Hello Friends, Neighbors, Fellow Gardeners,
It’s August, which means the summer is almost over! 🙁 Hope you have been having a fun, healthy, and safe summer! Here are some garden tips, educational opportunities, and videos for August. There are some online events, check out U.S. Botanic Garden, Master Gardeners of Montgomery County, and Maryland Gardens. A lot of gardening events are announced on Facebook and we share them on our Facebook page as well as on our mctgardenclub.org website. Some live events have been set up for online preordering and limited to ensure everyone’s safety.
Planning
- Begin planning for fall plantings.
- Take advantage of plant sales.
- Take garden photos and make notes in your garden journal.
- It is harvest time and also a good time to start taking stock of what worked well for you this season and what didn’t.
- Plan who is going to water plants during vacation.
- Start shopping for spring bulbs.
- Go on a virtual garden tour to see what plants are thriving in other’s area home gardens.
- As the heat and humidity move in, take it easy by working in the morning or early evening to avoid intense sun and humidity. Leave the big projects for the fall.
- Read a good gardening book or magazine.
- Have a question about gardening? Check the University of Maryland Extension’s New Maryland Grows blog for garden tips.
#LocalIsTheNewNormal #BuyLocal
- Support Our Local Farmers – Join a CSA and have fresh local produce delivered to you!
- Visit a local farmers’ market.
“During shelter-in-place, farmers’ markets remain open as an essential service, providing a vital source of fresh fruits and vegetables and food staples for our communities in a spacious, open-air setting. But our community and our farmers’ markets could be jeopardized if we don’t each do our part to stay safe during this public healthy crisis.
In good times, farmers’ markets have been places to gather and converse, however, now is the time to follow public health and safety advisories and resist the urge to linger and socialize. We all have a critical role to play in preventing the spread of COVID-19.”
How to Support Farmers and Safely Shop at Farmers’ Markets
Download Montgomery County’s Office of Agriculture 2020 Farmers Market Flyer to find a farmer’s market near you.
Support our local farmers! Shop at the #derwoodfarmersmarket! Preordering is now possible through the Whats Good app! More details: https://buff.ly/2xQ6zAi
Let’s Talk Gardens
Turn your thumb green! Join Smithsonian Gardens’ horticulturists for a series of free lunchtime webinars on gardening basics on Thursdays 12 to 1 p.m.
August 20 – Selecting and Planting Fall Bulbs
August 27 – Planting Fall Vegetables
September 3 – Understanding Plant Stress Signals: Abiotic Factors
https://gardens.si.edu/events/lets-talk-gardens/
In the Garden Q & A
Hosted by Montgomery County Master Gardeners – Maryland
Tuesday, August 18, 2020
12 PM – 1 PM
Tune in for seasonal tips, tricks, and things to watch for in your garden. Join us on Facebook Live at 12 noon on the first and third Tuesday of every month. https://www.facebook.com/events/608020213433790/
Flowers and Groundcovers
- Cut petunia stems back by 2/3rds and fertilize.
- Start seeds of pansies, calendula, flowering cabbage, kale, and other fall annuals.
- Divide Hostas and Daylilies.
- As the days get cooler, plant hardy mums.
- Divide and cut back Bearded Iris and Peonies.
- Don’t fertilize plants that slow down in the heat, but keep them watered.
- Fertilize lightly plants that are blooming heavily.
- Deadhead flowers.
- Cut back spent stalks on common daylilies.
- Pinch back mums so they grow bushier and won’t flower until autumn.
- Pinch out growing tips of leggy plants.
- Water transplants deeply when dry.
- Walk your garden — look for early signs of fungal disease.
- Weed—especially look for fast-growing vines such as honeysuckle, autumn clematis, bittersweet, wild grape, Virginia creeper, and poison ivy.
- Apply deer deterrent.
- Pests to watch for: Aphids, Deer, 4-lined plant bug, slugs, snails, spidermites, whiteflies.
- Diseases to watch for: Blackspot on roses, powdery mildew, rust, bacterial diseases.
- See UMD’s HGIC Garden Tips for more details.
- For a list of native plant resources, visit: https://extension.umd.edu/hgic/topics/native-plant-resources
Trees and Shrubs
- Don’t transplant azaleas this month.
- Avoid late summer pruning.
- Water slowly and deeply if summer is very dry.
- Contact a certified arborist to have your trees’ health inspected.
- Shape your evergreens and hedges.
- Hold off on planting new trees and shrubs until the summer heat has passed.
- 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!)
- Soil test established trees that have not been performing well.
- Keep mowers and trimmers away from trunks!
- Do not fertilize newly planted or transplanted plants the first year.
- Prune out Eastern tent caterpillar egg masses.
