queen anne’s county master gardener newsletter the ... · dated november 20, 2017 con-firmed the...

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MARCH 2018 VOLUMNE 19, ISSUE 3 Queen Anne’s County Master Gardener Newsletter The Watering Can INSIDE THIS ISSUE: Coordinators Corner 2 Spring Into Spring 2 MG Meetings 3 MG Hours 3 Road Construction 3 Horticultural Lecture Series 4 Garden Day & Seed Swap 5 Spotted Lanternfly 6 Volunteer Oppor- tunities 7 Ask a Master Gardener 8 What-to-do Advanced Training 9 Washington College Garden 9 2018 Intern Training Schedule 10 2018 Mentors 11 In Memoriam 11 20th Anniversary Updates 12 Plant Sale 12 March Monthly Tips 13 Microgreens 14-15 Pollinators 16 Cunningham Manor 17 Calendar 18-19 Spotted Lanternfly The spoed lanternfly is an invasive in- sect that aacks grapes, apples, stone fruits, pines, and other species. This non -nave invasive pest was first detected in the United States in 2014 in Berks County, Pennsylvania but is spreading to other counes in the state. Maryland residents should be on the lookout. Adults lay eggs on mulple flat surfaces including the outsides and undersides of vehicles which allows them to spread. Egg masses will hatch in the spring. Both nymphs and adults of spoed lanternfly cause damage when they feed, sucking sap from stems and leaves. This can reduce photosynthesis, weaken the plant, and eventually con- tribute to the plants death. In Pennsylvania, spoed lanternfly has spread into 13 counes. A press release issued from the Del- aware Department of Agriculture dated November 20, 2017 con- firmed the finding of spoed lan- ternfly in New Castle County, Dela- ware. Spoed lanternfly was reported and confirmed in Frederick County, Vir- ginia as of January 10, 2018. If you observe any egg masses or in- sects which look similar to this, please try to collect them, and inform the Maryland Department of Agriculture at (410) 841-5920 or [email protected] as soon as possible. Connued on page 6 Photo Credit: Holly Raguza, Pennsylva- nia Department of Agriculture

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Page 1: Queen Anne’s County Master Gardener Newsletter The ... · dated November 20, 2017 con-firmed the finding of spotted lan-ternfly in New astle ounty, Dela-ware. Spotted lanternfly

M A R C H 2 0 1 8 V O L U M N E 1 9 , I S S U E 3

Queen Anne’s County Master Gardener Newsletter

The Watering Can I N S I D E T H I S

I S S U E :

Coordinators

Corner

2

Spring Into Spring 2

MG Meetings 3

MG Hours 3

Road Construction 3

Horticultural

Lecture Series

4

Garden Day &

Seed Swap

5

Spotted Lanternfly 6

Volunteer Oppor-

tunities

7

Ask a Master

Gardener

8

What-to-do

Advanced Training

9

Washington

College Garden

9

2018 Intern

Training Schedule

10

2018 Mentors 11

In Memoriam 11

20th Anniversary

Updates

12

Plant Sale 12

March Monthly

Tips

13

Microgreens 14-15

Pollinators 16

Cunningham

Manor

17

Calendar 18-19

Spotted Lanternfly

The spotted lanternfly is an invasive in-sect that attacks grapes, apples, stone fruits, pines, and other species. This non-native invasive pest was first detected in the United States in 2014 in Berks County, Pennsylvania but is spreading to other counties in the state. Maryland residents should be on the lookout.

Adults lay eggs on multiple flat surfaces including the outsides and undersides of vehicles which allows them to spread. Egg masses will hatch in the spring. Both nymphs and adults of spotted lanternfly cause damage when they feed, sucking sap from stems and leaves. This can reduce photosynthesis, weaken the plant, and eventually con-tribute to the plant’s death. In Pennsylvania, spotted lanternfly

has spread into 13 counties.

A press release issued from the Del-aware Department of Agriculture dated November 20, 2017 con-firmed the finding of spotted lan-ternfly in New Castle County, Dela-ware.

Spotted lanternfly was reported and confirmed in Frederick County, Vir-ginia as of January 10, 2018.

If you observe any egg masses or in-sects which look similar to this, please try to collect them, and inform the Maryland Department of Agriculture at (410) 841-5920 or [email protected] as soon as possible.

