Hello Friends, Neighbors, Fellow Gardeners,
Happy New Year! Here are some garden tips, educational opportunities, and videos for January. A lot of gardening events are announced on Facebook as well as on our website. Some upcoming events/resources include 18th Annual Washington Gardener Seed Exchanges, Montgomery College Spring 2024 Environmental Horticulture and Home and Garden Lifelong Learning classes, Meadowside Nature Center January Programs, Brookside Garden’s Greenscapes Event, American Horticultural Society’s Great American Gardeners Webinar Series, and more! These events will be hosted as online or live events.
Planning Tips
- Start to browse seed catalogs and dream.
- Decide where your plants from seed are going in your garden.
- Gather seeds and carefully label them. Store in a dry location.
- Order/buy those seeds!
- Collect supplies for starting seeds.
- Participate in a local seed swap.
- Clean out your greenhouse and wash those windows.
- Clean and tidy pots and seed trays to get a good start in February.
- Paint a few terra cotta pots in spring-like colors.
- Sharpen and replace tools as needed.
- Volunteer at a local public or historic garden.
- Plan for 2024 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.
Maryland Grows Blog
In weekly posts on MD HGIC’s blog, learn about pollinator conservation, growing native plants and food, and how to solve plant pest and disease problems.
MD HGIC Video Tips
Our Extension experts are sharing one-minute video tips to help you in the garden this summer. We’re talking about pest management in the vegetable garden, tree and lawn diseases, native plants, mowing lawns, and more!
For more information, please visit:
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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
UMD Home and Garden Information Center: Ask a Master Gardener
Do you have a gardening question? Our Certified Professional Horticulturists, faculty, and Master Gardener Volunteers are ready to answer – year-round!
See below to ask a master gardener a question on the UMD Extension website:
New Gardening Books
Online Gardening Resources
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 2023 MoCo Food & Beverage Guide is here! The Guide from the Montgomery County Food Council is available online – 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 2023 Farmers Market Flyer to find a farmer’s market near you.
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
Check out the revised list of Mid-Atlantic native plants for pollinators and beneficial insects, from the Xerces Society.
Floral Supplements Support Ecosystem Services in Our Green Spaces
Winter is a good season to plan for spring. In today’s post, we want to tell you a bit about a type of planting that one can consider. This planting will boost the stability of our green spaces, turning them into havens of biodiversity. Let’s talk about floral supplementation and floral supplements.
UMD HGIC
Washington Gardener Magazine presents the
18th Annual Washington Gardener Seed Exchanges
on Saturday, January 27, 2024,
12:30–4:00pm
National Seed Swap Day!
at Brookside Gardens in Wheaton, MD
Registration is now open at
Flowers and Groundcovers
- Plant the bulbs you forgot to plant last fall!
- Check on stored summer bulbs and seeds. Discard any that have rotted.
- Pot up any leftover bulbs that did not make it into the ground by now and force them for indoor blooms.
- Weed. Especially look for fast-growing vines such as honeysuckle, autumn clematis, bittersweet, wild grape, Virginia creeper, and poison ivy.
- Start seeds for: Petunia, Dwarf Snapdragons. Check daily for moisture.
- Avoid walking in planting beds.
- Leave old flower stems standing for nesting pollinators.
- After hard frost, sow seeds of spring-blooming hardy annuals and perennials then mark beds!
- Leave seedheads on Black-eyed Susan, Echinacea, Goldenrod, Sunflowers, and Thistles for the birds to enjoy over the winter.
- 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
5 Million Trees Initiative
Maryland’s goal is to plant and maintain 5 million native trees by 2031. There are various ways you can get involved – plant trees and register them — or volunteer! A number of tree-planting assistance programs are available at the municipal, county, and state levels.
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 summer bloomers such as Hydrangeas, Rose of Sharon, Crape Myrtles, and Butterfly Bushes.
- Set out your live potted evergreens from holiday decorating in a protected outdoor space to harden them off in advance of planting them.
- Use leftover holiday greens and cut-up tree branches to mulch beds and create windbreaks.
- Check that newly planted trees, shrubs, and perennials have not been heaved out of the ground due to freezing and thawing cycles.
- Keep an eye out for bark damage from rabbits and deer.
- Gently remove layers of snow from outdoor evergreens with a broom.
- Prune stone fruit trees like cherries, plums, and peaches.
- Prune maples, dogwoods, birch, elm, walnut, and yellowwood to prevent “bleeding”.
