Hello Friends, Neighbors, Fellow Gardeners,

Happy Fall!  It’s getting close to the holidays and time to enjoy the fall season, colorful foliage, and fall harvest including apples, pumpkins, and more!  Here are some garden tips, educational opportunities, and events for October. Events include Fall/Winter Speaker Series: The Benefits of High-Performance Public Spaces, Harvest Festival,  Cider Days, Nature Matters: Activism on the Patuxent, Reopening & Dedication Celebration of the Mayor Jayne H. Plank Kensington Cabin, and more!

Planning:

• As beds empty, make changes to shape and size of beds.
• It is harvest time and also a good time to start taking stock of what worked well and what didn’t work well for you this season. Take garden photos and make notes in your garden journal.
• Take advantage of plant sales.
• Peruse fall bulb catalogs.
• Plan where to plant fall bulbs.
• Start collecting plant seeds for next year and for trading.
• Order garlic, onions, and shallots for fall planting.
• Start shopping for spring bulbs.
• Have a question about gardening? Check the University of Maryland Extension’s New Maryland Grows blog for garden tips.
• Support our local farmers! Visit a local farmers’ market near you. Download Montgomery County’s Office of Agriculture 2018 Farmers Market Flyer to find a farmer’s market near you.

Flowers and Groundcovers:

• Divide and move many perennials.
• From mid-October through November, plant hardy bulbs for spring flowering.
• Fertilize established bulb beds.
• Continue to deadhead.
• Cut foliage of irises to 2″.
• Leave seedheads on Black-eyed Susans, Echinacea, Goldenrod, Sunflowers, and Thistles for birds to enjoy over the winter.
• Remove spent annuals, replacing with fall annuals. Water deeply.
• Start seeds for fall annuals such as pansies, calendula, flowering cabbage, kale, and other fall annuals.
• As the days get cooler, plant hardy mums.
• After hard frost, sow seeds of spring-blooming hardy annuals and perennials and then mark beds!
• Pests to watch for: Aphids, spidermites, whiteflies, snails, slugs
• Diseases to watch for:  Powdery mildew, Fungal leaf spot
• See UMD’s HGIC’s October Flower Tips for more details.

Trees and Shrubs:

• Transplant trees when leaves begin to change color.
• Check often and water newly planted and transplanted trees if they don’t pass the “finger test” (stick your finger deep into the soil – dry? Water!)
• Continue to remove fallen, diseased leaves.
• Put diseased leaves, pesticide-laden grass clippings and weed seeds out for recycling rather than the compost pile.
• Mulch or compost healthy leaves.
• Contact a certified arborist to have your trees’ health inspected.
• Hold off planting new trees and shrubs until the summer heat has passed.
• Remove Ivy, Pachysandra, and other vine-like groundcover from under shrubs.
• Remove dead and dying trees.
• Pests to watch for:  Gypsy moths, azalea lacebug, adelgids, aphids, bagworms, borer, caterpillars, scale, sawfly, spidermites, leafminers, and Japanese beetles.
• Diseases to watch for:  Powdery mildew
• See HGIC’s October Trees and Shrubs Tips for more details.

• Apply fertilizer and lime to turfgrass based on soil tests and UME recommendations.
• Cool season lawns go dormant in hot, dry weather—Do Not Water.
• Turn your compost pile.
• Keep newly seeded lawns well watered!
• Apply grub control to your lawn.
• The annual soil science calendars from the Natural Resources Conservation Service are both educational and beautifully done. The one for 2018 as well as those for previous years are available as free PDFs here: https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/detail/soils/edu/?cid=nrcseprd1250008
• Diseases to watch for: brown patch, and red thread
• Pests to watch for: Grubs
• See HGIC’s October Lawn Tips for more details.

Indoors/Houseplants:

• All indoor plants should be indoors now.
• For readying Christmas cactus and poinsettia for holiday blooming, see these HG 30 Holiday Plant Care: Poinsettia tips and Holiday Plant Care Tips.
• Take cuttings of plants you want to overwinter inside and place in water.
• Prune potted bougainvillea or hanging baskets that will overwinter inside.
• Remove old leaves, damaged stems.
• Maintain moisture in pots wintering indoors, but do not over water!
• Keep all houseplants out of drafts and away from heat vents.
• Clean the leaves of your indoor houseplants to prevent dust and film to build-up.
• Remove old leaves, damaged stems.
• Fertilize houseplants now that they are actively growing again.
• Pests to watch for:  aphids, mealybug, spider mites, scale, and  whitefly
• See HGIC’s October Houseplants Tips for more tips.
  

Indoor/Outdoor Insect and Wildlife Tips:

• Check for mosquito breeding grounds. Dump out any water that sits stagnant for more than three days.
• Look for slug trails in the early morning and put out slug bait (beer traps or Sluggo pellets) as needed.
• Make hummingbird food by boiling two cups of sugar in four cups of water.
• Clean and refill bird feeders.
• Switch your deer deterrent spray.
• Wash and refill the bird bath or set out a shallow bowl of water in icy weather.
• Be vigilant for mosquito breeding spots — any standing water from a bottle cap to blocked gutters, and clean them out quickly.
• Add Mosquito Dunks to any standing water in your yard such as birdbaths, downspouts, plant saucers, and gutters.
• Check for vole problems and set up traps.
• See HGIC’s October Insect Tips for more details.
• Watch for: carpenter ants, flies, stink bugs, termites, rabbits, raccoons, groundhogs, deer, moles, snakes, squirrels, and voles.
• For more information on wildlife management and attracting wildlife see HGIC’s October Wildlife Tips.

Source: University of Maryland’s Home and Garden Information Center (HGIC) and the Washington Gardener.

See below for upcoming local events in August.

Montgomery Parks Special Events & Festivals

More events are being added regularly. Please check back often!

Save the dates for these upcoming events!   Events include Fall/Winter Speaker Series: The Benefits of High-Performance Public Spaces, Harvest Festival,  Cider Days, Nature Matters: Activism on the Patuxent, Reopening & Dedication Celebration of the Mayor Jayne H. Plank Kensington Cabin, and more!

Master Gardener Plant Clinics

Varied Locations, dates, and times

Montgomery County Master Gardeners - Maryland

What can Master Gardeners do for you?

• Help you select and care for annual and perennial plants, shrubs and trees.
• Determine if you need to test your soil.
• Provide you with information on lawn care.
• Identify weeds, beneficial and noxious insects, and plant diseases and remedies.
• Teach you how to use pesticides, mulch and compost.
• Guide you in pruning trees and shrubs.
• Provide you with options for managing wildlife.
• Provide you with gardening resources.
• Help you submit a plant sample for diagnosis

Plant Clinics are held at several sites in the county on a weekly basis and at special events such as garden festivals and the county fair. Regularly scheduled Plant Clinics are located at public libraries and farmers’ markets throughout the county as well as at the Audubon Naturalist Society in Chevy Chase.  There are also clinics three days per week at Brookside Gardens.  The busiest season is April through September, but some clinics are open year-round.  Bring your plant samples and questions to one of these locations in Montgomery County, MD (see link below to find a location near you):

http://extension.umd.edu/mg/locations/plant-clinics

November