REGISTRATION REQUIRED: This event is for new Virginia oyster gardeners only.
Registration closes July 16, 2026

Did you know that oysters are the Chesapeake Bay's best natural filters? They also provide essential habitat for fish and other Bay creatures. Unfortunately, today's oyster population is a small fraction of what it used to be. The Chesapeake Bay Foundation's Oyster Gardening Program gives community members an opportunity to help bring back this vital species by growing oysters alongside their docks. Once grown, the adult oysters are returned to the Chesapeake Bay Foundation for planting on sanctuary reefs.

Attend a seminar and learn everything you need to know to become a successful oyster gardener. The seminar presentation will last approximately an hour, followed by distribution of supplies and oysters.

By becoming an oyster gardener, you will be a "foster parent" to hundreds of baby oysters for a year. You will be responsible for two cages of spat-on-shell (baby oysters) that will need to be suspended from a dock. Everything that oysters need to survive is available to them in your water system, but it is important that there is good water flow through the openings in the cages. This means that maintaining and cleaning these cages over the course of the year is extremely important to your oysters' well-being! We recommend cleaning at least twice a month in the summer and once a month in the winter. We can't promise that every cleaning session will be easy, but we can promise it will be fun!

Think you're ready to become an oyster gardener? Please do the following:

• Register as a New Private Gardener:
  • Choose this ticket if you will be growing oysters from a privately owned dock. This includes your primary or secondary residence or if you are growing at the property of a friend or family member.
    • Included in a New Private Gardener registration: spat-on-shell oysters, two cages, line, reusable zipties, and one seat in the seminar.
• Register as a New Public Gardener:
  • Choose this ticket if you do not have waterfront access to suspend a cage and need CBF to locate a convenient, public location for you. CBF has partnerships with marinas, public parks, etc. that allow us to provide waterfront access to our public oyster gardeners.
    • Included in a New Public Gardener registration: spat-on-shell oysters, two cages, line, reusable zipties, one seat in the seminar, access to a public growing location.
    • Important Note - New Public Gardeners will not leave with oysters on the day of the event. CBF staff will have a tentative public location chosen for you and will set all new public gardeners up at a later date. If this is a concern, please register for our complimentary Listen and Learn option instead.
• Register for Listen and Learn:
  • Choose this ticket if you are not yet ready to commit to purchasing oysters to grow this season but want to learn more about oyster gardening.
    • Included in Listen and Learn registration: one seat in the seminar.

Some of our event spaces have limited capacity; if you are bringing anyone with you to the seminar, please register them under Guest.

During registration, New Private Gardeners will be required to enter the latitude and longitude of their oyster gardening location. Follow these simple instructions to find that information on Google Maps:

On a web browser:

• Open Google Maps (maps.google.com).
• Enter the address of your oyster gardening location in the search field.
• Right-click on the red location pin. This will open a pop-up window. You will find your latitude and longitude in decimal format at the top. For example, 39.04660, -76.47935. The first number is your latitude. The second number is your longitude.

During registration, there will be one field for latitude and one field for longitude.

On the Google Maps mobile app:

• Enter the address of your oyster gardening location in the search field.
• When the location comes up, press your finger on the location. The latitude and longitude will show up in the location details.
• You may need to scroll down on the info to see them.

We’re committed to making our events accessible to everyone. If you need any accommodations to participate, please reach out to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . We will do our best to meet your needs.

Your registration includes periodic email updates from CBF. You may unsubscribe at any time by clicking "Unsubscribe" at the bottom of any email you receive from us.