queen anne’s county master gardener newsletter …...coordinator search update a search committee...
TRANSCRIPT
N O V E M B E R , 2 0 1 6 V O L U M E 1 7 , I S S U E 1 1
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 :
News 2
Holiday Lunch 3
Volunteer
Opportunities 4, 5
Educational
Opportunities 6-8
Grow It Eat It 9
Bay-Wise 10
Demonstration Gar-
dens, Pollinators 11
Small Farm Confer-
ence 12
Calendars 13
Andrew Ristvey is an Extension Specialist for
Commercial Horticulture at Wye Research and
Education Center at Queenstown, MD. Before coming
to the Wye, Andrew worked on shoreline restoration
and then wetland and forest-stand delineation. He also
taught environmental and horticultural education at
Adkins Arboretum. Andrew’s present research
interests are plant nutrition, sustainable alternative crop
production with the fruit Aronia and green roof
systems.
Andrew will talk about eco-friendly gardening and in
particular how our soils affect plant growth and what we can do to
improve our soils.
Eco-friendly Gardening and Soil Health Andrew Ristvey
Wednesday, November 16, 9:30am
104 Tilghman Ave, Centreville
Do you have access?
I noticed that a number of active MGs actually are NOT signed up for the online
tracking system. Please follow this link and try to sign in: http://
extension.umd.edu/mg/program-management/tracking-volunteer-hours
IF YOU CANNOT SIGN IN, PLEASE LET ME KNOW!!!
One e-mail can solve that problem. The system is very easy to use and I am
here to help. I am in the office almost every morning, so just give me call if you
need help, 410-778-1661
And no, your computer will not blow up if you think you may have
made a mistake
P A G E 2
MONTHLY MEETING HOST SIGN-UP THIRD TUESDAY EVENING OR WEDNESDAY MORNING OF EACH MONTH
The evening meetings take place at the Queen Anne’s County
Library in Centreville, 121 South Commerce Street
The morning meetings take place at 104 Tilghman Ave, Centreville
T H E W A T E R I N G C A N
COORDINATOR’S CORNER
Wed, November 16th, 9:30am Kit Foster, Deane Horowitz , Cathy Tengwall
December 14th Holiday Luncheon (Margaret Gardner)
Tues, January 17, 6pm
Wed, February, 15, 9:30am
Coordinator Search Update
A search committee is in place and the job will be advertised soon. The closing date for
applications is November 18th. Job presentations are scheduled for December 13th and
15th.
If you know of anyone who might be interested in applying, please refer them to the
online application: https://ejobs.umd.edu/postings/search?utf8=%E2%9C%
93&query=&query_v0_posted_at_date=&query_organizational_tier_3_id=955&1950=2&query_o
rganizational_tier_2_id=any&804=&805=&806=&commit=Search
Save the dates!
Dec. 2— Annual Harvest Breakfast
Dec. 13 and 15 – MG Coordinator Inter-
views
Dec. 14 - Holiday Luncheon
Feb. 16 – April 8, Basic Training
May 25 - Annual MG Training Day
T H E W A T E R I N G C A N
P A G E 4 QAC MG Volunteer Opportunities
Hosts needed for Monthly meetings! At the moment, we have NO hosts for any of our meetings, including November. If you
would like to be a host on any of the following dates, please contact Sabine.
Wednesday, Nov. 16, 9:30am
Tuesday, January 17, 6:30pm
Wednesday, February 15, 9:30am
Tuesday, March 21, 6:30pm
KENT ISLAND ASK A MASTER GARDENER (PLANT CLINIC) Thursday, November 10 from 3:30 to 6:30 p.m
The theme will be COMPOSTING
Location: 830 Romancoke Rd,
Stevensville, MD 21666
At the October Plant Clinic, in
keeping with a Halloween theme, we
created a display of October
gardening tips, skeletons and
exoskeletons, a bat house and
information on bats and pumpkins
and gourds. Quite a few children
were curious about the skeletons and
bats, which, of course, brought in their parents who took information on October gardening
tips. We had a great time and hope you will consider volunteering in the future to help out!
