Hello Friends, Neighbors, Fellow Gardeners,

It’s Spring and summer is almost here! Now is the time to enjoy the outdoors and our gardens! Here are some garden tips, educational opportunities and events for May. Events include Wings of Fancy at Brookside Gardens South Conservatory, Native Plant Sale, Wildflowers and Warblers, Herb Gardening 101, Nature Matters: Secrets of Short-Eared Owls, and more!

Planning:

• 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.

Flowers and Groundcovers:

• Gently clean up the garden. Add 1 inch of compost.
• Directly after blooming, prune flowering shrubs and vines.
• Mark and photograph your bulb plantings now, while they are still visible.
• Provide supports for fast-growing perennials such as delphiniums, peonies, and lilies.
• Deadhead spent blooms on your annuals and perennials to encourage re-flowering.
• Check for black spot on your roses – remove and discard any affected leaves in the trash, never back in your garden or in your compost – apply a fungicide with Neem oil every two weeks during the growing season.
• Transplant spring flowering bulbs after flowering.
• Plant warm-season annuals and tender bulbs (calla lilies, dahlias, gladiolus) in the ground and in containers.
• Pinch out tips of leggy plants.
• Remove last of spring flowers, replacing with transplants or seeds.
• Fertilize transplants.
• Water transplants deeply when dry.
• Pests to watch for: Aphids, slugs, snails, spidermites, Deer
• Diseases to watch for:  Blackspot on roses; powdery mildew, rust, bacterial diseases.
• See UMD’s HGIC Garden Tips for more details.

Trees and Shrubs:

• Plant and transplant shrubs that have finished blooming.
• Fertilize azaleas and rhododendrons, if needed.
• Prune back forsythia, spirea, and other early-spring blooming shrubs.
• Prune out Eastern tent caterpillar egg masses.
  
• Do not fertilize newly planted or transplanted plants the first year.
• Keep mowers and trimmers away from trunks!
• 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:  adelgids, Eastern tent caterpillar, Gypsy moths, lacebug, 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 UMD’s HGIC Garden Tips for more details.

• Calibrate your spreader before fertilizing!
• Fertilize Turf Only if Weak: apply 1 lb. N/1000 sq.ft.
• Mow high to reduce weeds and stress: Fescue & Bluegrass: 3″ – 3 1/2″
• Mow zoysia grass at 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 UMD’s HGIC Garden Tips for more details.

Indoors/Houseplants:

• Remove old leaves, damaged stems.
• Begin hardening off before putting outside in shade for summer.
• Move to shady location for summer.
• 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 UMD’s HGIC Garden Tips for more information.
  

Indoor/Outdoor Insect and Wildlife Tips:

• Clean and refill bird feeders.
• Switch your deer deterrent spray.
• Be vigilant for mosquito breeding spots – any standing water from a bottle cap to blocked gutters- and clean them out immediately. Ask your neighbors to do the same. Put Mosquito Dunks in any areas that accumulate water.
• Watch for: carpenter ants, flies, mosquitos, stink bugs, termites, rabbits, raccoons, groundhogs, deer, mice, moles,  snakes, squirrels, and voles.
• For more information, see UMD’s HGIC Garden Tips.

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

See below for upcoming local events in May.

Montgomery Parks Special Events & Festivals

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

Save the dates for these upcoming events!   Events include Wings of Fancy at Brookside Gardens South Conservatory, Native Plant Sale, Wildflowers and Warblers, Herb Gardening 101, Nature Matters: Secrets of Short-Eared Owls, 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

Wildflowers and Warblers

Sat. May 11th, 2019 7:30am to 9:00am

Meadowside Nature Center

5100 Meadowside Lane
Rockville, MD, US 20853

Phone: (301) 258-4030

This is the busy season for birds and buds! Celebrate spring as we look up for returning warblers and check the ground for ephemeral wildflowers. Bring your own binoculars and field guides or borrow ours.

Intended for ages 12&up

This event will be held at Meadowside Nature Center

REGISTER

Sitar Concert featuring Alif Laila

Thursday, May 16 | 6:30 pm – 7:30 pm
Meadowside Nature Center, Rockville
FREE

Join us for an evening of South Asian music as part of our Asian American Pacific Islander month celebration. In this tradition, music is closely tied to nature and green spaces. The ragas (melodies) and talas (rhythms) are chosen specific to the time of day, specific to the location, and specific to the season. Musician Alif Laila will present a Sitar concert welcoming Spring into Montgomery Parks.

LEARN MORE

Nature Matters: Secrets of Short-Eared Owls

Wednesday, May 22, 2019

6:30 PM – 8 PM

Meadowside Nature Center, Montgomery Parks

5100 Meadowside Ln, Rockville, Maryland 20855