Continued on page 6

Photo Credit: Holly Raguza, Pennsylva-nia Department of Agriculture

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P A G E 2

T H E W A T E R I N G C A N

Hello Everyone! Spring is only a few weeks away and before you know it summer will be here. Here some things we’re getting ready for. We need Mentors! We will need 15 mentors to cover Cecil, Kent and Queen

Anne’s County participants. If you are interested in becoming a mentor please make sure that you come to the April 2nd meeting at 9:30 AM at the Centreville Library. Details on Page 11

We need a speaker for our September Meeting. Please let me know if you have any suggestions.

The pollinator committee is in full swing and needs a few more volunteers. Let me know if you’d like to help. A list of all of our upcoming activities are on page 16

All of our volunteer activities are on: http://signup.com/go/QdpYbQP Best, Rachel

COORDINATOR’S CORNER

Our Spring Into Spring event at the Higher Ed-ucation Building at Chesapeake College on March 21st is currently SOLD OUT. To be placed on a waiting list please call or email Rachel (410) 758-0166 or [email protected]

SPRING INTO

SPRING

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P A G E 3 V O L U M N E 1 9 , I S S U E 3

Meeting Date Topic Time Place

March 21, 2018 Advanced Training Day-Details on page 12 & 13

9:30 a.m.-4 p.m.

Chesapeake College-Higher Ed-ucation Building

April 18, 2018 Dr. Sara Via, UMD- Healthy Soil 9:30-11:30 a.m.

WYE Research and Education Center

May 16, 2018 Topic: Native Foraging Speaker: MG Shane Brill

5:30-7:30 p.m. Centreville Library

June 20, 2018 Picnic TBD

July 18, 2018 MG Business Meeting 5:30-7:30 p.m. Centreville Library

September 19, 2018 Topic: TBD 5:30-7:30 p.m. Centreville Library

October 17, 2018 20th Anniversary Celebration Evening Prospect Bay Country Club

November 21, 2018 2019 Planning Meeting 9:30-11:30 TBD

December 11, 2018 Trip to Longwood Gardens 8-5 P.M. Cost:TBD

2018 MG Meetings

For the next 2 years (yes, that's right, 2 years), the town of Cen-treville will be going through major road work. Commerce Street and Liberty Street will be gutted to improve aging water and sew-er lines. Construction has begun on Liberty Street. Please make sure that you take this construction into account when coming to MG meetings. It might be easier to take Route 304 into town. For more information on the construction visit: http://

www.townofcentreville.org/liberty-street-commerce-street-construction-project/

Road Construction has Started

MG HOURS

Thank you to everyone who turned in hours in January & February, so far we have logged 154 volunteer hours. If you haven’t had a chance to go into the OTS to record your hours please do so

today. You can login to the OTS at: http://extension.umd.edu/mg/program-management/tracking-volunteer-hours For the month of March if you enter in hours your name will be added into a drawing. The winner will be announced on April 1st.

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P A G E 4

Horticultural Lecture Series Submitted by: MG Sabine Harvey

T H E W A T E R I N G C A N

Join us for the 19th Annual Horticulture Lecture Series every Friday in March at the Kent County Library in Chestertown from 10-11:30 A.M. Make sure that you get there a little early seating is limited.

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If you’d like to volunteer to help with the Seed Swap and Garden Day click this link: http://signup.com/go/fRnnpAK

P A G E 5 V O L U M N E 1 9 , I S S U E 3

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T H E W A T E R I N G C A N

P A G E 6

Spotted Lanternfly

Egg cases of the Spotted Lanternfly can be found on tree bark and other smooth surfaces such as rocks, outdoor furniture, vehicles and other structures. They are about 1-1 1/5” long and 1/2-3/4” wide. They are grey brown in color. Newly laid egg masses are somewhat shiny and covered in a wax coating. Photo credit: Nancy Bosold, Penn State Extension

Beginning in late April to early May nymphs will hatch from egg masses laid on smooth bark, stone, and other vertical surfaces. Nymphs will complete four immature stages. The first stage (image 3) is black with white spots and wingless. As it grows, the Spotted Lanternfly will start to develop red patches in addition to white spots (image 4). Nymphs spread from the initial spot by crawling and feeding on woody and non-woody plants. Photo: Nymphal Lycorma del-icatula. Taken from Park et al 2009

Photo credit: Lawrence Barringer, Pennsylvania De-partment of Agriculture

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P A G E 7 V O L U M N E 1 9 , I S S U E 3

