Join us for a presentation on Montgomery County’s Recycling Program with guest speaker Barbara Fonseca, a program specialist in Montgomery County’s Department of Environmental Protection Recycling and Resource Management Division. In this presentation, we will learn about the latest information and programs aimed to reduce waste in our county.
We invite you to join us and learn more about this program and hopefully be inspired to help make our county a little more GREEN!
FREE
Light Refreshments provided
RSVP: info@mctgardenclub.org
Please do NOT attend this event if you are or have been experiencing symptoms of illness.
THIS EVENT IS FREE, BUT DONATIONS ARE ALWAYS APPRECIATED!
Donations pay for landscaping, repair and maintenance of the Mill Creek Towne Entrances, and our garden-related programs at our community meetings.
NOTE: If Montgomery County Schools are closed due to inclement weather, the Garden Club meeting will be cancelled.
Hope you have a Happy and Safe Labor Day! It’s the end of summer, so now is the time enjoy your harvest and prepare for the fall. Here are some garden tips, educational opportunities, and videos for September. A lot of gardening events are announced on Facebook as well as on our website. Some upcoming events/resources include a Fall Native Plant Sales, Climate Resilient Gardening Webinar Series, Nativescaping, Master Gardener Lectures – Gardening for Wildlife, Garden Discovery Day, Volunteer Gardener Opportunities with Montgomery Parks for SSL Hours, Montgomery College’s Home and Garden Lifelong Learning classes, American Horticultural Society’s Great American Gardeners Webinar Series, and more! These events will be hosted as online or live events.
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.
Mark and photograph your bulb plantings now, while they are still visible.
Plan where fall bulbs will go.
Check your local garden center for end-of-summer bargains.
Order spring-flowering bulbs to arrive for planting this fall.
Attend a local garden club meeting or plant exchange.
Start or update your garden journals.
Read a good gardening book or magazine.
Plan who is going to water plants during your vacation.
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.
Join Mill Creek Towne Garden Club!
Are you interested in gardening? Perhaps you’re a beginner, looking to learn more, or an experienced gardener interested in sharing your experiences and learning from others?
Are you interested in making your home and community a more beautiful place to live?
Are you interested in getting more involved in your community and getting to know your neighbors better?
Visit Our MCT Garden Club Website for Gardening Resources
Local Gardening Resources: Looking for a Master Gardener as a guest speaker, need gardening advice, or want to learn about resources in or near Mill Creek Towne? Visit our Resources page for details.
MCTGC Blog: Check our monthly blog for garden tips and local/online garden-related events.
Gardening Books: Looking for a gift for your favorite gardener? Visit our Gardening Books Resources page for holiday gift ideas.
Local Gardens: Visit our Local Gardens page to learn about local gardens in our area.
Montgomery County Farmers’ Markets: Support our local farmers. Check this page to learn about local farmers markets in our area or join a CSA and get fresh local produce year-round!
Online Gardening Resources: Looking for gardening apps or online resources to help with your gardening? Check out our Online Gardening Resources page for some apps for your smartphone and online gardening resources focused on the DMV area.
Recipes: Looking for a recipe for your home-grown veggies and fruit? Check our Recipes page for ideas.
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.
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):
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:
Collect plant seeds for next year’s planting and for trading at the annual Washington Gardener Magazine Seed Exchanges.
Begin replanting pots with hardy annuals.
Take cuttings from coleus and begonias to propagate and over-winter indoors.
Plant newly purchased plants.
Continue to deadhead.
Your summer annuals will be reviving, now with cooler temps and some rain. Cut back any ragged growth and give them fertilizer. They should put on a good show until the first hard frost.
Remove spent annuals and replace with fall annuals. Water deeply.
Cut fully yellow lily stalks.
Fertilized established bulb beds.
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.
Start bulb plantings of early spring bloomers at the end of the month.
Check your container plants daily and keep them well-watered.
Gently clean up the garden.
Water thoroughly, especially if you receive no rain for more than seven days.
Divide and cut back Bearded Irises and Peonies.
Divide Hostas and Daylilies.
Check for black spot on your roses – remove and discard any affected leaves in the trash, never back into your garden or in your compost – apply fungicide with Neem oil every two weeks during the growing season.
Inspect your garden from powdery mildew. If seen, prune back perennials to create needed circulation. Discard properly (i.e., not in your compost bin).
Hand-pick Japanese beetles or shake them off over a bucket of dishwater. Early morning is a good time to catch them, while they are still drowsy.
Weed. Especially look for fast-growing vines such as honeysuckle, autumn clematis, bittersweet, wild grape, Virginia creeper, and poison ivy.
Pests to watch for: Aphids, spider mites, whiteflies, deer
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.
If your conifers start shedding their needles or your spring bulb foliage starts peeking out of the ground, don’t worry. This is normal for our autumn cycle.
Hold off on planting any new trees and shrubs until the summer heat has passed.