- Prune out Fireblight damage Malus and Pyrus when very cold.
- Spray broadleaf evergreens with anti-desiccant to prevent dehydration.
- Use fallen leaves for mulch or compost.
- Water slowly and deeply if weather is very dry.
- Prune foundation shrubs and trees to be no closer than 1 foot from the house.
- Check often and water newly planted trees if they don’t pass the finger test (stick your finger deep into soil – dry? Water!)
- Look out for any Poison Ivy vines, which will turn crimson in the late fall and be easy to distinguish from other vines.
- Remove Ivy, Pachysandra, and other vine-like groundcover from under shrubs.
- Mulch or compost healthy leaves.
- 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.
- Remove dead and dying trees.
- Pests to watch for: azalea lacebug, bagworms, borers, caterpillars, gypsy moths, Japanese beetles, scale, sawfly, spidermites, leafminers, voles, and deer.
- Diseases to watch for: Fireblight
- 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.
Seed-Starting Guide, Part Two
Maryland Grows
What growing medium to use for seed-starting.
Herbs, Veggies, and Fruit
- Set up a cold frame, then plant lettuces, radishes, and carrots from seed. Vent cold frames on sunny days.
- Collect large plastic soda bottles to use as cloches. (A cloche is a clear, bell-shaped cover used to protect tender plants from frost.)
- Till and add organic matter to annual/vegetable beds.
- Spread ashes from wood fires on your vegetable beds.
- Cut herbs and flowers for drying indoors.
- Thin seedlings.
- Harvest your herbs often and keep them trimmed back to encourage leafy growth.
- Apply dormant oil spray to fruit trees.
- Pests to watch for: Asparagus beetle, aphids, birds, cabbage worms, corn earworm, cutworms, deer, rabbits, squash vine borer, and tomato hornworm.
- Diseases to watch for: Apple scab, Cedar-apple rust.
- 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. To prevent damage to your home and the environment, choose a deicer carefully.
Lawns
- Avoid walking on frozen grass to avoid damaging the crowns.
- Use de-icer sparingly or a nonchemical substitute such as sand, grit, fireplace ashes, or non-clumping kitty litter.
- Store your fertilizer and seeds in rodent-proof containers.
- Clean yard of all leaves and other debris.
- Turn your compost pile.
- 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
- Cut off the flower stalk on your amaryllis once flowers fade. Leave foliage to grow.
- Keep poinsettias in well-lit area, but out of direct sun and away from drafts.
- Fertilize only your winter-blooming houseplants, such as violets.
- Buy a few new houseplants.
- Give your houseplants a quarter turn every few weeks.
- Keep all houseplants out of drafts and away from heat vents.
- Keep succulents and cacti on the dry side.
- Start new indoor plants from cuttings – try an easy one such as violets.
- Repot and fertilize houseplants when new growth begins.
- 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.
- 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.
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.
- Put suet out for birds.
- Keep bird feeders clean and filled.
- Switch your deer deterrent spray.
- 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:
Meadowside Nature Center, Montgomery Parks January Program Line-Up
It’s here, the winter program lineup! Here’s what’s happening at Meadowside this January.
Raptor Caretaker Chats>
January 6, 2024 12:00 pm – 12:30 pm
Nature’s Curiosities: Curio Cabinet Design>
January 12, 2024 5:30 pm – 6:30 pm
Raptor Caretaker Chats>
January 13, 2024 12:00 pm – 12:30 pm
Silent Nature Stroll>
January 13, 2024 12:00 pm – 12:30 pm
Conifers & Cones Campfire & Hike>
January 13, 2024 4:00 pm – 5:00 pm
Squirrel Appreciation Day>
January 20, 2024 11:00 am – 12:00 pm
Raptor Caretaker Chats>
January 20, 2024 12:00 pm – 12:30 pm
Raptor Caretaker Chats>
January 27, 2024 12:00 pm – 12:30 pm
Follow this link to view our January programs:
Montgomery College Horticultural Classes – Spring 2024
This is the schedule of horticultural classes offered at Montgomery College, Germantown Campus this spring semester. The courses are offered in several formats including online, hybrid (online but with face-to-face field trips) and all face-to-face. Students can take classes for credit or audit. Maryland residents 60 years and older may be eligible for a tuition waiver, such that they pay only fees.