Saturday, September 1st (3 volunteers needed)

Sign up either by contacting Sabine Harvey ([email protected] ) or you can sign up at http://signup.com/go/pYKeAfT

Plant Sale: Greenhouse Help: If you like to start seeds or transplant plants but can’t help with the Plant Sale on May 12th, then the greenhouse house would be the perfect place for you to get volunteer hours. March 27th (3 volunteers needed) April 16th (3 volunteers needed) May 10th (3 volunteers needed) Pricing & Sorting (May 11th) help get the plants ready for the plant sale sorting and pricing we’ll start at 9 A.M. (2 volunteers needed) Sign up at http://signup.com/go/jcdxUOs

Volunteer Opportunities

Garden Day & Seed Swap-March 17th (10 A.M.-1 P.M.) Seed Swap Table: Help people select the per-

fect seeds for their gardens (1 volunteer needed)

Ask A Master Gardener: Master Gardeners look at samples of ailing plants to make diag-nosis, give recommendations, answer ques-tions, and provide printed information on a variety of gardening subjects (1 volunteer needed)

Bay-Wise: (1 volunteer needed) Data Collector: (1 volunteer needed) Sign up either by contacting Karen Wimsatt

([email protected] 410-604-7404) or you can sign up at http://signup.com/go/fRnnpAK

Ask A Master Gardener Plant Clinic Chestertown Master Gardeners look at samples of ailing plants to make diagnosis, give recom-mendations, answer questions, and provide printed information on a variety of gardening subjects Saturday, April 21st (1 volunteer needed) Saturday, May 5th (2 volunteers needed) Saturday, May 26th (Tea Party Day)

8:30-10 A.M. (2 volunteers needed) 10 A.M.-12 P.M. (3 volunteers needed) 12 –2 P.M. (3 volunteers needed) 2-4 P.M. (3 volunteers needed)

Saturday, June 9th (2 volunteers needed) Saturday, June 23rd (2 volunteers needed) Saturday, July 7th (3 volunteers needed) Saturday, July 21st (3 volunteers needed) Saturday, August 4th (2 volunteers needed)

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P A G E 8

T H E W A T E R I N G C A N

As the next Master Gar-dener Training is due to start in February, we thought it would be a great idea to feature a display about becoming a Master Gardener – so

the February, “Ask a Master Gardener” table at the Kent Island Plant Clinic offered a display board along with infor-mation and handouts about the upcom-ing class and, hopefully, encouraged as-piring gardeners to consider joining us! We actually had about 20 people stop by the table to chat about gardening issues, and we had one request for a Bay Wise consultation! Unfortunately, in my house the other day, I found an orchid (which I had sort of neglected) covered with those prehistoric-looking mealy bugs. I decided I could make good use of this plant by having it be the “What is This” display; so I put the orchid and the mealy bugs in a Ziploc bag and set them out on the ta-ble. It generated a bit of interest, and many thanks to Nancy O’Connor who de-cided to adopt the failing orchid and nurse it back to health. I hate to admit this, but I was going to put it in the trashcan! Deane was on vacation, so many thanks to all the master gardeners who came to help out: Pat Gannon, Bar-bara Graham, Jackie Kelly, Christy Little, Debbie Longhurst, Nancy O’Connor, and Karen Wimsatt. Thanks also to Kathy Tengwall and Nick Stoer for stopping by! It was great to spend the afternoon

Ask a Master Gardener

Kent Island Farmers Market

Submitted by: MG Liz Hammond &

Deane Horowitz, KI Plant Clinic Chair

with everyone, and there was no lack of conversation with anyone who stopped by to chat about gardening! As we will all be really tired of win-ter by March and want to start digging in the gardens, we will have a display about “Starting From Seed” at the next Kent Is-land Farmer’s Market on Thursday, March 8, from 3:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. Also, we will have an “Ask a Master Gardener” ta-ble at the seed swap at the Kent Island Li-brary on Saturday, March 17. Come join us if you can in March – it’s a great way to get MG volunteer hours! Liz Hammond 410-758-2992 [email protected] Deane Horowitz 410-604-0969 [email protected] Upcoming Plant Clinic Dates: (at the Kent Island Farmers Market-unless otherwise noted) 3/8/18-”Starting From Seed” 3/17/18 At the Seed Swap and Garden

Day at the Kent Island Library 4/12/18 5/10/18

6/14/18 7/12/18

8/9/18

9/13/18 10/11/18

11/08/18 12/13/18 To sign up for a particular day email Liz, come to an MG meeting or clink on this link: http://signup.com/go/qWhYAOw

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P A G E 9 V O L U M N E 1 9 , I S S U E 3

What-to-do at A Plant Clinic Training Monday, April 16, 4:00 – 6:00 pm 709 Morgnec Rd, Chestertown (Kent County Ext.)

