december 2017 turnip news - mgpw.org · fall. if you clean up your garden in the fall, you are...

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Turnip News Master Gardeners Prince William December 2017 Editors: Maria Dunbar Stewart Rebecca Arvin-Colón Need a cobra weeding tool? 2 Upcoming Events and MGPW Meetings - At a Glance 3 Congratulations and Welcome Master Gardener Class of 2017! 4 Highlights from MGPW Education Committee’s 22 Things Your Grandmother Never Told You About Gardening 5 Community Gardening 6 Interstate 95 North Rest Stop in Dale City Native Plant Pollinator Garden 7-8 Master Gardener Reforestation Project at 13701 Holly Forest Drive 9 Preparing Houseplants for Winter 10-13 Home Gardener Day 13 Storm Water Site Visits 14 Master Gardener Outreach to the Community 15 Upcoming Events and MGPW Meetings 16 Sustainable Vegetable Gardening 17 MGPW Education Committee’s Upcoming Speakers 20 Get to Know a Critter 21 PUZZLER 22 Garden Revolution 18 The Basics of Gardening 19 Inside this issue: MG President’s Message Continuing to Look for a Few Good Men and Women for Our Master Gardeners Prince William (MGPW) Board of Directors In last month’s note was an overview of how the current MGPW Board of Directors has worked to further the mission and vision of our Association. As we approach the end of this calendar year, there are three (of five) elected Board members who are nearing the end of their two-year terms: President (Larry Lehowicz), Treas- urer (Janene Cullen), and Member-at-Large (Jeanne Lamczyk). Within the next month, the Board will be establishing a Nomi- nations and Elections Special Committee to find candidates for these three positions. The Committee will nominate mem- bers, and MGPW members will be notified by email of the nomi- nees in February. All MGPW members will be asked to vote for the three Board positions during Recertification in March. MGPW is fortunate to have members who want to make the en- vironment better, have a lot of common sense, and want to see MGPW successfully continue well into the future. Sometimes when I approach individuals about the possibility of considering joining our Board or bench I hear something like: “I do not have

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Page 1: December 2017 Turnip News - MGPW.org · fall. If you clean up your garden in the fall, you are removing beneficial insects such as preying mantis. If you want to do something in the

Turnip News

Master Gardeners Prince William

December 2017

Editors: Maria Dunbar Stewart Rebecca Arvin-Colón

Need a cobra weeding tool? 2 Upcoming Events and MGPW Meetings - At a Glance

3

Congratulations and Welcome Master Gardener Class of 2017!

4

Highlights from MGPW Education Committee’s 22 Things Your Grandmother Never Told You About Gardening

5

Community Gardening 6 Interstate 95 North Rest Stop in Dale City Native Plant Pollinator Garden

7-8

Master Gardener Reforestation Project at 13701 Holly Forest Drive

9

Preparing Houseplants for Winter 10-13

Home Gardener Day 13 Storm Water Site Visits 14 Master Gardener Outreach to the Community

15

Upcoming Events and MGPW Meetings

16

Sustainable Vegetable Gardening 17

MGPW Education Committee’s Upcoming Speakers

20

Get to Know a Critter 21 PUZZLER 22

Garden Revolution 18 The Basics of Gardening 19

Inside this issue: MG President’s Message Continuing to Look for a Few Good Men and

Women for Our Master Gardeners Prince William (MGPW) Board of Directors

In last month’s note was an overview of how the current MGPW Board of Directors has worked to further the mission and vision of our Association.

As we approach the end of this calendar year, there are three (of five) elected Board members who are nearing the end of their two-year terms: President (Larry Lehowicz), Treas-urer (Janene Cullen), and Member-at-Large (Jeanne Lamczyk).

Within the next month, the Board will be establishing a Nomi-nations and Elections Special Committee to find candidates for these three positions. The Committee will nominate mem-bers, and MGPW members will be notified by email of the nomi-nees in February. All MGPW members will be asked to vote for the three Board positions during Recertification in March.

