Hello Friends, Neighbors, Fellow Gardeners,
Happy Spring! The peak bloom projection for the Yoshino Cherry (Prunus x yedoensis) blossoms is March 23-25, 2022! Here are some garden tips, educational opportunities, and videos for March. This includes some events from 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 upcoming events include Backyard Gardening Zoom Sessions, the Smithsonian’s Let’s Talk Gardens series, The Great Grow Along, University of Marylan Extension’s Grow It Eat It 2022 Event, Spring Online Garden/Landscape Classes at Montgomery College, Mill Creek Garden Club events including our Essential Herbs – Beyond Parsley, Sage, Rosemary, and Thyme Talk with Master Gardener Heather Whirley, Mill Creek Spring Cleanup in April, and garden tours which will be announced in our upcoming monthly garden tips, on our Facebook and NextDoor pages, and on our website! These events will be hosted as online or live events.
- Take photos and update your garden journal.
- Buy seeds and order plants from the new garden catalogs.
- Mark beds outside where new plants are to go.
- Sharpen and replace tools as needed.
- Clean out pots; store non-frost proof containers in garage or basement.
- Plan for 2022 with these Free resources: Landscaping with Native Plants by the Maryland Native Plant Society, Plant Invaders of Mid-Atlantic Natural Areas by the National Park Service, Master Gardeners of Northern Virginia Reading Room. Visit our Online Gardening Resources page for more helpful online resources.
- Buy a good gardening book or magazine subscription for a gift for your favorite gardener.
- Have a question about gardening? Check the University of Maryland Extension’s New Maryland Grows blog for garden tips.
Master Gardener Plant Clinics
“Ask a Master Gardener” Plant Clinics are returning to several county locations in Maryland. Bring your plant and gardening questions and get answers from Master Gardeners trained by the University of Maryland Extension. Check out the details in your county: https://extension.umd.edu/programs/environment-natural-resources/program-areas/home-and-garden-information-center/master-gardener-program/local-programs
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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
Become a Master Gardener volunteer in 2022!
Master Gardeners receive training from the University of Maryland Extension and then educate residents about safe, effective, and sustainable horticultural practices that build healthy gardens, landscapes, and communities. Spring 2022 Basic Training starts soon. Find all the details here:
New Gardening Books
Online Gardening Resources
Online Garden-to-Table Recipes
There are many resources for recipes to make from your garden crops including seed companies, local farms, and online recipe cookbook catalogs. If you grow vegetables, these are very useful resources as the recipes feature the very plant you are growing. Here are few links to recipes you can make from your garden crops
Local Farms
#LocalIsTheNewNormal #BuyLocal
- Support Our Local Farmers – Join a CSA and have fresh local produce delivered to you!
- Visit a local farmers’ market.
How to Support Farmers and Safely Shop at Farmers’ Markets
Montgomery County MD Food and Beverage Guide
The 2022 MoCo Food & Beverage Guide is here! The 4th edition of the Guide from the Montgomery County Food Council is out – delicious baked goods, prepared foods, condiments and more. The craft beverage list grows each year and find two dozen local and amazing farms:
Download Montgomery County’s Office of Agriculture 2021 Farmers Market Flyer to find a farmer’s market near you.
Pollinators love sunflowers!
Plant seeds directly in the ground or transplant seedlings after all danger of frost has passed. Full sun is best for growing sunflowers. https://extension.psu.edu/sunflowers-helianthus-annuus
Flowers and Groundcovers
- Deadhead pansies and bulbs.
- Plant pansies.
- Transplant seedlings into individual 3″ – 4″ pots when crowded.
- Start seeds for: Mallow, Dwarf Zinnias, Cosmos, Celosia, Tall Marigolds, Tall Zinnias. Check daily for moisture.
- Leave seedheads on Black-eyed Susans, Echinacea, Goldenrod, Sunflowers, and Thistles for the birds to enjoy over the winter.
- After hard frost, sow seeds of spring-blooming hardy annuals and perennials, then mark beds.
- Pests to watch for: Aphids, 4-lined plant bug, spidermites, whiteflies, Deer, slugs, snails.
- Diseases to watch for: Damping off of seedlings.
- 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
THIS is the SUPERPOWER of YOUR KEYSTONE NATIVE PLANTS.
- No exotic plant could ever achieve this.
- Want butterflies? Feed the caterpillars with keystone plants!
- Exotic plants will never support as many different species of caterpillars as the Keystone Natives can.
- Find your keystone native plants here by zip code.