Standing behind the table at an “Ask a MG” plant clinic is a ton of fun! Truly, I am not kidding! I understand some of us may feel that we do not know enough to answer people’s question, but here are some things to remember: You are not alone

You do not need to have all the answers

You can do other things besides answering questions To show you what you can do at a plant clinic AND to make you feel more comfortable, we are organizing a special “training.” At this “training” you will learn: Where to get information

What resources are available at a plant clinic booth How you can help at a plant clinic

How you can prepare information at home In addition, please bring plant/insect samples and questions so we can practice our diagnostic skills. You can sign up three ways, either by emailing Sabine Harvey [email protected], Rachel [email protected] or by http://signup.com/go/gepTWcT

Washington College

Campus Garden

Join the Washington College students at their Bay-wise certified Campus Garden as they establish a food forest following permaculture principles. Please contact MG Shane Brill ([email protected]) if you are interested in volunteering with them

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P A G E 1 0

T H E W A T E R I N G C A N

MG INTERN TRAINING

SPEAKER SCHEDULE Date Time Topic Speaker

March 8th 5:30-8:30pm Plant Nutrition & Pruning Andrew Ristvey

March 10th 9-10:30am Ecology Ginny Rosenkranz

10:30-12pm Invasive Plants Ginny Rosenkranz

March 15th 5:30-8:30pm Plant Pathology & Abiotic Dave Clement

March 17th 9-12pm Snow Day *Room 210

March 22nd 5:30-8:30pm Natives & Conservation Landscaping? MG Carol Jelich

March 24th 9:30-12:30pm Turf & Fertilizer Dr. Gary Felton

March 29th 5:30-8:30pm Pesticides & Agriculture Jenny Rhodes

March 31st 9-12pm Open/Backup Snowday (Easter Wknd)

Time to work on project

April 5th 5:30-8:30pm Integrated Pest Management Emily/Mikaela

April 7th 9-11am Composting MG Denise Malueg

11am-12pm Public Speaking Rachel/Mikaela/Emily

April 12th 5:30-8:30pm Grow It, Eat It/Bay-Wise/Plant Clinics MG Sabine Harvey; Mikaela, Emily, Bay-Wise Representative

April 14th 9-12pm Jeopardy & Study Day

April 19th 5:30-8:30pm EXAM DAY

April 21st 9-12pm Group Presentations

12pm-?? Potluck & Celebration

Remember….. If you’re interested in a MG Training

topic you do not have to be a hostess/host to attend a

class.

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P A G E 1 1 V O L U M N E 1 9 , I S S U E 3

Mentoring Submitted by: MG Nick Stoer

The mentor committee is in full swing as we gear up for our newest group of interns. We have a total of 26 interns; 2 from Dor-chester, 1 from Caroline, 1 from Cecil, 4 from Kent, 10 from Queen Anne’s County, 7 from Talbot and 1 UME Employee. We will need 15 mentors to cover Cecil, Kent and Queen Anne’s County participants. If you are interested in becoming a mentor please make sure that you come to the April 2nd meeting at 9:30 AM at the Centreville Li-brary. At this meeting we will pair you up with an intern and go over the roles and responsibilities as a mentor. Also as a men-tor it would be great if you could attend the final day of class (April 21st), the interns will be presenting their project and we will have a potluck immediately following. The actual mentoring won’t begin until a week

or so after the final exam for the 2018 Basic Training course. The first organized opportunity to help interns learn what we do and how we do it will be at our MG Plant Sale on May 12th and the several prep weeks leading up to the Plant Sale. That is a good opportunity for interns to meet many of our MGs in a non-classroom setting. A lesson learned from this past year is that interns very much want to learn what and where all of the volunteering opportunities are. Each Intern has been added to Google groups and has been given the link for signup.com. I have encouraged them to become involved early in the process and to get to know the other interns from their counties. Furthermore, each 2018 intern al-ready has a copy of our 2017 directo-ry. Besides listing all of our MGs and interns, it identifies the chairs of the pertinent committees.