MGPW is fortunate to have members who want to make the en-vironment better, have a lot of common sense, and want to see MGPW successfully continue well into the future. Sometimes when I approach individuals about the possibility of considering joining our Board or bench I hear something like: “I do not have

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formal leadership experience on my resume; does that disqualify me?” No. The truth of the matter is we all have skills, abilities, common sense, and experiences that, when shared with the Board, can help make the Association thrive.

Please consider joining next year’s Board. Of course, you most likely will want more infor-mation. Specific roles for each of the three opening Board positions are listed in the MGPW By-laws, which are posted on our MGPW website (http://www.mgpw.org/). Feel free to contact Nancy Berlin ([email protected]), me ([email protected]), or other Board members with any ques-tions. There will be no obligation. Promise! Also, please consider attending one of our Board meetings that are held at 5:30 p.m. every sec-ond Tuesday of the month in Room 102D at the VCE office complex to see how Board par-ticipation may be a way for you to share the talents you have honed over your lifetime. We have fun as well as meeting all of our responsibilities to MGPW.

You can make a difference. Come to the next Board meeting – you are invited, wanted, and needed. Thanks for all you do.

-Larry Lehowicz, President, MGPW, [email protected]

Need a cobra weeding tool? Now in small and large

email Leslie Paulson, [email protected] Deadline December 8th

Pay when you pick up at the Extension office.

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Upcoming Events and MGPW Meetings - At A Glance

January, 2018

December

TUESDAY 12 MGPW Board

Meeting FRIDAY 1

Registration Opens for The Basics

of Gardening

February

MONDAY 15 Home Gardener Day

2018 TUESDAY 9

MGPW Board Meeting

TUESDAY 13 MGPW Board

Meeting

SATURDAY 10 1st of Sustainable

Vegetable Gardening Series

SATURDAY 17 2nd of Sustainable

Vegetable Gardening Series

SATURDAY 3 Community Gardening

with Matt Bright of Earth Sangha

SUNDAY 11 Garden Revolution with Larry Weaner

SATURDAY 24 1st of The Basics

of Gardening Series

FRIDAY 8 Deadline for Ordering

CobraHead Weeder

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Congratulations and Welcome Master Gardener

Class of 2017! photos from graduation by Al Alborn, Master Gardener

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Highlights from MGPW Education Committee’s 22 Things Your Grandmother Never Told You

About Gardening with David Roos

O n November 4th, David Roos, garden designer and entertaining speaker, shared his insights and experiences

with a rapt “sold out” crowd. Here are just a few highlights… Fall is the beginning of the gardening year

since soil moisture is rising through the soil to help plants establish.

Using systemic poisons on plants will poi-son the birds, such as hummingbirds, who rely on insects for survival.

David advised not to fertilize roses in the spring since bursts of new growth attracts aphids. Instead, use a slow release organic fertilizer, and hose off aphids.

Jamie Nick, Education Committee Chair, introducing David Roos; photo by Nancy Berlin

View of 100 attendees of the event; photo by Nancy Berlin

Jamie and Nancy setting up at the re-freshments table; photo by Maria Stewart

Suppress the desire to clean up your garden in the fall. If you clean up your garden in the fall, you are removing beneficial insects such as preying mantis.

If you want to do something in the fall, plant plants. It’s the best time of year for plants to es-tablish, plus, plants are often on sale in the fall.

Take a “frost walk” in the fall before 9:00 a.m. Walk your garden with a cup of coffee and observe where the frost is. Frost will be at the coldest part of the garden. Plant tender plants here - that will prevent the tender plants from “waking up” too early.

Where can you catch David Roos’s

next talk?

Master Gardener Association of the

Central Rappahan-nock Area will host

David Roos on January 27th, 2018 in Fredericksburg, VA; http://www.mgacra.org/

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Master Gardeners Prince William Education Committee Announces

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Interstate 95 North Rest Stop in Dale City Native Plant Pollinator Garden

by Jannell Bryant, Master Gardener

F irst, some background on this new garden planting. Back in 2015, the Virginia De-partment of Transportation (VDOT), Do-

minion Energy, the Loudoun Wildlife Conserv-ancy, the Virginia Native Plant Society, and Valley Land teamed up to plant a pollinator-friendly meadow garden at the I-95 Dale City north rest stop. VDOT provided project manage-

ment, site preparation, volunteers, and plants; Dominion Energy and the Virginia Native Plant Society provided volunteers; the Loudoun Wild-life Conservancy provided technical assistance; and Valley Land provided mulch. The garden is an impressive 15,000 square feet and required about 8,000 tiny plants to fill the space, along with two smaller plantings near the rest area building, which will serve as education-al stations with interpretive signage for visitors to read. The Loudon Wildlife Conservancy, VDOT, and the Virginia Native Plant Society were instrumental in getting this garden project up and going. The garden was one of four pollinator habitats plant-ed around Virginia in September 2015.

Planting day was September 29th, 2015 when more than 60 enthusiastic volunteers reported for planting, including a number of our Prince William County Master Gardeners. We spent six hours planting with a much-needed lunch break of pizza. VDOT purchased the plants from North Creek Nurseries, using funds generated

by the wildflower and protect pollina-tor’s vehicle license plates. Milkweed plugs, both common and swamp milk-weed plants, were acquired from Mon-arch Watch. There was no provision for future maintenance, so the Prince William Chapter of the Native Plant Society stepped in and recruits volunteers to keep the area weeded and cared for. Many of the volunteers who have given of their time are Master Gardeners who

usually volunteer monthly during the growing season. During the most recent volunteer maintenance day, October 19th, three Master Gardeners

helped with the plant-ing of: Antennaria

plantaginifolia – Pussytoes; Asclepias tuberosa – Butterfly Weed; Baptisia australis – Blue wild

'Oh My! Where do we begin!’

Many very busy volunteers

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indigo; Eriogonum allenii “Little Rascal” – Shale Barren Buckwheat; Muhlenbergia capillaris – Muhlygrass; and Schizachyrium scoparium – Little Bluestem. Not all the plugs were planted that day, and Master Gardeners volunteers par-ticipated in another maintenance day held on October 26th which volunteer Master Gardeners participated. With native pollinator habitats shrinking due to habitat loss and development, more areas like this garden need to be set aside to ensure that they continue to thrive and be enjoyed by future generations. A pollinator garden can be very large like the I-95 Dale City rest stop garden and the native bed at the teaching garden, or a very small townhouse garden with only a few

plants to attract pollinator insects. Our home and public gardens have become the new native habitats for our lovely butterflies, native bees, and other pollinator insects that are so im-portant for crop production in this country now and into the future. The I-95 Dale City rest stop is a very busy area with vehicles stopping at all hours of the day and night, and the garden is the perfect place to showcase our native plants and the insects that nectar on them. This creates wonderful photo opportunities for travelers passing through our county, as they leave with a positive impression and beautiful images of Prince William County. Please take the time to visit this new garden planting sometime in your travels.

Background information and planting day photos for this article were graciously provided by

Nancy Vehrs of the Virginia Native Plant Society. http://vnps.org/

Phlox pilosa – Native Phlox Pycnanthemum muticum - Mountain Mint

Solidago rugosa - Rough Stemmed Goldenrod “Fireworks”

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O n November 10th Virginia Cooperative Extension Master Gardener Volunteers continued their work to reforest undeveloped Prince William County parcels. After partnering with Tim Hughes, of the Prince William Watershed Management Branch and Environmental

Services Division of the Public Works Department, for a reforestation project at 12555 Curling Road, Master Gardener Volunteers gathered to reforest 13701 Holly Forest Drive. The parcel is located across from Saunders Middle School. With gloves, drinking water, digging tools, and mal-lets (for stakes), the group planted American Holly (Ilex opaca) from gallon pots. Reforestation projects enable Public Works to reduce the costs of maintaining turf grass, and reduce air pollution and storm water runoff while at the same time support our native flora and fauna.

Master Gardener Reforestation Project at 13701 Holly Forest Drive

by Maria Stewart, Master Gardener

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Preparing Houseplants for Winter by Abbie and Vincent Panettiere, Master Gardeners

T he past week has been an extremely busy one as we try to get all our houseplants back into the house for the winter and

find places for them that approximate their needs for light, heat, and moisture. I thought that maybe this would be a good time to revisit the way we tackle this seasonal chore and see if we should make corrections and improvements.

The prime suggestion is to be sure to check plants you’ve had in your garden for pests or dis-eases so that you don’t bring these inside. Should you find your plant has a pest or disease problem, you must take care of it before you bring the plant inside because pests and diseas-es can travel very fast through the gathered in-door plants.

Even after the plants have passed inspection, don’t fail, when you water your plants, to stay vigilant for unwelcome intruders. Check the top and under sides of the leaves for scale, aphids, mealybugs, or spider mites and the like. If you then find evidence of pests or disease, isolate the plant until you have gotten rid of the problem.

Some gardeners, if they have just a few plants, will repot their plants in a sterile potting mix so they don’t bring in bugs such as crickets, stink bugs, and any other pests who may be overwin-tering in the soil and which may decide spring has come at your house as soon as the soil around the plant warms up.

Your house plants may need fertilizer from time to time; however, they may also be ready to “rest” for a few months before the next planting season. If your plant looks reasonably healthy but is not growing, it may be resting. In general, plants are fertilized from January through Sep-tember and then rest for a few months. They al-so need less water, and it’s important not to overwater them.

Plants are sensitive to light, heat, cold, and wa-

ter needs and these vary with each plant variety. As an example, azaleas kept as houseplants need bright, indirect light all day. They do best when temperatures are at 60‑65°, and cooler temperatures will help blooms last longer. It’s important to keep the soil moist for an azalea, but it should not rest in water. A suggestion was made that once a week the potted azalea should be submerged in a large container of water to thoroughly wet the soil. Then it should be al-lowed to drain thoroughly.

Another example, although typically this plant normally stays indoors year round, Sansevieria, aka snake plant or mother-in-law’s tongue, needs low light and very little water - every few weeks generally and even less in winter.

To avoid trouble, be careful to keep your house-plants away from drafty or frosty windows, heat vents, any place where the heat or cold will be sudden or extreme.

Also, particularly if the sunlight on your plants is from one window, remember to rotate them so that each side of the plant gets an equal supply of sunlight.

Even if you’re a demon housekeeper, there will be dust and grime on your plants’ leaves after they’ve been inside for a few months. When this happens, sunlight has more trouble getting through the coating on the leaves to photosyn-thesize, and they also will have more trouble transpiring because dusty coating clogs up the pores on the leaves. Further, the layer of smudge on the leaves may provide an attractive home for spider mites and other pests.

To clean plants with smooth leaves, dampen a clean rag with warm water and wipe the surfac-es. It may help to spray insecticidal soap (one source recommended neem oil spray) or perhaps a very small amount of dish detergent to be sure you’ve emulsified any oily grime sticking to the

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leaves, then rinse clean. For plants with very small leaves, for which a wipe-down would be difficult at best, a spray from a water bottle or even taking the plants into the shower (with tepid water!) may do the job.

It was suggested that you never use a feather duster to clean your plants because small in-sects or eggs will happily hitch a ride on a feath-er duster to other plants.

The dry air of a house in winter is apt to be a prob-lem. The humidity in a house may dip to 10-20% in winter. Plants generally prefer something close to 50%. If you have just a few plants, and they’re not lia-ble to develop fungus from having wet leaves, misting may be useful to moisten your plants. Another option is to place a layer of gravel at the bottom of the drip pan under your plant, then add water high enough that the plant will not be resting in water but that there will be moisture added to the air. Also, plants transpire, so if you have plants that need moisture and you group them together ac-cording to their water needs, they may do your misting for you.