If your zip code doesn’t give you enough information try zip codes of the nearest larger town or city. LINK: https://www.nwf.org/NativePlantFinder/
Trees and Shrubs
- Prune non-flowering trees and shrubs before new growth.
- Prune out Eastern tent caterpillar egg masses.
- Prune summer flowering trees except Crepe Myrtle.
- Begin planting when soil is not too wet.
- Prune butterfly bush to 8″ – 10″.
- Rejuvenate prune hollies.
- Fertilize plants not getting ready to bloom if needed.
- Test soil pH on some hydrangeas and adjust: Blue: pH 5 – 5.5; Pink: pH 6 – 6.5
- Check that newly planted trees, shrubs, and perennials have not been heaved out of the ground due to freezing and thawing cycles.
- Remove bagworm bags.
- Gently brush snow from evergreen shrubs.
- Prune out Fireblight damage Malus and Pyrus when very cold.
- Mulch or compost healthy leaves.
- Remove Ivy, Pachysandra, and other vine-like ground cover from under shrubs.
- Soil test established trees that have not been performing well.
- 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.
- Keep an eye out for bark damage from rabbits and deer.
- Remove dead and dying trees.
- Pests to watch for: Voles, Deer
- Diseases to watch for: Phomopsis and Kabatina of Juniper, Diplodia tip blight of 2 & 3 needled pines.
- For more tips, see UMD’s HGIC Garden Tips for more details.
Vegetable Planting Calendar
Download vegetable planting calendars from University of Maryland Extension, in English and Spanish. This page also has a link to a frost/freeze date calculator.
Herbs, Veggies, and Fruit
- Plant cool-season crops (potatoes, lettuce, peas, root crops, and cole crops including spinach and kale).
- Turn under cover crop when soil has warmed enough and is not too wet.
- Fertilize established asparagus, tree and bramble fruits and strawberries.
- Prune grapevines.
- Collect large plastic soda bottles to use as cloches. (A cloche is a clear, bell-shaped cover used to protect tender plants from frost.)
- Start seeds for tomatoes, eggplants, and peppers inside.
- Harvest your herbs often and keep them trimmed back to encourage leafy growth.
- Pot up rosemary and chives for over-wintering indoors.
- Cut herbs and flowers for drying indoors.
- This is a good time to have your vegetable garden and landscape soils tested.
- Apply dormant oil spray to fruit trees.
- Pests to watch for: Asparagus beetle, aphids, cabbage worms, cutworms, Deer, Japanese beetle, rabbits, woodchucks, birds.
- Diseases to watch for: Damping off of seedlings, Fireblight of pears and apples, Fungal, bacterial viral diseases.
- Here are some more UMD’s HGIC Garden Tips.
Melting Ice Safely
Each winter, people apply tons of ice-melting materials to sidewalks, driveways, and steps, often without regard to proper application procedures or to what the deicing substance contains. Careless use of deicing products can damage both the home and the environment. https://extension.umd.edu/resource/melting-ice-safely
Lawns
- To control crabgrass, apply pre-emergent herbicide to lawn (when forsythia blooms drop).
- Cut perennials and over-wintering ornamental grasses to 2 inches above the ground.
- Avoid walking on frozen grass to avoid damaging the crowns.
- Shovel walks and driveway before applying ice melt or you’ll damage lawn.
- Some alternatives to de-icing salts include sand, beet juice sugars, light gravel (grit), or non-clumping kitty litter. Using de-icing salts around driveways and sidewalks can harm your garden plants and turf.
- Get your lawn mower serviced.
- Have soil tested (every 3 years minimum).
- 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 2022 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.
Care of Phalaenopsis Orchids (Moth Orchids)
Phalaenopsis (Phals), also known as moth orchids have probably increased the allure of orchid culture for the general public more than any other orchid genus. Here’s more information on orchid care:
https://extension.umd.edu/resource/care-phalaenopsis-orchids-moth-orchids
Indoors/Houseplants
- Repot larger plants that are going outside for the summer.
- Change water in cuttings started last fall and add 2-3 pieces of fish tank charcoal.
- Do not over water house plants.
- Start to fertilize with 1/2 strength houseplant fertilizer.
- Check on your container plants daily and keep them well-watered.
- Check any tropical or summer-blooming bulbs, corms, tubers, and bare root plants in storage for rot or desiccation.
- 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.
- Pests to watch for: aphids, spider mites, mealybug, scale, and whitefly.
- See UMD’s HGIC Garden Tips for more information.
Montgomery Parks Deer Population Management Program
Our deer population management program runs through March 2022.
For the schedule of locations and dates, visit our website:
Read and follow label instructions on all pesticides and herbicides.
