“I would rather sit on a pumpkin, and have it all to myself, than be crowded on a velvet cushion.” ― Henry David Thoreau Where did the summer go? Fall is in the air. Its time to put the garden to bed. Lots of annual plants and pond plants were donated to Paula Jean for “Close Encounters”. Glad we can be of help to this huge and important activity. Frogs were still pretty active in our ponds, and were very popular with our young visitors at the Harvest festival. We thank all our volunteers for the help with the harvest festival. So much work went into tussie mussies, pot painting, butterfly making! Many visitors enjoyed our garden! We might have talked some into registering for the master gardener course next year. It was unfortunate that the weather did not cooperate and that most of the activities were up the hill, but hoping for a better outcome next year. Setting up tents for Harvest Festival Garden Reports: Shade Garden was rained out last Thursday but Carol M. was there to guide visitors for the Harvest Festival. Compost Central: Kristy Hardy Marlow, Susan and I enjoyed an absolutely gorgeous day at compost central. We cleaned up the pile of greens and browns that was there and continued as the master gardeners cleaned out their beds. We had piles in bins 1, 3 and 4. We left with everything looking nice and clean. Marlow also turned the county compost bin again and watered it. We watered all the piles including compost bin 2 which is mostly done. Susan is planning to ask Larry and Denny about combining the finished compost piles and then for the rest of the month we would continue to add from the garden, water and turn the new piles. We have a new master gardener volunteer, Edith. Yeah! Bill is not sure when leaves will be coming, but if they come early November, then Marlow and I might come and add the leaves to the piles and turn them if weather permits. Our special compost crew! Conservation Garden: Maria Wortman The winterberries, Ilex verticillata, are in their glory now, all decked out in their showy red berries. Though birds do eat them, the berries often persist through the winter and are particularly lovely against a white snowfall. The females in our garden are the cultivar ‘Sparkleberry’. We do not know the name of the lone male. If you want to grow these in your garden, be aware that a male is needed nearby to pollinate the female flowers and produce berries. Only one male is needed for 6 to 10 females. Photo by Maria Wortman: Ilex verticillata Most heucheras bloom in the summer, but Heuchera villosa ‘Autumn Bride’ blooms from late summer to frost. It is a rather large and imposing heuchera, sending forth large, fuzzy leaves and spikes of white blossoms reaching from 1 to 3 feet tall. Photo by Maria Wortman: Heuchera Villosa Fall has come to the garden the maple tree is beginning to carpet the earth with its colorful leaves. The leaves of the wild ginger, Asarum canadense, are still green but will die in the winter. In the spring, the plant bears tiny, brown flowers that are hard to see, since they are at ground level under the leaves. The flowers smell like carrion and are pollinated by ants. Interesting! Photo by Maria Wortman – Ginger Have you ever found a plant in your garden that you do not remember planting? Perhaps it was brought in by birds, wind, or other factors. That has happened to us. Please examine the photo of the “mystery plant” that we found near the pond. It is growing as a rosette, and we think it has interesting, pretty leaves. Please let us know if you have seen it and/or know what it is. Photo by Maria Wortman: Mistery plant. Please help us identify Herb and Fragrance Garden: Kathy Tsai The work days in the garden are getting more and more 'leisurely' as we move toward fall. We accomplished two major things today: one, we lowered the purple martin house, emptied water from the pole, checked the house for uninvited guest nests (there were none), and capped the openings until next spring; and two, several wheelbarrows worth of good, rich compost was spread around most of the garden. Other chores included trimming back the witch hazel tree, deadheading the dahlias, and a bit of clipping done to our robust African blue basils. Even the weeds are slowing down, so there wasn't much of that to be done. Plans are in progress to overwinter the gardenia and the bay leaf plant in Marty's basement. Mexican sage in its glory. Children's Garden: Susan Kirby After the excitement of the Harvest Festival, it is time to get the garden ready for winter. Our powdery-mildew infested gourd vines came down, not without yielding some very interesting fruit (see attached picture). The Brussels Sprouts plants continue to attract large number of harlequin bugs, all of which were fed to the frogs in the adjoining pond. The small peppers from Central America provide a bit of color. Next week will feature mulching and a final weeding. Photo by Susan Kirby: Pinge de mono peppers Photo by Susan Kirby: gourds Children’s Therapeutic Garden: Ellen Meyerson This week we did an art project indoors. We used the small pumpkins that we grew and the children decorated them. They painted them and drew on them with the help of their counselors. They also did an art project on paper using crayons glue and some of the cotton that we grew. After finishing the artwork we went out to the garden and they did a little watering which they always enjoy. Next week we will start putting the garden to bed. Butterfly Garden: Peggy Standford Today was a quiet day in the Butterfly Garden. Fall has arrived, flowering plants are slowing down and time has come to think next year. A late passing Monarch Butterfly visited the garden. I have included photo of Monarch caterpillar. Photo by Peggy Stanford: Monarch caterpillar Container Garden: Carol Olsen The herbs and marigolds in the container gardens continue to provide a pleasant focus on the garden pathway. A few reddish green tomatoes along with some chard and peppers were harvested today. Next week will probably be the time to pull out what is left of the tomatoes and other plants that won't