Hello Friends, Neighbors, Fellow Gardeners,

April is Earth Month! Celebrate in Montgomery Parks! From cleanups to nature hikes to festivals, there are plenty of opportunities to get involved.  Visit Montgomery Park’s Earth Month page for information on a variety of family-friendly activities.

Here are some garden tips, educational opportunities and events for April. Events include our MCT Garden Club Meeting Program: The Safety and Science of Tree Care, Native Plant Sale, Grow It Eat It Spring Event, GreenFest, and more!

Planning:

• Select and order fruit and vegetable plants.
• Arbor Day is Friday, April 26th.
• Decide on new tree/shrub locations.
• Take an inventory of pots and containers; clean or replenish potted soil.
• Decide where your plants from seed are going in your garden.
• Repair your shed and repair/paint your fences.
• 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 spring festivities!
• Support Our Local Farmers – Join a CSA and have fresh local produce delivered to you!
• Support our local farmers! Visit a local farmers’ market near you. Download Montgomery County’s Office of Agriculture 2019 Farmers Market Flyer to find a farmer’s market near you.

Brookside Gardens Photos by Nancy Brady, March 2019

Flowers and Groundcovers:

• Gently clean up the garden. Add 1 inch of compost.
• After spring bulbs bloom, let leaves turn yellow and die before trimming.
• Transplant spring flowering bulbs after flowering.
• Cut perennials and over-wintering ornamental grasses to 2 inches above ground.
• 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).
• Begin hardening off hardier transplants.
• Sow seeds of hardier annuals.
• Start seeds for: Mallow, Dwarf Zinnias, Cosmos, Celosia, Tall Marigolds, Tall Zinnias, and check daily for moisture.
• Collect large plastic soda bottles to use as cloches (A cloche is a clear, bell-shaped cover used to protect tender plants from frost.)
• Pests to watch for: Aphids, slugs, snails, Deer
• Diseases to watch for:  Damping off of seedlings, Botrytis on peonies, Volutella blight on pachysandra.
• See UMD’s HGIC’s April Tips for more details.

Trees and Shrubs:

• Plant a tree for Arbor Day.
• Plant trees, shrubs, perennials; this is a good time to plant evergreens.
• Prune out Eastern tent caterpillar egg masses.
• Prune azaleas when they finish blooming.
• Do not fertilize newly planted or transplanted plants the first year.
• Keep mowers and trimmers away from trunks!
• Prune winter damage on evergreens when new growth begins.
• Prune damaged branches.
• Spray with dormant oil to decrease pest infestations.
• Begin planting when soil is not too wet.
• Test soil pH on some hydangeas and adjust: pH 5-5.5 – blue; pH 6-6.5 – pink.
• 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:  Eastern tent caterpillar, Gypsy moths, Scale, sawfly, spidermites, and leafminers
• Diseases to watch for:  Fireblight, Anthracnose, Exobasidium gall on azaleas, Phytophthora, top dieback and root rot on azaleas.
• For more tips, see HGIC’s April Tips for more details.

• Mow high to reduce weeds and stress: Fescue & Bluegrass: 3″ – 3 1/2″
• Control wild onions in warm season turf with broadleaf weed control.
• Test soil if you haven’t already!
• Dethatch if necessary and plug aerate BEFORE applying weed control.
• To control crabgrass, apply pre-emergent herbicide to lawn (when forsythia blooms drop).
• Turn your compost pile.
• 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 April Tips for more details.

Indoors/Houseplants:

• Repot larger plants that are going outside for the summer.
• 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.
• Reduce fertilizing of your indoor plants (except cyclamen).
• 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, mealybug, scale, aphids
• See HGIC’s April Tips for more information.
  

Indoor/Outdoor Insect and Wildlife Tips:

• Clean and refill bird feeders.
• Switch your deer deterrent spray.
• Watch for: carpenter ants, flies, stink bugs, termites, rabbits, raccoons, groundhogs, deer, mice, moles,  snakes, squirrels, and voles.
• For more information, see HGIC’s April Tips.

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

See below for upcoming local events in April.

Montgomery Parks Special Events & Festivals

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

Save the dates for these upcoming events!   Events include our MCT Garden Club Meeting Program: The Safety and Science of Tree Care, Native Plant Sale, Grow It Eat It Spring Event, GreenFest, 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

Support Our Local Farmers – Join a CSA and have fresh local produce delivered to you!

CSAs can take many forms, but essentially they are community supported farms in which members contribute to farming projects, usually by way of membership fees, in exchange for fresh, local produce. The concept came to the United States from Europe in the 1980s.  They are a great way to take advantage of fresh, locally grown fruit, vegetables, herbs, and more while supporting nearby farms. Each one is different, some offer pickup locations in urban areas, some offer only farm-based pickups.

There are multiple CSAs located around the County offering a wide variety of products. CSAs begin taking sign-ups for spring and summer seasons in the early part of the year, and they tend to fill up FAST! Know of another CSA not on our list? Let us know! Montgomery Countryside Alliance also maintains a list: http://www.mocoalliance.org/community-supported-agriculture.html

23rd Annual Gas and Steam Engine Show

Friday, April 26 | 3-7 pm
Saturday, April 27 | 10 am-3 pm
Sunday, April 28 | 1-3 pm
Greenhouse in Black Hill Regional Park across from 20930 Lake Ridge Drive, Boyds, MD

The Friends of Black Hill (FOBH) Nature Program Invites you to the 2019 Native Plant Sale. Many of the plants on sale have been cultivated locally and most are important food and shelter sources for Maryland butterflies, birds, and an array of other wildlife. All proceeds go to support nature programming at Black Hill Visitors Center.

LEARN MORE

Grow It Eat It Spring Event

Sat, April 27, 2019

8:00 AM – 4:00 PM EDT

Agricultural History Farm Park

Parks Speaker Series: —– “Building a Culture of Guest Service Excellence

Tuesday, April 30, 2019

12:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.

Location:
Montgomery Regional Office Building Auditorium
8787 Georgia Avenue, Silver Spring, MD, 20910

Montgomery Parks invites you to join us on April 30, for the next session of the Parks Speaker Series: “Building a Culture of Guest Service Excellence” featuring Neelay Bhatt. The presentation, followed by a question-and-answer session, is free and open to the public. Complimentary boxed lunch is provided. Must pre-register for lunch.

In today’s socially wired and hypercompetitive market, customer experience is paramount to an agency’s success. Neelay Bhatt, Principal of PROS Consulting Inc, will discuss ways to build a customer service culture and differentiate your agency from the competition. Bhatt’s career on five continents includes Disney, The Super Bowl, The Olympics, besides several years of consulting, public speaking and training. TEDx, the global platform for ideas, describes him as a business and communications visionary, and his service on the National Recreation and Park Association’s Board of Directors is committed to ensuring that ‘no child is left indoors. As the Principal at PROS Consulting Inc., he has led 130+ strategic and master planning, sports facility development, customer service training, and marketing and branding projects. These projects have recommended facility development and infrastructure improvements totaling over $2 billion USD and are helping to shape a better vision for parks, recreation, and sports all over the world. For additional information visit MontgomeryParks.org Reference: Speaker Series web page: www.montgomeryparks.org/speakerseries

To RSVP for Lunch: https://bit.ly/2SeAZQM