We Need You! Help plant the seeds of volunteerism with our newest interns. To become a mentor please contact Rachel at [email protected]

In Memoriam-MG Julie Tompkins It is with great sadness that I inform you that fellow Master Gardener Julie Tompkins passed away on February 19, 2018. Julie joined the program in 2004 and was very ac-tive with various committees. She was a member of our Bay-Wise committee, her property was part of the KIFA Gardens by the Sea tour, she always helped with the Garden Affair and lent a hand with the Kent Island programs. Julie was named Master Gardener of the month in July 2010 and January 2011 for her service to the program. She will be greatly missed. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to the Georgetown University Hospital Fund a Fellow for Parkinson’s Program. Services will be held March 16, 2018, at 1:00 PM at Centreville United Methodist Church. Her memories live on: www.juliezehtompkins.com Here is the link to her Obituary and information about the service. http://www.fhnfuneralhome.com/obituaries/Julie-Tompkins/#!/Obituary

Save the Date: Mentor Meeting: Wednesday, March

14th at 3 PM at the QAC Extension Office

Mentor Meeting: Monday, April 2nd at 9:30 AM at the Centreville Library Meeting Room.

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P A G E 1 2

20th Anniversary Planning

MG History – MG Linda Doub will be collecting antidotes on these past years being a Master Gardener to put into our past 20 years portfolio. It can be funny experiences-messages that got across to people to change their way of gardening- or just what being a MG has done for you. Send to: [email protected]

2018 20th Anniversary Meeting Schedule

March 20th 9am

April 11th at 1 P.M.

June 20th at 1:30 P.M.

October 3rd at 1 P.M.

***ALL Meetings will be held at the UME Extension Office unless otherwise noted

T H E W A T E R I N G C A N

Social Event – Margaret Gardener and Jane Smith will be helping plan this portion of our 20th celebration. Our social event will be on Wednesday, October 17th in evening at Prospect Bay Country Club and will be in place of our Holiday event.

Plant Sale Committee Updates

Special thanks to: Christy Little, Sharlotte Beecher, Gayle Jayne, Laura Klingler, Cathy Tengwall, Lois Noonan, Tina Smith for helping to plant 15 flats of tomatoes, peppers, butterfly weed, baptisa, and helleborus for the plant sale. We will have have several other planting days throughout the next few months. For a complete listing of vol-unteer opportunities with the plant sale visit: http://signup.com/go/jcdxUOs Our next plant sale meeting will be on Thursday, March 15th at 10 A.M. at the Extension Office. Everyone is welcome.

Don’t forget it’s the perfect time to start tomato and pepper plants from seed

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P A G E 1 3 V O L U M N E 1 9 , I S S U E 3

Fruit Trees (Apples & Pears)

Start routine pruning by removing dead, broken and cross-ing branches and keep younger trees trained with a central leader much like a Christmas tree shape.

Be careful not to over-fertilize apple trees with nitrogen. Too much nitrogen can lead to excessive, weak growth and promote disease and insect pest problems. If apple and pear trees are healthy, fruitful, and making 12-18 inches of new shoot growth each year, they don’t need to be fertilized at all.

Bordeaux mix, a fungicide/bactericide can be applied to ap-ple and pear trees from budswell to green tip stage to re-duce the incidence of fireblight. Never spray dormant oil within 10 days of a sulfur-containing spray. Fixed copper products can also be used, but spray at the silver tip stage (before the tips of the buds turn green). Fireblight disease damage on apples and pears should be pruned out now pri-or to blooming. This will lessen the chance of spreading this bacterial infection later in the spring.

(Peaches)

Peach trees should be pruned after flowering. For peach trees, maintain an open vase shape to encourage good air circulation and fruiting throughout. Shorten all the branches and thin out weak growth.

Peach trees usually require an annual early spring applica-tion of a balanced fertilizer (i.e. 10-10-10) at bloom.

Liquid lime sulfur should be applied to peach trees when buds begin to swell, but before green tissue is visible, to help prevent peach leaf curl disease. Liquid lime sulfur can burn green tissue. If green tissue is showing, use a fungicide registered for home fruit crops.

