Mill Creek Towne Garden Club and Rock Creek Conservancy are hosting a Mill Creek Stream Campaign Clean Up October 16-19, 2020.
A Campaign Clean Up means a small group of people; mostly family members will spend a few hours picking up trash in the creek sometime between October 16-19. People who will be cleaning the creek will be club members, Mill Creek Towne residents, or invited guests.
Everyone will wear masks, and people who are not family members but working together, will be socially distanced, six feet apart.
If you are interested in joining us please register here:
Please email the Stream Team Leader Susan Yu so she can send you the specifics of what you’ll need, instructional videos, and provide you with safety information.
This September we welcome the cooler weather and chances to enjoy our fall crops! Here are some garden tips, educational opportunities, and videos for September. 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.
Collect plant seeds for next year’s planting and for trading.
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.
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 your local garden cnter for end-of-summer bargains.
Start shopping for spring bulbs.
Go on a virtual garden tour to see what plants are thriving in other’s area home gardens.
Visit our Gardening Books Resources page for gardening ideas.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
“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.”
For the fall season through December 19 you can still get your market groove on with online ordering from all your favorite farmers and vendors using our curbside pickup or doorstep delivery to 20855, 20850, 20878 & 20880 on Saturday for doorstep delivery and/ or curbside pickup at the front yard of Neighborhood Church, 16501 Redland Rd, 20855. Pickup happens from 9am until 11am through December 19. Turkey orders coming soon! Get started here: MilkLadyMarkets.org/preorder
Time in gardens and nature is good for your mental and physical health. Children’s Day at Brookside Gardens celebrates those good vibes and wellness. Bring the kids September 19 and 20 and enjoy yoga, crafts, and music. And, pot your own plant to take home. Free! Registration required. Safety guidelines observed. Sign up now: https://mocoparks.org/33k3Hau.
Turn your thumb green! Join Smithsonian Gardens’ horticulturists for a series of free lunchtime webinars on gardening basics on Thursdays 12:00 pm to 1:00 pm.
September 24 – Small Space: Big Impact October 1 – Top Twenty Perennials for Healthy Habitats October 8 – Beautiful Winter Gardens October 15 – Bringing in Your Tropical Plants for the Winter October 22 – Prune with a Purpose: A Gardener’s Guide to Thinking Like an Arborist October 29 – Have you ever wondered how Smithsonian Gardens’ horticulturists choose the plants used in their gardens? November 5 – Winning the War against Weeds
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
Begin replanting pots with hardy annuals.
Plant newly purchased plants.
Divide and transplant perennials (e.g., peony and iris).
Plant hardy mums and fall season annuals.
Dig up bulbs from your Gladiolus, Canna, Caladiums, and other tender bulbs; cut off foliage; let dry for a week; and store for the winter.
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 on a good show until the first frost.
Pot up rosemary and chives for over-wintering indoors.
Start bulb plantings of early spring bloomers at the end of the month.
Continue to deadhead flowers.
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.
Photo from Montgomery County Office of Agriculture
Do you know what you should plant in September? Lettuce, spinach, and turnips. Check out the UMD Extension Home & Garden Info Center for more details: https://bit.ly/2XTe0yG
Edible Flowers photo
Harvest leaves of herbs used in cooking (rosemary, basil, sage) in the early morning, for best flavor.
Grass clippings and spent plants from the flower and vegetable garden provide a good source of high nitrogen green materials for the compost pile. Fallen leaves and old straw mulch are good sources of high carbon brown materials. Shred your materials with a lawnmower, string trimmer or machete to speed-up the breakdown process. Keep sticks, roots, and woody stems out of your compost pile. They take too long to breakdown and make it difficult to turn the ingredients. https://extension.umd.edu/hgic/august-tips-tasks
Apply fertilizer to turfgrass based on soil tests and UME recommendations.
Over seeding may be done now through October.
Keep newly seeded lawns well watered!
Water established lawns deeply but infrequently!
Divide ornamental grasses.
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).
Control wild onions in warm season turf with broadleaf weed control.
Bring in tender plants before night temps dip to 60 degrees.
Take cuttings of plants you want to overwinter inside and place in water.
Begin conditioning the Christmas Poinsettias and Christmas cactus to get them ready for the upcoming 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.
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
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.
Leave hummingbird feeders out until October 15.
Start feeding birds to get them in the habit for this winter.
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.
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.
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):
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:
