Anne Arundel County Master Gardener News


February Meeting: Project Showcase February 14, 2023 7:00-8:30 p.m.


Project leaders introduce themselves and their projects, share activities, describe goals, and progress, and invite new members to join. Power point slides will provide pictures of locations and participants. MGs will have the opportunity to ask questions to gain a better understanding.




Coordinator's Corner

Fran Garcia, Interim Master Gardener Coordinator

Hello fellow Master Gardeners! 

 

I wanted to introduce myself as your new interim coordinator – I am really looking forward to meeting/working with you over the coming months - Spring is just around the corner! I am grateful to have this time to get up to speed before our Spring projects get underway.  A little background about myself: I retired as an executive officer in the Federal government in February 2020 after 36 years of service. My passion for gardening and landscaping began many years ago while living in Hawaii, and continued after my move back to the East Coast. After retiring I was finally able to focus on my own yard, but found that I missed the comradery of my teammates, and so began volunteering at Londontowne Gardens to connect with like-minded friends.


Around this time last year, I enrolled in the Master Gardener course and successfully completed the program in September 2022 after completing the required 40 volunteer hours (whew!). The program was very rewarding, and a positive learning experience. I will be working side-by-side with many of you on the projects around Anne Arundel County.


Recent Activities: We are continuing to update the 2023 Master Gardener Project and Contact List, and the Executive Advisory Board (EAB) list. The tentative 2023 schedule of monthly meetings and topics is also being updated and will be posted to the website soon. 


I look forward to seeing everyone at the February 14 virtual zoom meeting for our annual Project Showcase. Following the meeting, please reach out to the project chairs to sign-up. The project chairs will communicate with you about project activities and work events.


These volunteer opportunities will help us get our service hours as well as cultivate our horticultural experience and knowledge. It is also a great time for us to meet new friends and reconnect with old friends through our shared commitment. Our mission is to support the University of Maryland Extension by educating residents about safe, effective, and sustainable horticultural practices that build healthy gardens, landscapes, and communities.


Please remember to bookmark: https://extension.umd.edu/locations/anne-arundel-county/master-gardener-program/just-master-gardeners


My contact information is 410-222-3900, or by email at fgarcia6@umd.edu.  

Take care,

Fran


Master Gardener Project Reports



Apprentice Gardens


ARE YOU A MASTER GARDENER WHO ENJOYS VEGETABLE

GARDENING AND WORKING WITH FAMILIES?

Planning has begun for the Apprentice Garden 2023 season. The eight family spaces have been offered first to the eligible families who participated in the 2022 Apprentice Garden. Available spaces will be offered to families on our wait list. Master Gardeners will open the garden in mid-March, and plant potatoes, lettuces and greens. April 12 is the date for our first meeting with the families, and we

expect to meet in the Harvest Hall at Kinder Farm Park. The children will paint signs to adorn their garden spaces, while their parents sign paperwork and receive project information.


The new layout for the Apprentice Garden last year worked very well, improving traffic flow throughout the garden spaces. The center of the garden common spaces will be planted early with potatoes and greens, and later with tomatoes, peppers, beans, basil and squash, etc. The rosemary, thyme, sage and

lavender have survived the winter well in the Mediterranean garden. Chives will sprout in spring and marigold will be added in that space. The vegetables and herbs will be shared by all the families.


In what is now The Strawberry Corner, strawberries have happily thrived in their new location in that southwest corner of the Apprentice Garden; lots of runners were potted for transplant and for sharing

Master Gardeners can participate by helping the families, or you can “adopt” part of the perennial gardens on the “outside of the fence” and maintain it on your own schedule.  Native goldenrod, mint and chives on one side, and brown-eyed, and black-eyed Susans on the other. Milkweed, tall phlox, iris, BES, mountain mint and a peony grow in front, on the garden gate side.


The Master Gardener volunteers and families meet at 6:30PM every Wednesday at the community gardens at Kinder Farm Park in Millersville, from April through September. 


Please consider volunteering in the Apprentice Garden. Occasional volunteers, and interns are welcome anytime. Volunteers who can do non-Wednesday garden checks and watering would be much appreciated as well. Your children are welcome to join you. There is always a sign-in sheet in the garden mailbox for noting your participation and recording your hours. Many thanks.


Hope you can join us in the Apprentice Garden in 2023!

If you would like more information, please contact Janet or Kristin.


Co-chaired by Janet Clauson and Kristin Silva

janetclauson301@gmail.com, 410.987.2027

ka_silva@verizon.net

Hancock's Resolution

As I write this, Recreation and Parks is replacing the rotten fencing around the historic farmhouse and kitchen gardens.  Thankfully work is occurring outside the growing season and when there is little park visitation. Plants affected by construction disturbance (notably the fig tree and oakleaf hydrangea) will need pruning attention from Master Gardener volunteers.


Hancock Resolution’s opening weekend will be Saturday and Sunday, April 1 & 2 which coincides with Maryland Day 2023. Maryland Day Weekend is a unique group of heritage-based events located in Annapolis and Anne Arundel County. https://www.marylandday.org/


Master Gardeners are needed to perform spring clean-up and prepare for planting beginning in March. Weather allowing, volunteer work parties will occur from 9:30-12:30 on the first and third Tuesdays. Master Gardeners can also volunteer on opening weekend and on Sunday afternoons April through October to interact with the public and provide horticultural information. For 2023, I hope to recruit Master Gardeners with an interest in vegetable gardening, lavender plant propagation, growing herbs and heirlooms, plant identification and historic gardens. 


In 2023 Park Rangers are extending the existing trail to provide the public with greater access to our special historic natural site. 



If you are interested in volunteering, email me at willnancy3@verizon.net or call/text 410-952-9554.

Nancy Allred 

Presentation Project

The Presentation Project met on January 25 with an overall look at Connie Vickery’s outline for a spring garden preparation. Ideas were floated around as to other potential topics to address.



 Any interested master gardeners who would like to contribute to the group can contact Ginny Klocko (bgklocko@verizon.net) or Kim Morrow (kabmorrow1@gmail.com) for the zoom link and more information.

Re-Pollinate

2022 was a truly successful launch year for RePollinate with the distribution of more than 2,600 plants

to communities and open spaces within AACO. In 2023 we will incorporate the lessons learned through

surveys and feedback to better support our volunteers and donation recipients. The planning and

preparedness phases are well underway to identify ways to gain greater volunteer support and how best to target donation recipients for fall plantings.


A two-pronged CALL TO ACTION has been identified to accommodate the anticipated increase in

demand for 2023.


CALL TO ACTION – VOLUNTEERS. There will now be two planting day offerings to include Wednesday

morning (10-1) and Thursday (3-6), with episodic Saturdays. Kick-off will be March 1st with the preparation of 300+ flats of different perennial native species to sow. For this short period, there will be a heavy need for volunteers. The most CRITICAL time period for volunteers will be mid-April to Mid-June. NOTE: There is a direct correlation between the number of volunteers and how many plants we have in inventory.


CALL TO ACTION – SHOVEL-READY SITES FOR FALL PLANTING. RePollinate is looking to our Master Gardener and Watershed Steward Ambassadors to identify, encourage or persuade high-visibility sites within AACO (parks, schools, churches, libraries, historical sites, community associations) to begin NOW in gaining the approvals and bed preparation (8-12 inches of free wood chips obtained from arborists or tree companies). Entities that provide direct sweat equity through the participation of planting days will be given the highest consideration.


Let’s begin having the conversations now through site visits, virtual consultations and the sharing of

educational resources needed to make this truly successful. Feel free to contact me at

lauren_toomey@hotmail.com to begin the process.

Tawes Garden

We are gearing up for the 2023 season and hope to see many new and old faces at Tawes Garden this year. We held a planning meeting in January and decided that work days for the coming year will be every Tuesday morning. In fact, some MG's said they'd like to start as early as February so February 7th, 10 am-12 noon, will be our first work day. As the weather warms, our hours will switch to 8am-12 noon. In these early colder months, the likely tasks will be the removal of invasive plants as well as some early weeding. If anyone is interested, please join us. Park for free at Gate 6 of the Naval Stadium and bring a photo ID to enter the DNR building. Please bring personal small hand tools.



Cindy Wells, cwells5953@cs.com

Kathy Devine, kathy.j.devine@gmail.com




Grass Isn't Greener After All

By Cara Buckley The New York Times


COLUMBIA — Janet and Jeff Crouch do not know which flower or plant may have pushed their longtime next-door neighbor over the edge, prompting him to pen complaint after complaint about the state of their yard.


Perhaps it was the scarlet bee balm that drew hummingbirds in darting, whirring droves. Or the swamp milkweed that monarch butterflies feasted upon before laying their eggs. Or maybe it was the native sunflowers that fed bumblebees and goldfinches.


Whatever it was, their neighbor’s mounting resentment burst to the fore in autumn 2017 in the form of a letter from a lawyer for their homeowner association that ordered the Crouches to rip out their native plant beds and replace them with grass.


The couple were stunned. They’d lived on their quiet cul-de-sac harmoniously with their neighbors for years and chose native plants to help insects, birds and wildlife thrive. Now the association was telling them that their plantings not only violated the bylaws but also were eyesores that hurt property values. “Your yard is not the place for such a habitat,” the letter read.


Continiue reading


Source: digitaledition.baltimoresun.com





Mark Your Calendar!

Monthly AAMG Meeting

Live Zoom Events

February 14, 2023

7:00 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.


GreenScapes Symposium

Live Zoom Event

February 17, 2023

9:30 AM - 4:00 PM

Fee: $45.00

REGISTER ONLINE