Happy Thanksgiving from MCT Garden Club! | Painting by Nancy Brady
Happy Thanksgiving! We are grateful to our community for your support!
Although we began our 2021-22 garden club meetings outside, we resorted to Zooming due to rising infection rates. In February, our own master gardener, Lauren Hubbard, showed us how to extend the growing season and harvest year-round. By March, we returned to in-person meetings.
Another member and master gardener, Heather Whirley, not only displayed a variety of herbs, but also explained the importance of these plants. In May, we invited a beekeeper who not only shared her extensive knowledge of beekeeping, but brought many pieces of equipment, samples of honey, and even products she made from beeswax. (Yes, a shopping opportunity!) As a reminder, when we host special presentations at our meetings, we always invite the community to join us at Mill Creek Parish.
Our garden club also sponsored a “stream-clean-up” in April and appreciated all the additional participants. Two of our members shared their gardens in the Mill Creek Village “Walk Around Towne” event. The three entrances to MCT, Roslyn, Shady Grove, and Miller Fall, as well as the Mill Creek Drive Circle, keep several of our members busy with weeding, transplanting, watering, pruning, and erosion control!
We not only worked, but enjoyed each other’s company at our Happy Hours, a holiday gathering, and an end-of-year celebration at Botanero’s this past June.
Finally, just last month our garden club presented a video entitled “Monarchs and Milkweed” followed by a recap of the Butterfly Bandwagon project. We invite you to jump on “our bandwagon” to get inspired and learn more about nature in our MCT community. As always, thank you for continuing to support the MCT Garden Club.
As we approach the fall season, enjoy the autumn crops and flowers and preserve some for the winter months. Don’t forget to support our local farmers by visiting our local farmer’s markets and local farms!
Here are some garden tips, educational opportunities, and videos for September. 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 Grow It Eat It Community Garden Fair Event, Woodland & Wildlife Wednesday, Montgomery County Master Gardener Virtual Question & Answer Program, Mill Creek Towne Garden Club’s Save the Monarchs – Go Native community event in October, and more!
Thanks for the rocks and donations for Miller Fall Entrance!
Thanks to everyone who provided rocks and donations for our Miller Fall entrance erosion prevention project! To improve drainage and inhibit erosion, we added rocks to channel runoff as well as placing some under the opening in the wall which is breaking down.
Mill Creek Towne Garden Club
www.mctgardenclub.org
Planning Tips
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.
Keep an eye out for the first frost date. In Zone 6, it is expected between September 30 and October 30. In Zone 7, it is predicted to be between October 15 and November 15.
Check out local garden centers for end-of-summer bargains.
Take photos and update your garden journal.
It’s time to start planning your garden for next year!
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):
Do you have questions about when to plant, how to plant, or… is something wrong with your plants? We can help with all of that and help you succeed in growing a healthy garden this summer! Send your questions and photos to Ask Extension and you’ll get an answer from our team of certified horticulturists, Extension staff, and Maryland Master Gardeners. https://go.umd.edu/AskExtension
New Gardening Books
See our December list with 10 recently published books. This cumulative list for 2021 has more than 120 titles and serves as a great resource for holiday gift ideas. Visit our Gardening Books Resources page for gardening ideas.
Online Gardening Resources
Here are some online gardening resources focused on the MD/DC area:
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
We are so thankful for our local farms each and every day. During this challenging time, consider supporting your local farms, whether they farm produce, flowers, animals, or specialty. Our food supply is safe and secure, and many farms are continuing to offer delivery or curbside pickup. #LocalIsTheNewNormal#BuyLocal
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 2022 Farmers Market Flyer to find a farmer’s market near you.
Flowers and Groundcovers
Begin replanting pots with hardy annuals.
Plant newly purchased plants.
Remove spent annuals replacing with fall annuals. Water deeply.
Check your container plants and keep them well-watered.
Bring in houseplants if you took them out for the summer.
Your summer annuals will be reviving now with cooler temps and some rain. Cut back any ragged growth and give them some fertilizer. They should put in a good show until the first hard frost.
