Hello Friends, Neighbors, Fellow Gardeners,
The days are getting shorter, school is starting, and it’s time to plant for cooler weather and plan for the spring! Here are some garden tips, educational opportunities, and events for September. Events include Wings of Fancy at Brookside Gardens South Conservatory, Pawpaw Festival, Garden After Dark: Wings & Wine, Fall Plant Sale, Climate Emergency: Montgomery County Responds, Fall Fun at Butler’s Orchard, Apple Festival and Campfire, Children’s Day, Monarch Fiesta, Farm to Fork Benefit Dinner, Honey Harvest Festival, Fall Family Festival, Mill Creek Towne Garden Club Open House, and more!
Planning:
- Take garden photos and make notes in your garden journal.
- Check your local garden club for end-of-summer bargains.
- Start shopping for spring bulbs.
- Start collecting plant seeds for next year and for trading.
- Preserve gourds and dry flowers for display in the fall.
- 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:
- Begin replanting pots with hardy annuals.
- Plant newly purchased plants.
- Continue to deadhead.
- Plant hardy mums and fall season annuals.
- Divide and transplant perennials—in particular, peony and iris.
- Remove spent annuals and replace with fall annuals. Water deeply.
- Start seeds of pansies, calendula, flowering cabbage, kale, and other fall annuals.
- Cut fully yellow lily stalks.
- Fertilize established bulb beds.
- As the days get cooler, plant hardy mums.
- Inspect for Powdery mildew. If seen, prune back perennials to create needed circulation.
- Check on your container plants daily and keep them well-watered.
- Pinch out tips of leggy plants.
- Fertilize transplants.
- Water transplants deeply when dry.
- 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.
Trees and Shrubs:
- Prune evergreens to get in shape for fall/winter.
- Remove fallen diseased leaves.
- Mulch or compost healthy leaves.
- Put diseased leaves, pesticide-laden grass clippings and weed seeds out for recycling rather than the compost pile.
- Fertilize if necessary for the last time.
- Avoid late summer pruning.
- 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!
- Spray with dormant oil to decrease pest infestations.
- 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, azalea lacebug, bagworms, caterpillars, Gypsy moths, Japanese beetles, scale, sawfly, spidermites, leafminers, and webworms.
- Diseases to watch for: Fireblight, Anthracnose, Powdery mildew, Exobasidium gall on azaleas, Phytophthora, top dieback and root rot on azaleas.
- For more tips, see UMD’s HGIC Garden Tips for more details.
Herbs, Veggies, and Fruit:
- This is a good time to have your vegetable garden and landscape soils tested.
- Plant cover crops in vegetable gardens and annual beds (e.g., rye, clover, hairy vetch, and winter peas).
- Continue planting cool season vegetables (turnips, carrots, beets, spinach, Chinese cabbage, kale, Brussels sprouts); plant garlic now through October.
- Harvest leaves of herbs used in cooking (rosemary, basil, sage) in early morning, for best flavor.
- Water deeply when needed.
- Cover berry bushes and fruit trees with bird netting.
- Pinch back any straying strawberry runners.
- Harvest regularly from your vegetable garden to prevent rot waste.
- Remove finished plants.
- Apply dormant oil spray to fruit trees.
- Watch for insect and disease problems throughout your garden.
- Pests to watch for: Corn borer, corn earworm, asparagus beetles, Japanese beetles, tomato hornworm, squash vine borer, rabbits, deer
- Diseases to watch for: Fungal, bacterial, Powdery mildew, viral diseases.
- Here are some more UMD’s HGIC Garden Tips.
Lawns:
- This is the perfect time for seeding the lawn.
- Apply fertilizer and lime to turf grass based on soil tests and UME recommendations.
- Apply grub control to your lawn.
- Cool season lawns go dormant in hot, dry weather. Do Not Water.
- Don’t remove more than 1/3 of grass blade when mowing.