Ornamentals:

Starting Seeds Indoors – Many types of annual flower plants can be started indoors this month. Generally, most are start-ed 5-6 weeks before they are planted outdoors. Don’t de-pend on natural sunlight from a windowsill to grow your plants. This light is often inconsistent and will produce spin-dly plants. Instead grow them under cool-white fluorescent lights. The lights should be on for 14-16 hours per day and kept about 2 inches from the top of the young seedlings. Don’t over-water, and keep the temperature at 70-75 de-grees F during the day and 65 degrees F at night. Check seed catalogs or packets to determine the best time to start seeds indoors. Some flowers like begonia, sweet peas, gera-niums, and impatiens are slow to develop and need to be started 10-12 weeks before the last expected frost. Others that are fast to germinate like sunflowers and zinnias only require 2-5 weeks.

Pansies are now widely available at nurseries and garden

March Monthly Tips centers and can be planted for an early display of color in garden beds. Pansies are great for cold wet springs; they can easily tolerate freezing and snowfall even when in full bloom. Pansies are a cool weather plant that decline quickly when it starts getting hot. They are then dug out and dis-carded in the compost pile after blooming.

Cut down perennials and over-wintering ornamental grasses to within 2 inches of the ground and remove plant debris from flower beds. This makes for a much neater appearance when the new growth emerges later this spring. It also has the benefit of reducing overwintering diseases. Divide per-ennials, and top-dress beds with 1 inch of compost. Pull weeds and apply a two-inch layer of mulch to prevent more weed seeds from germinating.

House Plants:

This is a good time to re-pot and divide houseplants. Use lightweight, well-drained soil less potting mixes containing peat moss, vermiculite, and perlite.

If a houseplant is already in a very large container and you cannot move it up to a larger one, you can remove the plant and prune its roots. Fill the outside with fresh potting medi-um. Pruning some of the roots may set the plant back a little but it will recover and it will have more space for the roots and improve pot drainage.

Begin to fertilize houseplants again. The increase in natural light will prompt them to grow.

Veggies:

If you did not test soil in fall, as soon as ground thaws, take soil samples from different parts of the garden, to a depth of 6 to 8 inches. Send to a soil testing lab

Amend soil according to soil test results, which may call for adding lime or other nutrients. When the ground can be worked, dig in that layer of well-aged manure, compost, mushroom soil, or leaf mold to improve soil texture and fer-tility.

Put up trellises and teepees for peas, pole beans and other climbers. Waiting until plants come up can harm plant roots.

Harden off leeks, shallots, and onions in cold frame, or set outside on a porch or protected area, a few hours a day at first, before bringing them in at dusk; then gradually working up to eight hours a day. Do this for about a week, before transplanting in the garden. (Follow this same procedure for any crop started indoors.)

As soon as soil can be worked, plant potatoes, peas, onion sets, leeks and other cool weather crops, including beets, Chinese cabbage, kale mustard and turnips.

Sow more seeds of spinach, lettuce, arugula and other salad greens in cold frames or in the vegetable bed, under row covers. (Floating row covers are made of spun-bonded poly-ester. They let in air, light and water, offer some protection from frost, and exclude insects and bigger critters.)

Start seeds of eggplant, pepper (if not started in February) broccoli and cabbage indoors under lights, to be ready for planting outdoors in six to eight weeks.

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P A G E 1 4

T H E W A T E R I N G C A N

Microgreens: Tasty Accents From Small Spaces From: The Maryland Grows Blog https://marylandgrows.umd.edu/2018/02/16/microgreens-tasty-accents-from-small-spaces/#more-6601

My first response to micro-greens was: “Why would I spend my time growing 3-inch tall plants to eat?” Then I thought about all of the tiny leafy green plants (beet, lettuce, kale, basil, etc.) I had eaten over the years in the pro-cess of growing transplants at home and in greenhouses. And it started to make more sense: why not plant seeds closely in a container to just grow baby plants? Benefits: When you eat microgreens you are in-gesting the cotyledons, stems, and small expanded true leaves of edible plants. Some reasons to give them a try:

High in anti-oxidants and other health-promoting substances, like vitamin C, vitamin E, beta-carotene, and lutein

Can be grown year-round inside with strong natural light or inexpen-sive fluorescent tubes

Great for kids at home and in school- sow seeds, watch them sprout and grow for 10-

14 days, and eat!