Watering you plants is the most important but problematic job you’ll have during the winter months. Generally, plants need less water in winter and the danger usually is in the direction of over-watering - and I must admit to being guilty of that. The plant will take in just the amount of water it needs and anything over that amount is too much. If your plant is sitting in water, the potting mix or soil it’s in becomes sat-urated with water, and oxygen cannot get in to

the roots. Lack of oxygen to the roots will often ultimately cause a plant’s death. Letting a plant sit in water can encourage root rot also which enables diseases to enter the system, hastening the plant’s death.

Generally, putting your plants on a fixed sched-ule of watering is likely to produce mistakes even if you know what each particular variety is

“supposed” to need because plants’ needs vary with the temperature in the room, the amount of sunlight available, and other factors. There are probes and other devices to tell you when your plants need water but generally the “two knuckle” approach works adequately. Put your finger into the soil down to the sec-ond knuckle and if the soil feels dry, it’s likely time to give the plant a good water-ing. Another method, if this is a plant you’ve had for some time, is to lift it to see how heavy it feels. If the plant is dry, it should feel light, and if you’re familiar with the plant you may be able to gauge whether you need to water based on weight.

In the sources I’ve checked, there is some disagreement as to how you should water your

plants, either from the top of the pot onto the soil or from the bottom by giv-ing the plant a good soak in a pot of water. There are advantages to both methods. First, though, whichever means you use, rain water is seen as the optimal source since there is no chlo-rine or other chemicals added to it. Tap water is used most often, however, and whichever source you use for water, let it warm to room tempera-ture so that it doesn’t shock your plants. If you’re using tap water it may help to let the wa-ter sit for a day so that some of the chemicals

Abbie and Vincent’s indoor plants

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can dissipate. Be particularly careful not to use water that has been treated with a water soften-er because these use salts which may accumu-late in the potting mix and harm the plant. If you have a water softening system, the taps you have outdoors for landscape use are less likely to be connected to the water softener system. (But of course, for the winter, these faucets may not have water available.) For your rare, sensitive, or very important plants, you may want to use bottled water.

As to the methods of watering plants:

The advantages of watering from the top are that you flush out the salts that may be present in the soil from the water you’re using. Water the soil until you see water coming out of the drain holes in the bottom. Let the plant sit for fifteen to forty-five minutes, then drain the drip pan at the bottom so that the plant is not sitting in water. If you leave the drip pan with water in it, besides promoting rot, the salts you’ve flushed out of the pot will just re-enter it bring-ing their problems with them.

Top watering though, isn’t a good option with plants, such as African violets, that are very sensitive to rot, and developing discolored or spotted leaves from being wet. It’s important not to pour in such a way that the leaves or crown are left with water on them since this will pro-mote rot in that area.

If your plant is pot bound, top watering isn’t ef-fective because water may just run down the outside of the root ball, down the sides of the pot, and water won’t reach the plant itself to any great amount.

As to watering from the bottom, it has the ad-vantage of encouraging the roots to dig deep down to get water, rather than stay up toward the top of the soil. Also, the water may more eas-ily get to all sections of the plant. When you need to water from the bottom, find a container larger than the pot your plant is in and fill it half-way with water, optimally tepid, distilled, or otherwise free of chemicals. Put the potted plant into this larger container for approximate-ly ten minutes. Check to see if the soil on top is wet. If it doesn’t seem to be, let the plant sit for another twenty minutes or so, then lift it out and let it drain thoroughly before you put it back in its drip pan or saucer.

There is another step to be taken if you water from the bottom. It wets the soil efficiently throughout, but if you’re using tap water, with all the chemicals it’s apt to have, you need to water the plant from the top once a month or so to let the salts flush out of the soil.

The Virginia Cooperative Extension site devoted to Indoor Plant Culture by Alex X. Niemiera, As-sociate Professor and Extension Specialist, De-partment of Horticulture, Virginia Tech covers much more of the subject of indoor plants and their general care than I have, starting with “Purchasing an Interior Plant” and ending with “Quarantining New Plants.” This is their web site: https://pubs.ext.vt.edu/426/426-100/426-100.html

Each year we have plants that make a one way journey from the great outdoors to the much smaller indoors. Maybe this year, armed with new knowledge, the survival rate will be a very high one and come spring all our “children” will go outside to play again.

https://goo.gl/i3BPj7 University of Connecticut, College of Agriculture & Natural Resources Cooperative Extension System, Department of Plant Science Soil Nutrient Analysis Laboratory

Watering Houseplants Dawn Pettinelli https://goo.gl/XKdehA University of Vermont, Department of Plant and Soil Science

Winterizing Plants Information

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The Green Mountain Gardener Watering Houseplants Properly Leonard Perry https://goo.gl/aGMuYR Gardening Know How What Is Bottom Watering: Tips On Watering Potted Plants From The Bottom Anne Baley https://goo.gl/gnYqEK Gardener’s Supply Company Houseplant Pests and Diseases: How to keep in-door plants healthy and pest-free https://goo.gl/HPFc8i Virginia Cooperative Extension Indoor Plant Culture

Alex X. Niemiera https://goo.gl/A326nD Wikipedia Neem oil https://goo.gl/kbYt4u The Spruce Tips on Caring for Houseplants in the Winter Keeping Indoor Plants Alive through the Winter Marie Iannotti October 2017 https://goo.gl/PnWzn8 The Spruce Why Are My Houseplants Dying? Jon Vanzile September 2017

For more information, click here http://www.homegardenerday.org/

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Storm Water Site Visits by Maria Stewart, Master Gardener

M aster Gardeners Sally Peterson and Jan Rice worked with their Home Owners Association (HOA) at Victory

Lakes to stop mowing of their pond buffer. Not mowing the pond buffer saves money and pre-serves water quality. Inspired by Sally and Jan, Master Gardeners Bob Wolfinger and Linda Li-gon advised their HOA at Sumner Lake.

After Bob and Linda, with Nancy Berlin and Thomas Bolles, visited and assessed the Sumner Lake Community, they provided the following recommendations:

∗ Expand and improve buffers surrounding the lakes to trap nutrients and sediments while discouraging waterfowl

∗ Improve turf management of common areas

∗ Time turf fertilization based on plant growth cycles

∗ Repair areas of thin or bare turf to reduce erosion and nutrient loss

∗ Increase areas that are not mowed or infre-quently mowed

∗ Decrease areas that are intensely fertilized ∗ Forgo fertilizing and increase mowing height

of turf around outfalls ∗ Work with landscape contractor to leave a 10

-30 foot buffer of un-mowed grass around the banks of the ponds to serve as a buffer to capture nutrients before they can enter the pond.

∗ Use groundcovers instead of turf in hard to mow areas.

∗ Educate homeowners with informational signs and educational programs provided by

VCE Prince William.

Master Gardener Volunteers regularly participate in storm water site visits to help protect water quality and help Prince William County residents save money by applying horticultur-al best practices.

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♦ Plant a Row for the Hungry (PAR) final totals for donations from the Manassas and Dale City Farmers’ Markets: 111,000 lbs. of healthy food valued at $188,747. All the dona-tions went to ACTS food pantry, SERVE, and the Prince William Free Clinic. Thank you farmers, Master Gardener Volunteers, Vulcan Materials Manassas, and many other commu-nity helpers!

Master Gardener Outreach to the Community - a brief look at just a few additional ways

Master Gardeners are engaging our community

♦ The Cooks’ Garden Master Gardener Volunteer team planning the Sustainable Vege-table Gardening Series: The Se-ries will be held Saturdays, Feb. 10, 17, and March 10. See p. 17 for details. New this year - small space gardening!

photos by Nancy Berlin

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MGPW Board of Directors Meeting: 5:30 p.m. at Virginia Cooperative Extension Office (8033 Ashton Ave., Manassas, VA):

December 12th, Tuesday, Room 102 D January 9th, Tuesday, Room 102 D

February 13th, Tuesday, Room 105, across from 102 D As always, all Master Gardeners and Master Gardener Interns are

welcome and encouraged to attend!

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Upcoming Events and MGPW Meetings

Save the Date!