Transplant trees and shrubs.
Divide ornamental grasses.
Contact an certified arborist to have your trees’ health inspected.
Soil test established trees that have not been performing well.
Check often and water newly planted trees if they don’t pass the finger test (stick your finger deep into soil – dry? Water!)
If you MUST mulch, remove old mulch then add 2″ – 3″ shredded pine or pine needles, keeping 3″ away from trunk.
Keep an eye out for bark damage from rabbits and deer.
Spray broadleaf evergreens with anti-desiccant to prevent dehydration.
Keep an eye out for the first frost date. In Zone 7, it is predicted to be between October 15 and November 15.
Plant cover crops in vegetable gardens and annual beds. Continue planting cool-season vegetables (rye, clover, hairy vetch, winter peas, turnips, carrots, beets, spinach, Swiss chard, Chinese cabbage, kale, and Brussels sprouts); plant garlic now through the end of October.
Pick mature tomatoes and peppers to ripen over your window sills.
This is a good time to have vegetable garden and landscape soils tested.
Pick apples at a local pick-your-own farm or visit a local farmer’s market.
Watch your pumpkins/squash. Harvest them when their rinds are dull and hard.
Pot up rosemary and chives for over-wintering indoors.
Harvest your herbs often and keep them trimmed back to encourage leafy growth.
Harvest leaves of herbs used in cooking (rosemary, basil, sage) in the early morning for best flavor.
Cut herbs and flowers for drying indoors.
Preserve gourds and dry flowers for display in the fall.
Water deeply when needed.
Remove finished plants.
Harvest regularly from your vegetable garden to prevent rot and waste.
Harvest onions when tops die back.
Deadhead garlic chives before they go to seed. Makes a nice cut flower.
Direct-sow vegetable seeds.
Plant strawberries in a site with good drainage for harvest next spring.
New fruit plants – keep watered their first spring, summer, and fall.
Hand-pick cabbage worms from cabbage and broccoli.
Thin seedlings.
Apply dormant oil spray to fruit trees.
Pests to watch for: Asparagus beetle, aphids, cabbage worms, corn borer, corn earworm, cutworms, Japanese beetles, squash vine borer, and tomato hornworm.
Diseases to watch for: Powdery mildew, fungal, bacterial, viral diseases.
Bring in tender plants before night temps dip into 60°.
Bring in houseplants if you took them out for the summer.
Take cuttings of plants you want to overwinter inside and place in water.
Look out for slug eggs grouped under sticks and stones; they are the size of BBs and pale in color.
Prune potted bougainvillea or hanging baskets that will overwinter inside.
Begin conditioning Christmas cactus and poinsettias indoors 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.
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.
Repot root-bound houseplants and start fertilizing them.
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 .
Want to learn how to incorporate native plants into your home garden? Join Montgomery Parks for five in-person classes at Locust Grove Nature Center. Sign up for individual classes ($20 each) or join us for the whole series and get one class free ($80). The program begins Sunday, September 8.
Rockville Memorial Library – 2nd Floor Meeting Room
21 Maryland Avenue Rockville, MD 20850
AGE GROUP: TEENS, OLDER ADULTS, ADULT
EVENT TYPE: LECTURES AND DISCUSSIONS ENVIRONMENT
Gardening for Wildlife with Marie Rojas: This lecture will give attendees insights on how to create a wildlife habitat and plants that support wildlife including beneficial insects, birds, and amphibians.
Transform your yard into a wildlife haven! Shop our Native Plant Sales and beautify your backyard while attracting beautiful birds, butterflies, and other pollinators.
Are you looking for a way to complete your Student Service-Learning Hours? Or are you looking for a way to give back to your community? Check out these gardening volunteer opportunities: Gardener | Various dates and times | Ages 16+ | Agricultural History Farm Park Gardener | First Tuesday of every month beginning May 7 through October 1 | 9 am to 1 pm | Ages 21+ | Silver Spring Intermediate Neighborhood Park Crop Production Aide | Various dates and times | Ages 18+ | Pope Farm Nursery Grown@Pope Volunteer Coordinator | April through September | Ages 18+ | Pope Farm Nursery Grown@Pope Workdays | Various dates and times | Ages 16+ | Pope Farm Nursery
Garden Discovery Day
Saturday, September 21, 2024
Montgomery County Agricultural Center 16 Chestnut Street Gaithersburg, MD 20877
University of Maryland Extension and Montgomery County Master Gardeners are proud to present Garden Discovery Day for children grades K-12 on September 21st at the Montgomery County Fairgrounds. Programs will cover a variety of topics from growing seasonal plants to sustainable food systems in the county. Plant a garden to take home! Find out what are good and bad bugs! Children will experience live demonstrations and participate in take-home activities. The event is open to all, but registration is required. Session prices range from $10 to $18 depending on the session. Find all the details and register here:
“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.
