Not sure where to begin with your lawncare routine? Melanie Barrow with the Virginia Tech Cooperative Extension is here to show you what you need to do (and when) to keep your lawn and garden looking fabulous!

Register HERE or by calling 276-403-5671

Melanie W. Barrow

Henry County/City of Martinsville Virginia Cooperative Extension

Agriculture and Natural Resources, Extension Agent – Horticulture

Melanie is a native of Henry County, hailing and currently residing in Horsepasture, with her husband and two children. Although she did not grow up on a farm, her love for agriculture began early while spending time with her grandfather in the tobacco, sweet potato, and hay fields; tending cattle; and raising and showing sheep and steers surrounding her home on family land.

Melanie’s passion for agriculture and horticulture was cultivated when she first took an agriculture exploratory class in the sixth grade from Champ Hardie; and further progressed through high school, where she attended Laurel Park, under the guidance of Darryl Holland and Debbie Barker, which set her on the path to her career.

She received her B.S. with a major in Horticulture and a M.S. in Education with a major in Career and Technical Education, both from VA Tech. She briefly taught middle school agriculture in Montgomery County, VA before taking the job as the Horticulture Extension agent with Virginia Cooperative Extension here in Henry County in January of 2001.

Virginia Cooperative Extension is an educational outreach program of Virginia’s land-grant universities: Virginia Tech and Virginia State University, and a part of the National Institute for Food and Agriculture, an agency of the United States Department of Agriculture. We are a product of cooperation among local, state, and federal governments in partnership with tens of thousands of citizens, who, through local Extension Leadership Councils, help design, implement, and evaluate our needs-driven programs.

We are a dynamic organization that stimulates positive personal and societal change, leading to more productive lives, families, farms, and forests as well as a better environment. To better utilize our resources, we form collaborations with hundreds of public and private partners and volunteers, who help us reach larger and more diverse audiences and leverage the impact of our work.

Understanding that knowledge is power, we place that power in the hands of Virginians and help them learn how to use it to improve the quality of their lives. Our Extension agents and specialists form a network of educators whose classrooms are the communities, homes, and businesses of Virginia, where they bring research-based solutions to the problems facing Virginians today.