Liz Hammond 410-758-2992 [email protected]
Deane Horowitz 410-604-0969 [email protected]
Galilee Gardens at Harbor View: Contact Nancy O’Connor at
MANTS Registration is OPEN
Early Bird Rates Now Available
January 11-13 • Baltimore Convention Center
January 11 & 12 (9am-5pm) • January 13 (9am-2pm) $15 pp through December 2
nd
$20 pp after and on-site
(Registration fee is for all 3 days, not per day)
T H E W A T E R I N G C A N
P A G E 5 QAC MG Volunteer Opportunities
Compost Bin Construction Beth Brownley. Engineering teacher and the Environmental Coordinator at Kennard Elementary
School is looking for MGs to help built composting bins
The compost collection system in the cafeteria has already been built. It is an old rolling cabinet
which holds 5 gallons buckets for compostables. The buckets will be moved to an all-terrain wagon
and transported outside the compost bins. Students designed the bins but they need help building
them.
Eventually, the students would like
to use the compost to grow lettuce
in a salad table (also still to be built).
If you are interested in helping with
some carpentry or if you would like
to go into the 3rd and 4th grade
classrooms to teach students about
composting, please contact Beth
Brownley,
[email protected] or Sabine
Harvey.
To the right is a sketch of the compost bins design. It can certainly be modified if it is too
complicated.
Partnership with Environmental Concern
Environmental Concern (EC) in St. Michael’s is constructing pollinator gardens at all elementary
Schools in Queen Anne’s County. Through the Milkweed and Habitat Monitoring Program, QACPS
students will evaluate existing habitats functions while increasing the habitat provided for pollinator
species. EC is educating teachers and students about how wetlands serve as a habitat, a food
resource to animals, supporting pollinator populations and reducing nutrient and sediment loads
entering the Chesapeake Bay. With the Chesapeake Bay as a classroom, and several local
environmental organizations as partners in education, it is EC’s
shared hope that today’s students will become tomorrow’s
environmental stewards.
With this in mind, EC would like to take the next step with the
QAC Master Gardeners. Environmental Concern would be pleased to offer educational
workshops to Master Gardeners for their initial training and advanced professional
development for a minimal fee. In return, Master Gardeners would offer/trade
volunteer hours to assist in educating about the schoolyard habitats, and building a
relationship with the students to support their monitoring and maintaining these sites.
If you are interested in this opportunity, please contact Debbie Longhurst, [email protected]
Environmental Series Lectures and Films November 3: Inhabit: A Permaculture Perspective
6:30-8:30 pm @ Sumner Hall, (206 S. Queen St.)
An introduction to permaculture, an ecological design method for solving
issues related to agriculture, economics, and governance. This 92-minute
film shows how people can have a positive impact on the health of the
planet by participating in food production systems that align with natural
processes.
For more information, go to http://www.chestertown.com/environment.
T H E W A T E R I N G C A N
P A G E 6
Educational Opportunities
Upper Shore Beekeeping Association
Special talk: November 12 at the Lower Eastern Shore Beekeeping meeting in Salisbury.
Guest speaker is Dr. Delaney, Chair of the Entomology Department at the University of
Delaware.
Wed. Nov. 19: USGS scientist and photographer Sam Droege will speak on his research
on native bees. Yellow Building at the library in Chestertown, 6:30pm
The Versatile Cabbage November 15: The Versatile Cabbage
6:30-7:30 pm, Chestertown Town Hall, 118 N. Cross St.
Vegetables in the Cabbage/Mustard family have been a staple in the human diet for cen-
turies, yet they are largely overlooked in the post-industrial world. Explore the many
variations of this easy-to-grow and highly nutritious plant family in a show-and-tell tasting
of dishes including Brussels sprouts, bok choy, western/eastern cabbage, mustard greens,
kale, broccoli, cauliflower, horseradish
and fermented cabbage.
Please consider bringing your
favorite dish featuring a vegeta-
ble in the cabbage family.
For more information contact Sabine,
T H E W A T E R I N G C A N
P A G E 7
Educational Opportunities
Food Fight Thursday, November 10
Chesapeake Bay Beach Club, Kent Island
Time: 8:30 AM to 5 PM
Cost: $5
This conference will take a fresh look at one of the most basic human needs – food!