- Water established lawns deeply but infrequently.
- 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:
- Bring Christmas cactus and poinsettias indoors if you took them out for the summer in preparation for holiday blooming. Fertilize them and put them where they’ll get 10 hours of bright light per day.
- 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.
- 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: aphids, spider mites, mealybug, scale, whitefly
- See UMD’s HGIC Garden Tips for more information.
Indoor/Outdoor Insect and Wildlife Tips:
- Clean and refill bird feeders.
- Leave hummingbird feeders out until October 15.
- Clean your hummingbird feeders and add new sugar-water every three days.
- Switch your deer deterrent spray.
- Check your plants at night with a flashlight for any night-feeding insects like slugs.
- If you find slug damage, set out beer traps or Sluggo pellets.
- Hand-pick Japanese beetles or shake them off over a bucket of dishwasher.
- Look for slug eggs grouped under sticks and stones—they are the size of BBs and pale in color.
- Caulk and seal your outside walls to prevent insect entry into your house.
- 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.
Please Support the Mill Creek Towne Garden Club’s
Mill Creek Towne Entrance Walls Repairs Project
Hello Mill Creek Towne Neighbors,
Your help is greatly needed with a community problem. The original entrance walls that identify our community as Mill Creek Towne are in a state of deterioration. One entrance wall, consisting of a center wall and two side walls, is located at Roslyn Avenue and Redland Road and is on Montgomery County property. The other entrance wall, consisting of two side walls, is located at Miller Fall Road and Muncaster Mill Road and is on Maryland State property. Both the county and the state have been approached and have declined to provide the much needed repairs and maintenance, stating that this is the responsibility of the community.
These entrance walls are more than fifty years old and, for all of that time, The Mill Creek Towne Garden Club (MCTGC) has been the caretakers of the entrances. We provide annual care with plantings either by doing regular maintenance work ourselves or engaging the assistance of professional workers.
We need your help to repair the Mill Creek Towne Entrance walls! See details in this link below on how you can help.
https://www.mctgardenclub.org/2019/06/30/mill-creek-towne-entrance-walls-repair-fundraiser/
Thank you for your support!!
Sincerely,
Mill Creek Towne Garden Club – Derwood, Maryland
https://www.mctgardenclub.org | mctgc@mctgardenclub.org | Like us on Facebook
September
See below for upcoming local events in September.
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, Pawpaw Festival, Garden After Dark: Wings & Wine, Fall Plant Sale, Climate Emergency: Montgomery County Responds, Fall Fun at Butler’s Orchard, Apple Festival and Campfire, Children’s Day, Monarch Fiesta, Farm to Fork Benefit Dinner, Honey Harvest Festival, Fall Family Festival, Mill Creek Towne Garden Club Open House, 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://
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):
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://
Derwood Farmers Market
2019 Dates: April 27 to October 26 on Saturdays
By popular request: Early Hours in 2019 9 am until 1 pm
Support Our Local Farmers: Visit the Derwood Farmers Market!
A community farmers’ market featuring fresh local farm fruits, veggies, meats, baked goodies, arts, live music and more. Meet sustainable local farmers and from-scratch makers of edibles!
Located at the parking lot in the front yard of Derwood Alliance Church
16501 Redland Road, Rockville, MD 20855
September
Pawpaw Festival
Saturday, September 7 | 12 – 4 pm
Meadowside Nature Center
5100 Meadowside Lane, Rockville, MD 20855
The Pawpaw Festival is a fun-filled and educational event celebrating one of America’s largest native tree fruits, the Pawpaw (Asimina triloba). This event highlights the rich history of the Pawpaw through crafts, music, live animals, and tastings!
• Crafts, Games & Facepainting
• Pawpaw Tastings
• Live Music
• Pawpaw trees and fruit for sale (while supplies last)
• Live Animals
ADMISSION
$5/person. Ages 2 & up. All participants must pay. No registration required.