Wonderful assortment of colors, flavors, and textures

Microgreens don’t constitute a meal; they add pi-zazz to a meal! Use them fresh in wraps, paninis and sandwiches, soups, omelets, and frittatas; sprinkled on green salads and vegetable salads, burgers, pestos, nutritional smoothies; as garnish-es for grain and pulse dishes and cocktails, or chopped in dips; and eat them raw by themselves. Getting started: Growing microgreens really is very similar to starting seeds to produce flower, herb, and vegetable transplants. Two plant fami-lies are especially well-suited: Amaranthaceae (e.g., beet, Swiss chard, leafy amaranth, magenta spreen) and Brassicaceae (e.g., kale, cabbage, rad-ish, mustard, arugula, mizuna, komatsuna, Tokyo bekana). Best not to mix the two families because of varying germination and growth rates.

Save Money by re-using clamshells

Pea shoots growing in restaurant dining area ready for harvest

Tray of “brassica” microgreens ready to harvest

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P A G E 1 5 V O L U M N E 1 9 , I S S U E 3

Cilantro and basil (both slower growing), pea shoots, onion, and lots of other plant species have been grown for microgreens. Soaking Amaranthaceae seed and cilantro seed in water for 12-24 hrs. speeds germina-tion. What Do I Need?

Seeds

Reusable food-grade container or planting tray

Soilless growing media or compost

Water

Light (strong sunlight, fluorescent, or LED)

How do I grow them?

Fill a shallow container with 1-1.5 in. of moist soil-less growing media

Sow seeds thickly and evenly (about 5 seeds/inch)

Water from bottom (preferred but not essential)

Harvest with scissors when 2-3 in. tall

Rinse microgreens with water, pat dry and use right away, or store for up to 10 days in fridge

Compost the growing media and start over

Does it pay for itself? If you select reusable containers, buy non-hybrid seeds by the ounce and growing media in large bags, you can grow your own microgreens for about 1/2 of the super-market price!

Light (16 hrs. under a shop light) and heat (70-75⁰ F.) are needed for quick germination and growth.

Roots watered from the bottom when shallow grow tray is inserted into deeper tray without holes.

1 TBS of arugula seed sown in a tray (11 in. X 22 in.) produced about 10 cups of microgreens

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P A G E 1 6

T H E W A T E R I N G C A N

Pollinator & Natural Enemies

Committee Updates Submitted by: MG Carol Jelich

The Pollinator and Natural Enemies Com-mittee met on Tuesday, February 27th to plan for the coming year. C1 Perform outreach for organizations. Rachel will check with Jon to see if a

canned presentation on Pollinators (P’s) is available from state for us to adapt.

C2 Perform active outreach for individu-als. This will take form at several events this spring/summer. Ask A Master Gardener-Kent Island

Farmers Market: June 14th Display and host tables at events - Carol and Pat G will meet at the office with Ra-chel to select display materials for the farmers markets.

Pollinator Week Activities: Pollina-tor week is June 18th-24th. This year we would like to focus on having an event at Galilee Garden. Carol Jelich will work with Nancy & Karen to firm up an evening that will work for eve-ryone. This would be a one hour event. During this event we would like to focus on a few things:

Foods that we have because of pollinators

Activities for Children: Bug Bingo

Pollinator Plants: Carol will bring some seeds of her mountain mint to try to ger-minate at greenhouse. U Penn found it was principal plant for Pollinators in their test trials.

Rachel will recruit a master gardener

or intern to write an article for Polli-nator week (June 18th-24th)

QAC 4-H Fair: August 6th – 11thFor this annual event the QAC MG’s we will pay extra to have two spots, one the usual table display and the other a demo Pollinator garden. Cathy Tengwall has agreed to help design the mock garden. We would like to have a factsheet so that fairgoers can easily replicate the garden. Addi-tionally, we would like have sponsors from local business donate plants/supplies for the display. Brain-stormed ideas…theme ‘places for pollinators’ – bats, butterflies, bees, etc.

C3 Perform passive outreach for individ-uals Betty will display at Eastridge Garden

if they give her a good spot near cus-tomers.

Rachel will work on Pollinator display for Garden Club flower show. (June 6th)

D1 Offer pollinator ID quizzes at infor-mation booths. Bingo game, in progress. Laura will

get a list of bugs to Rachel for pho-

tos.