For example, eligible seniors would only pay $91.60 for HORT 105 – Introduction to Sustainable Landscaping or $137.40 for HORT 254 – Plant Materials II, HORT 258 Landscape Management or HORT 271 Plant Propagation. Senior registration starts January 17. Classes start the week of January 22.
Lifelong Learning Home and Garden Classes
Annuals and Perennials for Mid-Atlantic Landscape
The course will focus on the requirements needed to successfully incorporate perennials and annuals into the residential landscape of the Mid-Atlantic. We will discuss plant species, both native and non-native, to extend the seasonal interest in the garden. Discussion will include incorporating natives, pollinators, and plants suitable to resolve specific problems within the landscape. The course will review the topography, and soil structure, as well as sun and shade ratios to ensure success with annuals and perennials in the landscape. Also included will be discussions on biennials, self-sown species, and repeat blooming species, as well as perennial division and transplanting; the need to replace invasive species within the gardenscape and how to control invasive species; how to incorporate deer resistant plant species and protect the landscape from deer damage; and the USDA and county zones of hardiness and how to interpret the standardized product labeling requirements from suppliers of plant material. This course is designed for to address the needs professional landscapers or volunteer/amateur gardeners.
TWA Course: LLP152 5 Hours
$59 + $74 fee = $133; NMR add $120
Online: Structured Remote CRN#: 33954 2 Sessions
T 4/23-4/30 6:30-9 p.m.
Garden Design
Do you ever wish you could have a beautiful home garden? In this course, garden enthusiasts and homeowners will examine the basics of garden design. You will discuss current garden trends; and how to integrate the architecture of your home/buildings into the landscape for a cohesive overall design. You will focus on using plants and materials that are suitable for the Mid-Atlantic region to create a garden design suitable for your home or as a part of your employment.
TWA Course: LLI519 8 Hours
$59 + $79 fee = $138; NMR add $120
Rockville Campus CRN#: 33901 4 Sessions
T 2/20-3/19 6:30-8:30 p.m.
No class 3/12
Introduction to Organic Vegetable Gardening
Learn how to produce vegetables for the household while using sustainable gardening practices. Explore what, when, and how to plant vegetable crops that are well suited to Maryland. Discuss ways to organically control pest and diseases. Design a garden for your home or as a part of your employment.
TWA Course: LLP001 5 Hours
$40 + $72 fee = $112; NMR add $120
Online: Structured Remote CRN#: 33920 2 Sessions
R 2/29-3/7 6:30-9 p.m.
Orchids
How to Grow and Bloom Discover how to be successful with orchid selection in the home environment. Learn how to purchase, care, transplant, and water your orchids. Discuss how to rebloom your orchid, when to fertilize, and when to root prune.
Course: LLI022 3 Hours
$15 + $15 fee = $30; NMR add $30
Online: Structured Remote CRN#: 33903 1 Session
T 1/23 6:30-9:30 p.m.
Woody Ornamentals for the MidAtlantic Region (NEW)
The course will discuss the options for trees and shrubs for use in the Mid-Atlantic residential landscape. We will discuss the need to eliminate the use of invasive species in our region, as well as options to replace these too common species within our landscape. The course covers both native species and selected non-native species, and the need to choose woody ornamentals as a long term investment. Emphasis will be placed on species native to the region better suited to the residential site. and how proper selection of species reduces the need for pruning and reduces the maintenance required. There will be a focus on how to create living low maintenance gardens that will endure. Additional content includes the need for soil and water testing prior to planting, as well as, how to access testing facilities as well as the Tree Montgomery program, the Rain Garden program, and the Street Tree programs within Montgomery County. This course is designed for professional landscapers and/or volunteer/home gardeners. TWA
Course: LLP153 5 Hours
$59 + $74 fee = $133; NMR add $120
Online: Structured Remote CRN#: 33955 2 Sessions
T 4/2-4/9 6:30-9 p.m.
Brookside Garden’s Greenscapes Event
Friday, February 16, 2024
9am – 4pm
| Don’t miss out on the Early Bird discount! |
| Don’t miss out on the Early Bird fee of $50 that ends on Friday, January 12. |
Join Brookside Gardens for a day of virtual lectures on Friday, February 16, 2024, as industry experts share valuable lessons from the field of creating sustainable landscapes. Lectures will reimagine traditional gardens with native plants and offer the latest in ecologically focused management strategies.
Take advantage of the Early Bird fee of $50 that ends on Friday, January 12. All sessions will be recorded and made available online to registrants. For more information and to register online, visit https://mocoparks.org/3lWVVus.
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.