Garden After Dark: Wings & Wine
Thursday, September 12 | 6:30 – 8:30 pm
Brookside Gardens
1800 Glenallan Avenue, Wheaton, MD 20902
What do butterflies do when the sun sets Find out with exclusive evening access to our Wings of Fancy exhibit where you’ll learn more about the fascinating family of butterflies – Lepidoptera. Sample several wine varieties & enjoy light refreshments as butterflies & music swirl around you in our tropical conservatory. Finish off the evening with a decadent dessert. FOBG: $36 Register at ActiveMontgomery.org, Course # 71571
Fall Plant Sale
Saturday, September 14, 2019 at 10 AM – 3 PM
Sunday, September 15, 2019 at 9 AM – 12 PM
Brookside Gardens Visitors Center
1800 Glenallan Avenue
Silver Spring, Maryland 20902
Mark your calendar! FOBG’s amazing plant sale returns in September. Admission is FREE, rain or shine. Every year it’s better and better! FOBG members get a 10% discount on plant purchases and are eligible for exclusive early admission 8 to 10 AM Saturday. And the profits support Brookside Gardens!
More information and a plant list are available on our website, http://www.friendsofbrooksidegardens.org/plantsale2019
Climate Emergency: Montgomery County Responds
Saturday, September 14, 2019
11 AM – 1:30 PM
Silver Spring Civic Center
1 Veterans Pl.
Silver Spring, Maryland 20910
In December 2017, the Montgomery County Council declared a Climate Emergency and pledged to reduce the County’s greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent by 2027 and by 100 percent by 2035. Meeting our climate goals will require radical changes in energy use, transportation, and consumption — and tremendous effort from all residents and businesses.
Join us Saturday, September 14 in Silver Spring to learn what progress the County has made so far and how you can be part of the solution.
We’ll hear from environmental scientist Danielle J. L. Meitiv and Jansi Medina-Tayac will present a land acknowledgement.
We’ll have a panel of climate advocates:
• Naeem Alam from Sunrise
• Wendy Howard of One Montgomery Green
• Bill Ragen, Labor Network for Sustainability
and a panel featuring Montgomery County officials:
• Marc Elrich, Montgomery County Executive
• Tom Hucker, Chair of the County Council’s Transportation & Environment Committee
• Adriana Hochberg, Montgomery County Assistant Chief Administrative Officer
• Natali Fani-Gonzalez, Member, Montgomery County Planning Board
Jacob Fenston, WAMU environment reporter, will moderate.
You’ll have an opportunity to sign up to work with local groups.
Fall Fun at Butler’s Orchard
Sunday, September 15, 2019 at
3 PM – 5 PM
Butler’s Orchard
22222 Davis Mill Rd,
Germantown, Maryland 20876
Join PJ Library for a day of fun fall activities at Butler’s Orchard! Includes a wagon ride, apple picking, stories, snacks, and playtime in the Farm Park.
Cost: $10/person ages 1 and up
Registration open soon!
Apple Festival and Campfire
Friday, September 20, 2019
6 PM – 8 PM
Meadowside Nature Center
5100 Meadowside Ln,
Rockville, Maryland 20855
It is apple harvest time!
Join us for apple cider pressing, apple lore, hands-on activities, live music and s’mores making around the campfire.
Please register and pay for all attending. No walk-ins allowed.
Intended for ages 3 and up. Sign up: http://ow.ly/NHpQ30pghdq.
Children’s Day
Saturday, September 21, 2019
11 AM – 4 PM
Brookside Gardens
1800 Glenallan Ave
Wheaton, Maryland 20902
Bring the kids to the annual Children’s Day at Montgomery Parks’ Brookside Gardens on Saturday, September 21, 11 am to 4 pm.
Enjoy games, crafts, activities, music, and food trucks! And, it’s all FREE!
Learn more: http://ow.ly/NKiR30ppv0L.
