Hello Friends, Neighbors, Fellow Gardeners,

Happy February! Phil predicts early spring is coming! Time to start planning for spring! Here are some garden tips, educational opportunities, and events for February.   Events include Maple Sugaring Days, Black History Month Events,  Owls and Hawks at Oaks Landfill, Forest to Fitness, Spring Conference, Parks Speaker Series: Championing Inclusion in the Outdoors, our MCT Garden Club Meeting Program on Regenerative Small-Scale Vegetable Production, and more!

Planning:

• Select and order fruit plants.
• Decide on new tree/shrub locations.
• Start reading those plant catalogs!
• Start collecting plant seeds.
• Decide where your plants from seed are going in your garden.
• Collect supplies for starting seeds.
• Clean and sharpen your garden tools.
• Clean and tidy up pots and seed trays to get a good start in February.
• Paint a few terra cotta pots in spring-like colors.
• Repair your shed and repair/paint your fences.
• Clean out your greenhouse and wash those windows.
• Volunteer at a local public or historic garden.
  
• Have a question about gardening? Check the University of Maryland Extension’s New Maryland Grows blog for garden tips.
• Support our local parks and gardens. Visit a garden or park for their winter festivities!
• 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:

• Deadhead pansies.
• Pull out ornamental cabbages and Kale.
• Lightly fertilize bulbs when green starts to show.
• Transplant seedlings into individual 3″-4″ pots when crowded. Fertilize transplants with 1/2 strength houseplant fertilizer (every 2 weeks).
• Start seeds for: Portulaca, Ageratum, Aster, Cleome, Dwarf Marigolds, Salvia, Tall Snapdragons, Verbena, and check daily for moisture.
• Clean out your cold frame or build a new one.
• Collect large plastic soda bottles to use as cloches (A cloche is a clear, bell-shaped cover used to protect tender plants from frost.)
• Check any tropical or summer-blooming bulbs, corms, tubers, and bare root plants in storage for rot or dessication.
• After hard frost, sow seeds of spring-blooming hardy annuals and perennials and then mark beds!
• Pests to watch for: Deer
• Diseases to watch for:  Damping off of seedlings
• See UMD’s HGIC’s February Flower Tips for more details.

Trees and Shrubs:

• Prune damaged branches.
• Spray with dormant oil to decrease pest infestations.
• Prune dead, weak, broken, rubbing limbs of trees — or to open them up to light and air.
• Begin pruning of summer flowering shrubs.
• Check that newly-planted trees, shrubs, and perennials have not been heaved out of the ground due to freezing and thawing cycles.
• If we have snow, gently dislodge snow from trees and shrubs with a broom to prevent damage to branches.
• Prune maples, dogwoods, birch, elm, walnut, and yellowwood to prevent “bleeding”.
• Water slowly and deeply if weather is very dry and ground is not frozen.
• Prune out Fireblight damage Malus and Pyrus when very cold.
• 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.
• 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:  Fireblight
• For more tips, see HGIC’s February Trees and Shrubs Tips for more details.

• Reseed bare spots or overseed (through early April).
• Avoid walking on frozen grass to avoid damaging crowns.
• Do not step on frozen soil in flower beds and lawns.
• Use de-icer sparingly or a nonchemical substitute such as sand, grit, fireplace ashes, or non-clumping kitty litter.
• Turn your compost pile.
• Rake leaves, shred, and gather in compost piles.
• 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 February Lawn Tips for more details.

Indoors/Houseplants:

• Begin to pot up rooted cuttings. Fertilize with 1/2 strength houseplant fertilizer every other watering.
• Keep all houseplants out of drafts and away from heat vents.
• Pinch out growing tips of leggy cuttings and plants that are overwintering.
• Clean the leaves of your indoor houseplants to prevent dust and film build-up.
• Do not place live wreaths or greenery in-between your door and a glass storm door, especially if the doorway is facing south. This placement will “cook” the arrangement on a sunny day.
• Reduce fertilizing of your indoor plants (except cyclamen).
• 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.
• Remove old leaves, damaged stems.
• Pests to watch for:  spider mites and  whitefly
• See HGIC’s February Houseplants Tips for more tips.
  

Indoor/Outdoor Insect and Wildlife Tips:

• Clean and refill bird feeders.
• Switch your deer deterrent spray.
• Check for vole problems and set up traps.
• See HGIC’s February 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 February Wildlife Tips.

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

See below for upcoming local events in February.

Montgomery Parks Special Events & Festivals

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

Save the dates for these upcoming events!   Events include Maple Sugaring Days, Black History Month Events,  Owls and Hawks at Oaks Landfill, Forest to Fitness, Spring Conference, Parks Speaker Series: Championing Inclusion in the Outdoors, our MCT Garden Club Meeting Program on Regenerative Small-Scale Vegetable Production, and more!