Deadhead spent flowers to encourage reblooming.
Divide and transplant perennials; in particular, peony and iris.
Take cuttings from coleus and begonias to propagate and over-winter indoors.
Cut fully yellow lily stalks.
Fertilize established bulb beds.
Start shopping for spring bulbs.
As the days get cooler, plant hardy Mums.
Water transplants deeply when dry.
Pinch out tips of leggy plants.
Stake tall plants.
Hand-pick Japanese Beetles or shake them off over a bucket of soapy water. Early morning is a good time to catch them, while they are still drowsy.
Do you know what you should plant in September? Radishes, spinach, and turnips are just a few. Keep in mind some of the vegetables on this list are transplants. Check out the UMD Extension Home & Garden Info Center for more details: https://extension.umd.edu/resource/when-plant-vegetables
Montgomery County Office of Agriculture
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.
Cover crops are typically planted from late August through October and include grasses like winter rye, winter wheat, barley, and oats and legumes like crimson clover and hairy vetch. Plants in the legume family, together with special soil bacteria, transform nitrogen from air into a plant-available form.
Bring in tender plants before night temperatures dip to 60 degrees.
Begin conditioning Christmas Poinsettias and Christmas cactus to get them ready for the holiday season.
Bring Amaryllis indoors before a hard freeze. Repot every other year at this time. Store in a cool, dark place and do not water until flower buds or leaves emerge.
Repot and fertilize houseplants when new growth begins.
Take cuttings of plants you want to overwinter inside and place in water.
Change water in cuttings started last fall and add 2-3 pieces of fish tank charcoal.
Do not over water house plants.
Check on your container plants daily and keep them well-watered.
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.
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:
If you live in the #Germantown and #Gaithersburg area, this FREE event is for you! Grow It Eat It Community Garden Fair, Sept. 17, 2022, 10am-2pm, at Holy Cross Germantown Hospital , 19801 Observation Drive, Germantown, MD 20876. At this family-friendly fair, you can get a free pre-diabetes screening; learn about good nutrition and healthy eating habits, as well as community resources for food access; learn how to grow herbs and microgreens, and how to store and preserve foods; take home free plants so you can grow food at home; and learn about the upcoming Holy Cross Hospital Community Garden. The event is presented by Montgomery Community College, Montgomery County Master Gardeners, and Holy Cross Germantown Hospital. Participating organizations include HarvestShare, Community FarmShare, Gaithersburg HELP, Holy Cross Healthy Families, Montgomery College Horticulture Club, and Montgomery County Food Council. Registration for this FREE event is requested but not required:
Montgomery County Master Gardener Virtual Question & Answer Program
“In the Garden”
Streaming on Facebook Live on the First and Third Tuesdays of the Month. Next “In the Garden” session is on Tuesday, September 20th, 2022 on Facebook at 12 Noon ET. Live Q & A and Recording available at:
Join us for our next Woodland & Wildlife Wednesday at 12 noon on September 21st. Dr. Craig Harper, Professor and Extension Wildlife Specialist, University of Tennessee will present a talk entitled “Forest Stand Improvement for Wildlife.” The webinar is free but registration is required. Visit go.umd.edu/woodlandwildlife for more information. And be sure to check out recordings of our earlier webinars on our website!
The Monarch Butterfly is on the brink of extinction. Learn how you can help save the monarchs in our short presentation, which includes a video and guest speaker, Dr. Lauren Hubbard, Certified Chesapeake Bay Landscape Professional and Master Gardener. Dr. Hubbard will share information on how you can jump on the butterfly bandwagon by landscaping with native Piedmont Region species plants that support out native pollinators.
RSVP: info@mctgardenclub.org
Let’s Talk Gardens
Thursdays 12 to 1 p.m.
Smithsonian Gardens
Let’s Talk Gardens, a free lunchtime webinar series on garden basics on Thursdays 12 to 1 p.m. We will be resuming our programs later in the season, so stayed tuned for weekly sign-up emails when we return.
“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.