survive the winter. We have a beautiful lemongrass plant, so anyone wishing to overwinter it or part of it indoors should stop by next week. The same is true for the other herbs. Also, thanks to Bill for explaining to me how he uses lemongrass in cooking and making tea. I'm looking forward to brewing up my own cup of tea soon! Therapeutic Horticulture Beds: Patty Neame The beds were tidied and the Zinnias were supported to keep them from falling over the pathways. Several Master Gardeners asked about harvesting so please use the Celosia, Zinnias, Marigolds, Ageratum, Gomphrena, Fennel and Mums. 100 Square Foot Garden: Mary Anne Normile A lovely fall day to be in the garden. The 100 Square Foot Garden is winding down. Today's harvest included beans, lettuce, basil, Scotch bonnet and jalapeno peppers, and Swiss chard. The productive Eleonora basil plants were pulled, nighttime temperatures in the 50s signaling the end of its summer. Tomatoes, which failed to live up to the promise of earlier years, were similarly removed, as was a sad cucumber plant. Bush beans were put out of their misery, although the pole beans continue to soar and threaten to topple the leaning Tower of Beans. Marauding harlequin bugs, who manage to feast on plants through the tulle row cover, were dispatched. Plans were made for testing the soil. This garden has been planted intensively for over four years, and we wonder if we have overly taxed the soil, despite regular additions of compost. We also discussed options for soil restoration, including planting a nitrogen-fixing cover crop (soon!). Photo by Mary Anne Normile:Grasshopper ("if you can snatch these pebbles...") found looking for tasty pole beans in the 100 SFG. Photo by Mary Anne Normile: Scotch bonnet pepper has been kind of finicky, but is now producing some very pretty, and very hot peppers. Photo by Mary Anne Normile: Swallowtail caterpillar African Keyhole Garden: Edith Boehler Today we finished harvesting and "deconstructed" the keyhole garden. We were all very interested to see what the layers looked like underneath. We harvested the remaining tomatoes and peppers, donated some of our remaining plants to Close Encounters and moved our remaining collards to our neighbor's bed across the path. While we harvested a lot of sweet potato leaves, the sweet potatoes underneath were skinny and undeveloped, as were our meager few carrots. Once we peeled off the county compost bins, we were surprised at how dry the soil was and disappointed to see very few worms as we worked our way down the soil. We separately analyzed our composting cage in the middle of the bed and found that just below the layer of not yet composted kitchen waste was a layer of semi-composted soil that moist and full of worms which we donated to the compost bins. Then, toward the bottom, we had a section of quite well composted soil. As we took the pile apart, we found caverns at the bottom, probably where the hay and twigs had composted after the soil above became compacted. We also found that the compost bins had been chewed near the bottom. So, we have most likely been a habitat contributor to the vermin problems the vegetable gardens have been experiencing this summer. Sorry! Next week we take apart the bales. Photo by Edith Boehler: Susan E. looking at compost and helping out! Photo by Edith Boehler: Crew dismantling African Keyhole Photo by Edith Boehler: Cavity in African Keyhole Happy crew all done! MANNA: We thank Cindy and John Reilly for delivering a huge load to MANNA. We delivered 146 pounds of produce. Lots of bags of sweet potato vine, peppers, lettuce, tomatoes, basil, tomatillos and squashes and pumpkins. Our total for the year is 1422 pounds! Pond Report: Darlene Nicholson The pond environment has been stable throughout this summer and we continue to see lots of pond critters. We will put off cutting the plants and removal of the floaters until frost is imminent, to provide a habitat for as long as possible. Perhaps the last bloom of this water hyacinth... Photo: Darlene Nicholson- Water hyacinth Bug Report: Darlene Nicholson The wings of butterflies and leaves of plants are becoming tattered and worn from a season of life. Although I have seen many beneficial bugs in the garden at Derwood I haven't seen so many Lady Bird Beetles this season. On Tuesday, however, there was a good population of them doing some IPM on the Milkweed plants. This lady has a big, plump Oleander aphid in her sights. It has been reported that Lady Bird Beetles can consume as many as 50 aphids per day. The one pictured below is a multicolored Asian lady beetle. LBB's do IPM on OA's Photo by Darlene Nicholson: Multicolored Asian lady beetle Closing Comments: Lily and Bill Next week, we will continue to put the garden to bed. Peppers and African Keyhole garden were removed today. Sweet potatoes were dug up. Only a small amount of sweet potatoes were left for our consumption as the resident voles had a great feast. Photo by Darlene Nicholson: Sweet potato harvest. There is much talk as to how we improve on our soil.. Which cover crops do we put and when. We are grateful for our compost crew that produces such high quality compost for our use. Photo by Darlene Nicholson: Bill removing lemon grass from garden.
Next week we will continue to clean out the outside storage unit. We were so fortunate to have Joslyn’s husband Michele help us out with clearing the weeds and poison ivy that was growing in there. We removed the bamboo fence and all the rotting wood pile. We will cover the ground with bricks or paving stones so we don’t have to clear out poison ivy again in the spring. If you have any paving stones, bricks that you no longer need, please bring to the demo garden! On October 18, we will clean out the shed and sharpen/fix tools. Joe Gunther will be leading the tool work/learn session. Please don’t forget our last work day is October 25. If you still have any receipts, we need them to close out the year! Here is the link to our Master Gardener talk about how to put the garden bed.
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