Our next meeting is on May 23rd at 1:00 p.m at the QAC Extension Office. We will work on getting ready for our June Polli-nator Activities. All MGs are invited to attend.

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P A G E 1 7 V O L U M N E 1 9 , I S S U E 3

Cunningham Manor

Garden Tour

Tuesday, June 5th

1151 Ivy Hill Rd Cockeysville, MD

Cunningham Manor is a pri-vate residence in Cock-eysville, MD that opens their gardens up for private tours. The Queen Anne’s County MG’s will be touring Cun-ningham Manor on Tuesday, June 5th. We will be car-pooling for this trip. Cun-ningham Manor does not charge for the tour but they do ask for a donation to the House of Ruth.

A suggested donation of $10 per person and R.S.V.P should be sent to Rachel by Tuesday, May 29th. All checks should be made payable to QAC EAC (Queen Anne’s County Extension Advisory Committee). There is no limit of participants for this trip nor do participants need to

be strictly Master Gardeners. If you’d like to sign up please email Rachel directly or by clicking on this link: http://signup.com/go/JYFJJYZ

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P A G E 1 8

T H E W A T E R I N G C A N

March 2018 Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

1 Master

Gardener Basic Training

2 3 Master

Gardener Basic Training

4 5 6 Statewide

Grow It Eat It Meeting

7 8 Master Gar-dener Basic Training; Kent Island Plant Clinic 3:30-6:30 P.M.

9 Horticultural Lecture Series

10 Master

Gardener Basic Training

11 12 13 14 Mentoring Meeting 3 PM at Extension Office ; Statewide Plant Clinic Meeting

15 Plant Sale

Mtg, 10 am at Extension Office,

Master Gar-dener Basic Training

16 Horticultural Lecture Series

17 Master

Gardener Basic Training

18 Home-

stead Gardens Open House & Volunteer Event

19 20 20th Anniver-sary Meeting at Extension Office 9am Bay-Wise Meeting at the Extension Office 1:30 pm

21 22 Master

Gardener Basic Training

23 Horticultural Lecture Series

24 Master

Gardener Basic Training

25 26 27 Green-

house work for plant sale 9 A.M.

28 29 Master

Gardener Basic Training

30 31 Master

Gardener Basic Training

MG Advanced Training Meeting at Chesapeake College

Seed Swap KI 10am-1 pm

Newsletter Submissions Due

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P A G E 1 9 V O L U M N E 1 9 , I S S U E 3

April 2018 Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

1 2 Mentor

meeting 9:30 A.M. at the Centreville Li-brary

3 4 5 Master

Gardener Basic Training , Gali-lee Garden Meeting 7 P.M.

6 7 Master

Gardener Basic Training

8 9 Sudlersville

School Garden, 9 A.M.

10 Horn

Point Field Trip 11 20th An-

niversary Mtg, 1 pm at Extension Office

12 Master

Gardener Basic Training ; Kent Island Plant Clinic 3:30-6:30 P.M.

13 14 Master

Gardener Basic Training

15 16 Green-

house work for plant sale 9 A.M.; What-to-do at a Plant Clinic, 4 P.M. at Kent Co.

17 18 Master

Gardener Monthly Mtg, 9:30 am Wye Research & Education Cen-ter

19 Master

Gardener Basic Training

20 21 Master

Gardener Basic Training; Ask a MG Plant Clinic Chester-town

22 23 24 25 26 27 28

29 30

Newsletter Submissions Due

Page 20: Queen Anne’s County Master Gardener Newsletter The ... · dated November 20, 2017 con-firmed the finding of spotted lan-ternfly in New astle ounty, Dela-ware. Spotted lanternfly

University of Maryland Extension

Queen Anne’s County

505 Railroad Ave.

Suite 4

Centreville, MD 21617

Vision Statement: A healthier world through environmental stewardship

It is the policy of the University of Maryland and University of Maryland Extension, that no person shall be subjected to discrimination on the grounds of race, color, gender, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, age, marital or parental status, or disability. Equal opportunity employers and equal access programs.

QACMG Website: http://extension.umd.edu/

queen-annes-county/master-gardener-home-

gardening

QACMG Facebook Page: https://

www.facebook.com/

QueenAnnesCountyMasterGardeners

University of Maryland Extension

505 Railroad Avenue, Suite 4

Centreville MD, 21617

Phone: (410) 758-0166

March Newsletter Submission

due on

March 22nd