Hello Fellow Gardeners,
Here are some tips for September as we prepare for the fall season.

• Labor Day weekend – the perfect time for seeding the lawn. Here are some links for preparing your lawn.
  • September is a good time to begin a lawn renovation project, if needed…
    September Lawn Tips | University of Maryland Extension
  • Video: Master Gardener Helen Yoest shares her 5 tips for gardening in Zone 7. (Troybilt)
    
• This is a good time to have vegetable garden and landscape soils tested.
  • See UMD’s Soil Testing site for details.
• Remove fallen, diseased leaves.
• Mulch or compost healthy leaves.
  • See HGIC’s soil and mulch compost tips for details.
• Apply fertilizer and lime to turfgrass based on soil tests and UME recommendations.
• Continue planting cool-season vegetables; plant garlic now through the end of October.
  • See HGIC’s September Vegetable tips.
• This is also a good time to prepare your flower gardens for the fall.
  • See HGIC’s September Ornamental Flower tips for details.
  • Ten Easy Native Plants for Shady Gardens (rainscapes.org)
  • The 10 best perennials you have never heard of
    • Adrian Higgins discusses perennials that deserve to be more widely

• HGIC tips on Indoor and Outdoor Pests and Insects tips for September
  • Video: How to keep ants and other pests out of your house
    University of Maryland Professor of Entomology Michael Raupp provides some tips on how to halt the line of ants marching into your kitchen and block other relentless pests from your home. (Today Show video) 
    

Upcoming Webinars and Educational opportunities:

• Urban IPM: FREE Webinar on Bees, Wasps & Hornets- September 4, 2015
  Free webinar on bees, wasps and hornets.  urban-ipm.blogspot.com
• Montgomery County taking the farm to school this year
  • The Mobile Ag Science Lab will be visiting each of the elementary schools in Montgomery County, MD, starting this school year. (Courtesy of Maryland Agricultural Education Foundation)
• Free self-paced course in basic botany from Oregon State University
  • Learn to identify a diverse range of whole plants, parts of plants, and non-plant relatives (such as fungus, lichen, algae, moss, fern, conifer and seed plants)
• Montgomery Parks Announces Fall Festival for 2015
  • SILVER SPRING, MD–Montgomery Parks, part of the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission, is gearing up for a fall full of fun festivals, of varying interests and for people of all ages. The annual Wings of Fancy Live Caterpillar and Butterfly Show is in full swing at Brookside Gardens and planning is already underway for the annual Harvest Festival at the Agricultural History Farm Park.