Monarch Fiesta
Saturday, September 21, 2019
11 AM – 3 PM
Black Hill Nature Programs
20926 Lake Ridge Dr.
Boyds, Maryland 20841
Celebrate the monarch butterfly’s inspiring metamorphosis and incredible journey at Monarch Fiesta on Saturday, 21, from 11 am to 3 pm at Black Hill Visitor Center in Black Hill Regional Park.
Exhibits, face painting, storytimes, crafts, movies, monarch tagging, and more! All programs are free and first-come, first-served.
No registration required.
Farm to Fork Benefit Dinner
Saturday, September 21, 2019 at 6 PM – 9 PM
Honey Harvest Festival
Sunday, September 22 | 12-4 pm | FREE
Brookside Nature Center | 1400 Glenallan Avenue | Wheaton, MD 20902
Join Brookside Nature Center & the Maryland State Beekeepers Association to celebrate honeybees & other pollinators. Talk to beekeepers, watch honey being harvested, buy local honey & bee products and enjoy family friendly activities & crafts. We’ll be buzzing about pollinators all day long!
Mill Creek Towne Garden Club Community Meeting: Open House
September 24 @ 7:30 pm – 8:30 pm
Mill Creek Parish United Methodist
7101 Horizon Terrace
Derwood, MD 20855
Join us for a meeting and get to know the members of the Mill Creek Towne Garden Club. You will find out more about the club and what we do. We’ll be discussing our community projects including restoration of the entrance walls, clean up of Mill Creek, and the Butterfly Bandwagon!
RSVP: info@mctgardenclub.org
Fall Family Festival
Saturday, September 28, 2019
2 PM – 3:30 PM
Thomas Farm Community Center
700 Fallsgrove Drive
Rockville, Maryland 20850
Celebrate fall with your family at Thomas Farm Community Center! Snack on cider and doughnuts while enjoying a petting zoo, face painter, scarecrow building, carnival games and crafts. Children must be accompanied by an adult and all participants must register.
October
18400 Muncaster Road
Derwood, MD 20855
Harvest Festival returns to Agricultural History Farm Park Saturday, October 5, from 11 am to 4 pm. Discover the ways Montgomery County’s farms and communities worked together to support the war effort during World War I. Admission is $15 per car. Cash only, please.
Interact with living historians in historic costumes. Participate in tinsmithing, apple butter making, pumpkin painting, and scarecrow building.
Enjoy traditional music and dancing. Experience farm equipment exhibitions and demonstrations. Meet heritage farm animals, and partake in food, crafters, hayrides, and tours of the historic Magruder-Bussard Farmstead.
Dive into some down-home fun on the farm! Montgomery Parks’ Agricultural History Farm Park is situated on 455 acres of land and serves as a historic farm site, as well as a modern farming activity center.
No pets, please. Service animals welcome. Find out more: http://ow.ly/CsMa30pgh8P.
Oktoberfest Germantown Parade & Festivities
Saturday, October 5, 2019
10 AM – 3 PM
Oktoberfest is back in Germantown Maryland! Bring your Family and enjoy the Parade, Live Bands, Food, Beer Garden, DJ, Free Giveaways and more! The Parade will feature Local Businesses, High School Bands, Dance Groups, Teams, Scouts, Elected Officials, Color Guard, and more.
If you are interested in Sponsoring and/or having your group be part of the Parade email us at Kyle@PeaceOfHearts.org.
Parade Route (Century Blvd) :
START: UpCounty Regional Services Center
END: Germantown Police Station
There will be some Free Giveaways, Family Friendly Music and Activities!
Beer Garden and Live Bands will be at BlackRock Center for the Arts!!
Other fun stations include Photo Booth, Lucy the Clown making Balloon Animals, Library Activities and more!
The Fire Department and Police Department will have an Open House with Tours of their facilities and Fun Activities for Kids in their parking lot!