Start the year off by minimizing your #risk to #pesticides and always #ReadTheLabel! Learn more here: http://npic.orst.edu/health/readlabel.html
Questions about your label? Call us! 800-858-7378 M-F 8am-12pm PST
Indoor/Outdoor Insect and Wildlife Tips
- Watch for insect and disease problems throughout your garden.
- Check your plants at night with a flashlight for any night-feeding insects like slugs.
- Look out for slug eggs grouped under sticks and stones. They are the size of BBs and pale in color.
- Leave hummingbird feeders out until October 15th.
- Put up birdhouses.
- Put suet out for birds.
- Keep bird feeders clean and filled.
- Switch your deer deterrent spray.
- 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.
See more tips from HGIC:
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
Essential Herbs – Beyond Parsley, Sage, Rosemary, and Thyme
TUESDAY, MARCH 22, 2022
7 PM – 8 PM
Location: Mill Creek Parish United Methodist
Fellowship Hall
7101 Horizon Terrace
Derwood, MD 20855
Speaker: Heather Whirley, Master Gardener
Cost: FREE, Donations gratefully appreciated!
Join Mill Creek Towne Garden Club for our talk on Essential Herbs – Beyond Parsley, Sage, Rosemary, and Thyme!
Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens. Beyond Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme. Heather Whirley will detail a few of her favorite herbs-those deemed as essential to add calming, relaxing, and aromatic properties to your landscape, with a bonus of attracting pollinators to your yard or patio to maintain a biological balance and not to mention the usefulness in the kitchen! Heather is a member of the Mill Creek Towne Garden Club and a Montgomery County master gardener volunteer since 2014, with studies in education and agriculture. She is also a current member of the Potomac Unit of the Herb Society of America.
In-person event precaution measures: We ask that everyone age 2 and older wear a mask, and offer options for social distancing. Please arrive early to provide contact information with our greeters for contact tracing. This is so we ensure the safety and well-being of all our community and members.
Please do NOT attend this event if you are or have been experiencing symptoms of illness.
This event is FREE.
Donations of $10 or whatever you can afford are appreciated. Donations pay for landscaping, repair and maintenance of the Mill Creek Towne Entrances, and our garden-related programs at our community meetings.
NOTE: If Montgomery County Schools are closed due to inclement weather, the Garden Club meeting will be cancelled.
RSVP: info@mctgardenclub-org
https://www.mctgardenclub.org/event/essential-herbs-beyond-parsley-sage-rosemary-and-thyme/
Backyard Gardening Zoom Sessions
Tuesdays at 12 noon
March 8 – May 31, 2022
The Great Grow Along
Join the Garden Nation
March 11-20, 2022
A free 10-day virtual festival connecting gardeners with the influencers, taste-makers and cutting edge content of today’s gardening world.
Over 40 workshops, virtual tours of inspiring public and botanic gardens nation-wide and Houseplant Happy Hours… join real time and connect with presenters plus other attendees or watch at your convenience for six-months.
This timely content will help you up your plant game or inspire you to try new ideas in 2022. A unique opportunity to be encouraged and educated by some of the biggest influencers, educators and taste-makers in today’s gardening world.
Get more info at https://greatgrowalong.com.
Mill Creek Stream Extreme Cleanup
Friday – Sunday, April 22-24, 2022
Please join Rock Creek Conservancy, Montgomery Parks, and the Mill Creek Towne Garden Club for our 2022 EXTREME CLEANUP of Mill Creek Stream on Earth Day weekend! This annual event is a watershed-wide cleanup movement with the goal of total trash removal throughout Rock Creek, its tributaries, and surrounding neighborhoods and parklands. We hope you’ll join us!
Montgomery Parks requires all volunteers to be fully vaccinated against covid-19 in order to participate in events. Please adhere to this requirement by confirming your vaccination status when completing this registration. Volunteers ages 5 and up who are fully vaccinated may volunteer for this event. Please visit this CDC page, which discusses the considerations for gatherings and notes the additional safety when taking place outdoors.
Activity: Volunteers will participate in a socially-distant trash cleanup as part of Extreme Cleanup. This cleanup will be done individually or with members of the same “bubble.” Grab a trash bag and your mask (if needed), wear some boots or sturdy shoes, and help us pick up trash in Mill Creek Stream, or pick up litter around the creek.
Please follow all CDC and county guidelines regarding social distancing and public health precautions. Complete your cleanup anytime during Friday, April 22nd through Sunday, April 24th.
What to Wear: Please dress appropriately for the work and weather. We recommend wearing long sleeves and sturdy boots or sneakers.
