provide a free service for the public by answering your gardening questions. We follow Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service guidelines and do not endorse or recommend specific products or places of business.
By the Season – Gardening in El Paso
March Monthly Tips
Getting Your Vegetable Beds Ready for Spring
Texas Home Vegetable Gardening Guide
Vegetable Planting Calendar for El Paso County
Vegetable Varieties for El Paso County
Vegetables – Easy Gardening Series (scroll down for Spanish)
Flowering Bulbs
Bulbs, Corms, Rhizomes, Tubers
Summer and Fall Flowering Bulbs for the Landscape
Constructing Your Flower Bed
Wildflowers in Bloom – Growing Info
Easy Steps for Drip Irrigation
Ornamental Plants for Far West Texas (including trees)
El Paso Desert Blooms Water Smart Landscaping Guide
Gardening with Perennials (including dividing; sections in Spanish)
Growing Roses (includes plant types and winter pruning)
Pruning Shrubs in the Low and Mid-Elevation Deserts in Arizona
Low Desert Pruning Guide for Commonly Used Shrubs (includes Tips and Schedule)
What Tree is for Me?
Help Your Tree Survive in El Paso (PDF)
Regional Recommended Tree List (TPG List)
Trees for High Desert Communities
Fruit Trees for El Paso
Texas Tree Planning, Planting, Pruning, and Care Guide (text and video; Spanish version at page bottom of selected pages)
Lawn Water Management
Efficient Use of Water in the Garden and Landscape
Watering Trees and Shrubs: Simple Techniques for Efficient Landscape Watering
Watering Tips for Lawns, Vegetable Gardens and Trees – Gardening in El Paso
Videos:
Soil Testing by Skip Richter, Horticulturist—Agrilife.org
Why Test the Soil? by Ignacio Munoz, El Paso Master Gardener
Grow Your Own Transplants by Skip Richter, Horticulturist—Agrilife.org
How to Start Spring Plants by Seeds and Transplants by Southwest Yard & Garden (nmsuaces)
Find other helpful articles at Gardening in El Paso – Articles and Gardening Topics – Links. Find more videos at Videos and More.
Improve Your Skills with Our
Informative El Paso Gardening Handbook
El Paso County Master Gardeners created a one-of-a-kind illustrated gardening handbook for our area. The El Paso Gardening Handbook addresses El Paso specific gardening concerns and best practices.
Good to Grow Radio Shows
(Current and Archived)
Spring and Summertime Gardening Chores
Spring Gardening
Spring Gardening Ideas
Garden Design Tips
Garden Design Trends
Seed Planting
Spring Vegetables
Vegetable Container Gardening
Container Gardening, Pt. 1
Container Gardening, Pt. 2
All About Tomatoes
Composting
Native Plants
Irrigation, Part 1 of 2
Irrigation, Part 2 of 2
Watering Your Landscape
Tree Selection and Planting
Trees-What to Know Before You Buy
Tree Pruning
Proper Pruning Tips
Listen live on Saturdays at 11:15 a.m. on 88.5 FM or stream from the archives at KTEP Good to Grow.
Read more about our Good to Grow Radio Show, here.
Thank You for Your Support at AmazonSmile
The AmazonSmile program with which you chose to support the El Paso County Master Gardener Association (EPCMGA) has ended. We thank you for supporting EPCMGA through your purchases which contributed to our activities. With your support we were able to do more at our teaching gardens and for the community.
Texans Ask About Gardening–Vegetables, Herbs and More
Photo credit: Vegetables Grown at Ascarate Demonstration & Teaching Garden (El Paso Master Gardeners Facebook)
From Asparagus to Swiss Chard plus “Non-Crop” plants and Herbs, you’ll find many of your questions answered in Everything Texans Ask About Gardening, an informative 67-page publication by Joseph Masabni and Patrick Lillard. Organized largely by vegetable name, the questions and answers cover general issues, diseases, and insects. Since this is a digital document produced by Texas A&M AgriLife, you can easily search for a topic or keyword by using the “Find” command if on a PC. Otherwise, here are some page numbers by section:
Vegetable Q&A – pages 1-54
Minor Crops – pages 54-61
Herbs – pages 61-63
Non-Crop Q&A – pages 64-67
Who We Are
The El Paso County Master Gardeners Association, as a member of the Texas Master Gardeners Association, is a non-profit educational and charitable organization supporting the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service in providing quality, relevant outreach and continuing education programs and services to the people of El Paso County. Our local volunteers receive extensive training and experience in a wide range of subjects before certification as Texas Master Gardeners.
In collaboration with the County A&M AgriLife Horticultural Agent, Eduardo Rascon, we educate the community through various events, workshops, and demonstration gardens. Our Master Gardeners volunteer through our Outreach programs and community Projects to provide information and recommendations on horticultural topics to all residents of El Paso County.
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