- Put diseased leaves, pesticide-laden grass clippings and weed seeds out for recycling rather than the compost pile.
- Spray with dormant oil to decrease pest infestations.
- Remove Ivy, Pachysandra, and other vine-like ground cover from under shrubs.
- Remove dead and dying trees.
- Pests to watch for: bagworms, caterpillars, Gypsy moths, Japanese beetles, scale, sawfly, spidermites, leafminers, and voles.
- Diseases to watch for: Apple scab, Cedar-apple, hawthorn or quince rust, Verticillium wilt, Oak leaf blister, and powdery mildew.
- For more tips, see UMD’s HGIC Garden Tips for more details.
Herbs, Veggies, and Fruit
The vegetable garden can provide a succession of crops through the year, according to Adrian Higgins: “In Zone 7, where I garden, we are at what I consider to be the most important juncture of the year in the vegetable garden. This would be the start of the third growing season…”
- Harvest leaves of herbs used in cooking (rosemary, basil, sage) in the early morning, for best flavor.
- At the end of the month, begin planting cool-season vegetables (turnips, carrots, beets, spinach, Chinese cabbage, kale, Brussels sprouts).
- Harvest herbs to use in salads and summer dishes.
- Water deeply when needed.
- Sow beets, beans, cucumbers, pumpkins, and squash for fall harvest.
- Cover berry bushes and fruit trees with bird netting.
- New fruit plants — keep watered their first spring, summer, and fall.
- Apply dormant oil spray to fruit trees.
- Hand-pick cabbage worms from cabbage and broccoli.
- Pests to watch for: Asparagus beetle, aphids, cabbage worms, cutworms, Japanese beetle, rabbits, squash vine borer, and deer.
- Diseases to watch for: Apple-scab, Cedar-apple rust, Powdery mildew, Fungal, bacterial viral diseases.
- Here are some more UMD’s HGIC Garden Tips.
Lawns
- Cool season lawns go dormant in hot, dry weather — Do not water.
- Over seeding may be done now through October.
- Keep newly seeded lawns well watered!
- Water established lawns deeply but infrequently!
- Mow in the early evening and cut off now more than one-third of the grass height at a time. Leave clippings on the ground to provide nutrients.
- Mow high to reduce weeds and stress. Fescue & Bluegrass: 3″ – 3 1/2″ .
- Mow zoysia grass at 2″
- To control crabgrass, apply pre-emergent herbicide to lawn (when forsythia blooms drop).
- Fertilize Turf only if weak: apply 1 lb. N/1000 sqft
- Control wild onions in warm season turf with broadleaf weed control.
- Clean yard of all leaves and other debris.
- Turn your compost pile.
- The annual soil science calendars from the Natural Resources Conservation Service are both educational and beautifully done. The one for 2020 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
- Prune potted bougainvillea or hanging baskets that will overwinter inside.
- Begin hardening off prior to putting outside in shade for summer.
- Repot and fertilize houseplants when new growth begins.
- Rotate houseplants to promote even growth.
- Remove old leaves, damaged stems.
- 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.
- Start to fertilize with 1/2 strength houseplant fertilizer (every 2 weeks).
- Maintain moisture in pots wintering indoors, but do not over water!
- Pests to watch for: aphids, spider mites, mealybug, scale, whitefly
- See UMD’s HGIC Garden Tips for more information.
Indoor/Outdoor Insect and Wildlife Tips
- Be vigilant for mosquito breeding spots—any standing water from a bottle cap to blocked gutters—and clean them out immediately. Put Mosquito Dunks in any areas that accumulate water.
- If you find slug damage, set out beer traps or Sluggo pellets.
- Make hummingbird food by boiling two cups sugar in four cups of water.
- Check indoors for termites and winter ants.
- Put up birdhouses.
- Keep bird feeders clean and filled.
- Ticks are very active now.
- Switch your deer deterrent spray.
- Check for vole problems and set out traps.
- Remove and destroy gypsy moth egg masses.
- Caulk and seal your outside walls to prevent insects and wildlife from coming indoors.
- Set out traps for mice, moles, and voles.
- 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.
Montgomery County MD Food and Beverage Guide
The 2019-2020 Montgomery County Food and Beverage Guide has arrived!
This year’s Guide lists over 70 MoCo Made food and beverage producers and farmers, with products ranging from honey to craft beverages to artisanal meats and more.
Master Gardener Plant Clinics
Varied Locations, dates, and times
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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):
https://extension.umd.edu/mg/locations/plant-clinics
Support Our Local Farmers – Join a CSA and have fresh local produce delivered to you!
CSAs are seeing record numbers of subscribers http://ow.ly/eiQT50zD5lW – find your farmer here: http://ow.ly/jbO250zD56M
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