What to Bring: Please bring a water bottle, face mask (if needed), and your own gloves if you can. We will provide trash bags.
Please do NOT attend this event if you are or have been experiencing symptoms of illness.
Leader Contact Information:
Susan Yu <syu9815730@aol.com> and
Ellen McAdams <emmcadams.em@gmail.com>
After registration and as the time gets closer, we will provide you further instructions and updates.
https://www.mctgardenclub.org/event/mill-creek-stream-extreme-clean-up/
Save the Date: Grow It Eat It 2022 Event
University of Maryland Extension – Montgomery County
Sat, May 14, 2022
10:00 AM – 4:00 PM EDT
Location
Montgomery County Extension
Agricultural History Farm Park
18410 Muncaster Road
Derwood, MD 20855
May 14, 2022 (Rain date May 15th) Attendees will comply with COVID public health recommendations – applicable at the time of the event.
Visit the Montgomery County Agricultural History Farm Park for all things edible at the University of Maryland Grow It Eat It Spring Event on May 14, 2022, from 10 am-4 pm! All parts of the event will be in outdoor spaces. The rain date is May 15, 2022, from 10 am-4 pm.
Entry to the event is free and tickets are not required for entry into the event. Fees charged for tickets as noted for some workshops and children’s programs. The Master Gardener Plant Shoppe will be selling Spring plants for your garden and vendors will be at the event.
The preliminary schedule of the day is as follows (all programs with links require registration):
Throughout the event:
- Plant Clinic: Get one-on-one answers to your gardening questions
- Visit the Demonstration Garden to view what is possible in your garden
- Children’s Activity Table
- Seed Swap, bring your extra seeds and pick up new ones
- Classes, Workshops, and Children’s programs (see below)
- Master Gardeners will be available to answer your questions in the garden
- Master Gardener Plant Sale to purchase your spring transplants
- Many vendors will be on-site selling items for your home and garden
Classes and Workshops
9:40-10:40
10:50-12:10
11:00-12:00
- All about Chile Peppers free, no registration
12:20-1:20
- Soil Testing in your Veggie Garden $33.50
- Extending the Harvest of Your Vegetable Garden free, no registration
1:40-2:40
- Organic Fertilizers for your Vegetable Garden – free, no registration
2:50-4:10
3:00-4:00
Children’s programs start at different times, mostly in the morning. See the registration links below for details.
Discover Nature! (K-1st-grade children) $10
Discover Bugs! (2nd & 3rd-grade children) $12
Discover Flowers! (4th & 5th-grade children) $15
Discover Gardening! (2nd to 5th-grade children) $15
Discover Trees! (4th to 8th-grade children) $15
Let’s Talk Gardens
Thursdays 12 to 1 p.m.
Smithsonian Gardens
“Grow” your gardening know-how! Our free online gardening program, Let’s Talk Gardens, covers a wide range of topics presented by our own professional staff, as well as guest speakers.
And we encourage you to watch videos in our Let’s Talk Gardens Video Library.
March Events
3/10 – A Brief Context of Contemporary High Art Horticulture
Speaker: Eric Evans, Horticulturist, Chanticleer Intern
3/17 – Garden Rooms: Ideas and Inspirations
Speaker: Gordon Hayward, Garden Writer & Designer
3/24 – Using Tropical Plants in the Temperate Landscape
Speaker: Marianne Willburn is a gardening columnist, speaker and author
Spring Online Garden/Landscape Classes at Montgomery College
Its Class time at Montgomery College. Janet Johnson will be teaching a great class on How to Grow and Bloom and Floral Arrangements for Home.
This class is offered online, so you can take this class from the comfort of your living room. We focus on your questions and your needs. Montgomery College classes are open to everyone-so lets learn together! See the Spring schedule for garden classes at MC (upcoming classes listed below). Come and join this really fun class! Hope to see you there.
What’s All the Buzz About Bees? Beekeeping Class
A beekeeping class is being offered through Montgomery College starting in January! “What’s All the Buzz About Bees?” is taught by Regional Apiary Inspector Gregg Gochnour. More info at
Horticulture Classes | MC Lifelong Learning Spring 2022
| FLORAL ARRANGEMENTS FOR HOME – LLI 028 |
| View Catalog Description & Prerequisites |
Montgomery College Spring 2022 Landscape Classes
Classes being offered at Montgomery College (Germantown) in the Landscape Technology Program for the Spring term of 2022. Classes start the week of Jan. 24. Contact information at the bottom.
https://www.montgomerycollege.edu/admissions-registration/search-the-class-schedule.html
