Hello Friends, Neighbors, Fellow Gardeners,

It’s time to enjoy our fall harvest!  Here are some garden tips, educational opportunities, and events for October. Events include a Fall Tour at Common Root Farm, Heritage Food: End of the Herb Season, Mill Creek Towne Garden Club’s “Pruning Your Fall Garden” program, and more!

Planning:

• As beds empty, make changes to shape and size of beds.
• 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:

• From mid-October through November, plant hardy bulbs for spring flowering.
• Pull out spent summer annuals.
• Plant hardy mums and fall season annuals.
• Sow wildflower seeds, such as California Poppies, for next spring.
• Collect dried flowers and grasses for indoor vase.
• Continue to deadhead.
• Plant hardy mums and fall season annuals.
• Divide and transplant perennials—in particular, peony and iris.
• Start seeds of pansies, calendula, flowering cabbage, kale, and other fall annuals.
• 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:

• Plant evergreens for winter interest.
• Prune evergreens to get in shape for fall/winter.
• Remove fallen diseased leaves.
• Mulch or compost healthy leaves.
• Transplant trees when leaves begin to color.
• Put diseased leaves, pesticide-laden grass clippings and weed seeds out for recycling rather than the compost pile.
• Prune out Eastern tent caterpillar egg masses.
• Do not fertilize newly planted or transplanted plants the first year.
• 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:  bagworms, caterpillars, Gypsy moths, Japanese beetles, scale, sawfly, spidermites,  leafminers, Voles, 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.

• This is the perfect time for seeding the lawn.
• Continue removing diseased leaves. Put diseased leaves, pesticide-laden grass clippings and weed seeds out for recycling rather than the compost pile.
• Apply fertilizer and lime to turf grass based on soil tests and UME recommendations.
• 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:

• Pot up Paper Whites and Amaryllis for holiday blooming.
• For readying Christmas cactus and poinsettia 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.
• Switch your deer deterrent spray.
• Hand-pick Japanese beetles or shake them off over a bucket of dishwasher.
• Caulk and seal your outside walls to prevent insect entry into your house.
• 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 below for upcoming local events in October.

Montgomery Parks Special Events & Festivals

More events are being added regularly. Please check back often!

Save the dates for these upcoming events!  Events include a Fall Tour at Common Root Farm, Heritage Food: End of the Herb Season, Mill Creek Towne Garden Club’s “Pruning Your Fall Garden” program, 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://mocofoodcouncil.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/MOCO_Directory_2018_FNL-digital.pdf

 

Master Gardener Plant Clinics

Varied Locations, dates, and times

Montgomery County Master Gardeners - Maryland

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):

http://extension.umd.edu/mg/locations/plant-clinics

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://www.mocoalliance.org/community-supported-agriculture.html

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

Montgomery County Alliance

Harvest Festival

Saturday, November 23, 2019
10 AM – 2 PM

Agricultural History Farm Park
18400 Muncaster Rd
Derwood, Maryland 20855

It’s Heritage Food Month on the Farm! How did our ancestors make sure their food supplies lasted through the winter? What did they have to do to ensure they had adequate nutrition outside of growing seasons? Explore the variety of ways food has been preserved, historically, and learn the basics of canning and preserving that you and your family can employ at home, today!

https://bit.ly/35Iak6T