Dr. Goatley, for more information visit https://goo.gl/YGKe96

Thomas Bolles, Environmental Educator VCE, Announces:

Our state turf specialist, Dr. Mike Goatley, will be in Northern Virginia during

the 1st full week of March, 2018. As many of you know, Dr. Goatley is a great speaker.

He’s slated to present for Master Gardeners in Prince William on Thursday, March 8th (location tbd).

I want to make this as useful as possible. Let me know if there are any topics

you’d like Dr. Goatley to cover (email Thomas Bolles, [email protected]).

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Master Gardeners Prince William Education Committee’s Upcoming Speakers

Master Gardeners Jamie Nick (MGPW Education Committee Chairperson) and

Laurie Redfearn (MGPW Education Committee member) have been working hard to bring us

more opportunities to learn and have fun together.

See below for highlights on upcoming speakers - Be Sure to Check Back for Updated Information!

Remember, MGPW Education Committee events also count toward Master Gardener continuing education credits!

Date Saturday, June 2nd, 2018: Alonso Abugattas presents

Gardening With Wildlife in Mind

Alonso Abugattas will discuss the wildlife value of specific native plants and pollinator gardens.

Check out his blog (http://capitalnaturalist.blogspot.com/), Facebook Group "Capital Naturalist," YouTube Channel (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCv8LHf1hHCEU3UHdpb-8Mng) or follow him on Twitter: @CapNaturalist.

Saturday, April 21st, 2018: Billi Parus with

Making Herbal Ice Creams

Billi Parus is a member of The Herb Society of America

http://www.herbsociety.org/

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Get to Know a Critter: Domestic Dog (Canis familiaris)

Did you know?

♦ Dogs are trained to prevent crime, search for and rescue vic-tims of accidents and disasters, and detect and alert humans to serious medical conditions such as cancer. They are also our companions who share our gardens.

♦ If you have a dog, be mindful of the plants you choose to grow. Some plants contain toxins that are harmful and may-be even lethal if eaten. For example, daffodils, many types of lilies, morning glory, and oleander are considered toxic.

♦ Consult the ASPCA Toxic and Non-Toxic plant website, before selecting plants (https://goo.gl/NkJFzX).

♦ Synthetic fertilizers that claim to be “dog-safe” may be detected in trace amounts after heavy rains puddle or cause water to well up from the ground. Organic fertilizers, such as worm cast-ings, kelp, fish emulsion, and compost, are recom-mended alternatives for a home with a dog.

♦ To protect your garden from a curious, fun-seeking dog, add a pebble path over your dog’s usual route through the garden, provide an ele-vated dog bed as a cool place to rest if your dog digs holes under shrubs as relief from the heat, or install large rocks to prevent your dog from choos-ing your prized flower beds as a resting spot.

Sources: University of Pennsylvania, School of Veterinary Medicine; https://goo.gl/RuKoH9 Penn State Extension; https://goo.gl/aqpc4z

photos by Jason Alexander

“So, I’m thinking what we need here is a hole. I went ahead and took out that shrub. You can thank me later.”

“I have some ideas about the garden.”

Page 22: December 2017 Turnip News - MGPW.org · fall. If you clean up your garden in the fall, you are removing beneficial insects such as preying mantis. If you want to do something in the

22

Turnip News

PUZZLER

Do you know what this is?

See next month’s

Turnip News for the answer!

Last Month’s Answer:

Common yarrow (Achillea

millefolium)

Common Yarrow:

“Best grown in lean, dry to medium, well-drained sandy loams in full sun. Plants do well in av-erage garden soils and tolerate poor soils as long as drainage is good. Plants also tolerate hot, humid summers and drought. If grown ornamentally, plants are best sited in locations protect-ed from strong winds.” / “These species plants are noted for producing deeply-dissected, fern-like, aromatic, medium green foliage and tiny, long-lasting, white flowers that appear in dense, flattened, compound corymbs (to 2-4” across) throughout the summer on stems typically rising 2-3’ tall. Foliage has a strong, somewhat spicy aroma that persists when used in dried arrange-ments.

Source: Missouri Botanical Garden, https://goo.gl/ADBUwa