National and regional speakers will engage attendees in highly interactive sessions to evaluate
how we are planning for a better, more equitable food system built upon Eastern Shore agricul-
ture. Who benefits from the current food system? Can Shore agricultural or behavioral shifts
improve human, societal, and environmental health? What changes to our food system are real-
istic?
Come help plan for a better system and learn the realities of how food affects our region. Come
hungry and join us November 10th, in Kent Island, MD, for a provocative day of evaluating what
it is to have a truly healthy, sustainable, and realistic food system!
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/17th-annual-planning-conference-food-fight-tickets-27078772337
P A G E 8
Virginia Flower and Garden Expo Virginia Beach Convention Center
January 27-29, 2017
$10—$4Discount for groups of 10 or more (does NOT need to travel as a group!)
Last year Karen Wimsatt as well as Jim Persels visited the Expo and they really enjoyed
themselves. If people are interested, Karen would be willing to gather names. If more than 10
people are interested, Karen will arrange to get the discounted tickets. In order to receive the
discount, one needs to BUY 10 or more tickets, but one does NOT need to attend as a group
(i.e., you can go whenever you would like). More information is available at vafgs.org
27th Annual Harvest Breakfast December 2nd, 2016, QAC 4-H Park
Speaker: Tony Riggi
QA Soil Conservation District
“75 Years of Soil Conservation in QAC”
Doors open at 6:45am
Program starts at 7:30am
RSVP BEFORE November 21st: 410-758-0166
Please bring a monetary donation to The Maryland Food Bank—Eastern Shore Branch
T H E W A T E R I N G C A N
Educational Opportunities
2017 Garden Trends Report: Grow 365
Eight trends inspire clean gardening 365 days-a-year The backyard and kitchen counter have a lot in common this year; they’re both ideal places to
grow.
In this report you will find:
Eight new industry trends
What is driving the increasing consum-
er desire for clean food, clean air and
clean medicine
How the clean food movement is re-
defining indoor gardening for the mod-
ern age
How to inspire Millennials to garden
year-round
An elevated consumer interest in horticulture not only as a hobby but as a career
P A G E 9
A subversive plot: how to grow a revolution in your
own backyard by Roger Doiron
Roger Doiron is founding director of Kitchen Gardeners International, a network of people taking a
hands-on approach to re-localizing the global food supply. Doiron is an advocate for new policies,
technologies, investments, and fresh thinking about the role of gardens. His successful petition to
replant a kitchen garden at the White House attracted broad international recognition. He is also a
writer, photographer, and public speaker.
Follow the link for a fun Ted-talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ezuz_-eZTMI&feature=youtu.be
T H E W A T E R I N G C A N
Grow It Eat It—Statewide Meeting November 14, 10am-1pm
4-H Center, College Park
Get ready for 2017! It will be
the year of
“The small fruit”
For carpooling info, please contact Sab-
ine
Grow It Eat It
smallfruits.org
Looking back at the 2016 growing season By Erica Smith: If you ended the summer growing
season as frustrated and tired as I did: the last thing
you may have wanted was more talk about vegeta-
ble gardening!
But now we've all taken a breather and are enjoying
the cool weather of fall, so much as I personally
would like to forget a lot of 2016's gardening issues,
it's worth taking a look back while it's still fresh…
Continue reading: http://groweat.blogspot.com/
October was a busy month for the Bay-Wise Committee. We went on four visits resulting in three
certifications and have several more scheduled that should be completed by the time you are
reading this.
On Thursday, October 20th seven of us visited the Inn at the Chesapeake Bay Beach Club. Beth
Stang, the landscape manager, originally talked to us at the county fair. As a result of questions and
concerns that she had, we all agreed a Bay-Wise visit would be a good idea. For those who have
never been there, the Inn is situated on 4 acres of which approximately 2.5 acres is buildings and
parking lots. Large retention ponds landscaped with native plants and trees control the storm water
run-off from the parking areas in the front and side of the main building. They were engineered and
designed to meet critical area requirements. There are also bio-swales planted with grasses along
the perimeter of the property.
Around the back of the main building are numerous out buildings and garden areas with brick paved
walking paths lined with trees and landscaped beds consisting of a mix of native and non-native
plantings. There are several seating areas for guests to relax and enjoy the surroundings. Beyond
the tool shed building is a huge vegetable with raised beds divided by brick paths. Vegetables grown
here are used for the menu at the Inn’s restaurant.
Our group spent a very pleasant 3 ½ hours there and finalized our visit with a completion of the
yardstick and Bay-Wise certification. The Inn received our new, larger sign for public properties to
put on display along with their existing signage about cleaner water for the Chesapeake Bay. Submitted by Debbie Pusey
T H E W A T E R I N G C A N
P A G E 1 0
MG’s Report: Bay Wise
MG’s Report: Bay-Wise Submitted by Denise Malueg
Pollinator or Natural Enemy of the Month:
We had a great turn out for our final work day of the 2106 season for the Centreville Library rain
garden. A huge thank you to Kit Foster, Judy Geggis, Cheryl Huyck, Jackie Kelly, Laura Klingler,
Betty McAtee, Chris Mourse, Cindy Rieger, and Louise Shearer. I think there may have been some
early helpers there also before I arrived, so if I’ve missed anyone, I apologize.
Usually, we spend a good part of our time just trying to keep the weeds at bay. But the county
recently put down mulch throughout the bed and the weeds were minimal. We were able to
divide and really conquer areas that we normally don’t have time for. The red twig dogwood trees
got a very badly needed pruning as did the elderberry. We did leave some perennials for the
wildlife, but most of the them were cut back so that the garden would be manageable next spring
when we see signs of new life again.
Now it’s time to enjoy the holidays and plan for next year over the winter.
Submitted by Debbie Pusey
T H E W A T E R I N G C A N
P A G E 1 1
MGs Report: Demonstration Gardens
What's that buzzing? There are honeybees all over the pineapple sage! "I thought bees couldn't
see red," said my resident beekeeper. Maybe they don't, but they sure can smell a good thing
when it's one of the last good things out there!
Indeed, honeybees are devouring the red, tubular flowers of this pineapple sage "shrub." Bees can-
not fit their little, round bodies inside the slender bloom, so they rip along the outside of the flow-
er to access their rewards.
The weather has been warm enough that the bees still fly every day (above 50*F). I'm glad we still
have something blooming for them. Along with this sage, we've got the self-seeding annual
Melampodium, Chrysanthemum, Asclepius and Zinnias.
Not just honeybees, but all insects are visiting the blooms. What food is blooming in your garden?
You might find some surprises!
P A G E 1 3
NOVEMBER 2016
Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat
1 2 3 Movie: Inhabit:
A Permaculture
Perspective, 6:30
4 5
6 7 8 9 10KI Plant Clinic,
3:30-6:30pm
11 12
13 14 GIEI Meeting,
College Park,
10am—1pm
15 The Versatile
Cabbage, 6:30pm
Chestertown
16 Monthly MG
Meeting, 9:30am
Centreville.
17 18 19
20 21 22 23 24 25 26
27 28 29 30
DECEMBER 2016
Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat
1 Movie: Alone
in the Wilder-
ness , 6:30pm
2 Harvest Break-
fast, 7am
3
4 5 6 7 8 KI Plant Clinic,
3:30-6:30pm
9 10
11 12 13 MG Coordi-
nator Interviews
14 Holiday Lunch 15 MG Coordi-
nator Interviews
16 17
18 19 20 21 22 23 24
25 26 27 28 29 30 31
Photo taken by Lisa Spears
University of Maryland Extension
Queen Anne’s County
505 Railroad Ave.
Suite 4
Centreville, MD 21617
Vision Statement: A healthier world through environmental stewardship
QACMG Website:
http://extension.umd.edu/queen-annes-
county/home-gardening
University of Maryland Extension
505 Ra i lroad Avenue, Su ite 4
Centrev i l le MD, 21617
Phone: (410) 758-0166
Fax: (410) 758-3687
http://extension.umd.edu/queen-annes-
county/about
December Newsletter Deadline:
November 20, 2016
The University of Maryland Extension programs are open to any person and will not discriminate against anyone because of
race, age, sex, color, sexual orientation, physical or mental disability, religion, ancestry, national origin, marital status, genetic
information, political affiliation, and gender identity and expression. Equal opportunity employers and equal access programs.
Master Gardener Coordinator,
Queen Anne’s County