Montgomery County MD Food and Beverage Guide

The third edition of the MoCo Made Food & Beverage Guide is available!

The Guide features more than 60 local producers and farmers offering local-made products. Find the online version here:

https://mocofoodcouncil.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/MOCO_Directory_2018_FNL-digital.pdf

 

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

 

February is Maple Sugaring Month at Brookside Nature Center. Every Saturday and Sunday you’ll have an opportunity to experience an American tradition: maple sugaring! Watch the whole maple sugaring process from start to finish. See sap drip from trees and taste it. Watch us boil it down into sweet maple syrup, then sample a tasty treat. Join in the fun and activities and learn something new at this family-friendly program!

REGISTER

February is Black History Month

Woodlawn Manor Cultural Park
16501 Norwood Rd
Sandy Spring, Maryland  20860

February 8, 23, & 27

Join Montgomery Parks’ History in the Parks program at Woodlawn Manor Cultural Park for three unique events celebrating Black History Month: Family Day, History Hour, and a special Black History Month Winter Walking Tour. Learn more about our special History in the Parks programs!

HISTORY IN THE PARKS

Owls and Hawks at Oaks Landfill

Sat. February 9th, 2019

4:00pm to 6:30pm

Meadowside Nature Center

5100 Meadowside Lane
Rockville, Maryland 20855

Oaks Landfill has been repurposed as a birding hotspot! Join us as we search for winter birds throughout this unique landscape. Hopefully, we will catch the shift change of the Northern Harriers seeking their night roosts just as Short-eared Owls gear up for hunting. We will meet at the entrance to the landfill; directions will be emailed to registrants. Dress warmly!

Intended for ages 14&up

This event will be held at Meadowside Nature Center

Fee: $12

 

REGISTER

Spring Conference

Saturday, February 23, 2019 | 8:30 AM to 2:30 PM

University of Maryland Extension, Montgomery County Office
Montgomery County Agricultural History Farm Park
18410 Muncaster Road
Derwood, MD 20855

Save the Date!  Gardening From the Ground Up

This year’s Spring Conference will occur on Saturday, February 23, 2019.  Our theme is “Gardening from the Ground Up”.  The Montgomery County Master Gardener Spring Conference is held in February each year.  The day-long event is open to the public and offers multiple presentations by Master Gardeners, morning snacks, a delicious bag lunch, door prizes, networking with other gardeners, answers to your gardening questions, handouts, and reference materials.  Registration is required to attend.  Click here to view this year’s Spring Conference flyer.

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Parks Speaker Series: Championing Inclusion in the Outdoors

February 26 | 12 pm – 2 pm
Montgomery Regional Office Building Auditorium
8787 Georgia Avenue, Silver Spring, MD, 20910

Montgomery Parks welcomes Mikah Meyer and Sangita Chari to discuss “Championing Inclusion in the Outdoors.”

Mikah Meyer, is on journey to experience all 418 National Park sites, attempting to become the youngest person to experience every unit and the sole person to do so in a continuous journey.  Along his journey he has shed an important light into the LGBT experience in the outdoors industry and become an inspirational voice encouraging people to live their dreams.  Sangita Chari, oversees the NPS’s Office of Relevancy, Diversity and Inclusion.  The office was formed in 2013 to address the underrepresentation of diverse racial and ethnic groups among National Park staff and visitors.

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MCT Garden Club February 26th Program on Regenerative Small-Scale Vegetable Production

Please join us for a Common Root Farm presentation by Erica Coady and Ryan Kalivretenos on “Regenerative Small-Scale Vegetable Production”. Refreshments will be provided.

Topic:  Regenerative Small-Scale Vegetable Production
Date:  Tuesday, February 26, 2019
Time:  7:30pm – 8:30pm
NEW Location: Mill Creek Parish United Methodist
Fellowship Hall
7101 Horizon Ct
Derwood, MD 20855

Speaker:  Erica Coady and Ryan Kalivretenos, Common Root Farm
Hostesses:  MCT Garden Club members

About the Speakers:

We are Ryan and Erica, your local farmers! We started Common Root Farm in 2018 to continue our passion for growing the highest quality and most nutritious produce. The name “Common Root” represents our deepest interest in starting the farm–to provide a place for the community as a whole to take part in and benefit from. We have had the fortune of developing our vision at Goondiwindi in Derwood, Maryland.

Cost: FREE, Donations gratefully appreciated!

See our Donations page for online and offline payment options:

Donate

 

RSVP:  info@mctgardenclub.org

NOTE: If Montgomery County Schools are closed due to inclement weather, the Garden Club meeting will be cancelled.