1^st Thursday, November and December, 6:00 PM

Join Let’s Grow Akron at Summit Lake Nature Center, 411 Ira Ave., Akron for Birdhouse Gourd and Gardening Indoors. Call 330-745-9700 For more information. 

Summit Metro Parks is hosting Native Plant Seed Starters. Fall is the best time to sow next year's bounty! Learn about the importance of landscaping with native plants, then start some wildflower seeds of your own! Trays, soil and seeds provided. See you at F.A. Seiberling Nature Realm in Akron.

Join Summit Metro Parks for Winter Tree and Shrub ID. How do you properly identify a dogwood tree? By its "bark" of course! Join a naturalist to hike the trail, identifying many of the trees and shrubs along the way. By the end of the program, you will be able to easily tell the difference between spicebush, invasive honeysuckle, beech, maples, oaks and even dogwood trees. See you at Twinsburg Ledges Area & Nature Center.

Summit Metro Parks would like to invite you to All About Winter Trees. Curious youngsters and an accompanying adult are invited to join a naturalist to learn what happens to trees in the winter as we explore nature activities through stories, movement and more! Join them at Summit Lake Nature Center in Akron.

Winter Tree ID will be hosted by Summit Metro Parks. No leaves? No problem! Learn the basics of tree identification using bark and twig arrangement. Hike near the river, then the upland forests to discover different species. See you at Oxbow Area in Akron.

·        Summit County Master Gardeners on Facebook

·        Follow Summit County Master Gardeners on Instagram with our user name osusummitmgv 

·        Submit questions to Master Gardener Volunteers at Ask a Master Gardener

·        Find fact sheets and garden information at OhioLine Yard and Garden 

·        Let's Grow Akron, Seasonal Cooking Workshops

Follow Summit County Master Gardeners on Instagram: Find us by our user name osusummitmgv and follow us for educational information, gardening tips, and news and events related to the Summit County Master Gardener Program.

Fall is a great time to start a compost pile. You should have lots of material to get it started as you clean up your garden. The only caution is DON'T USE DISEASED OT INSECT-INFESTED MATERIAL in your compost pile. Just combine roughly equal parts of "green" material like fresh grass clippings, plants, weeds that have not gone to seed, kitchen vegetable scraps, and coffee grounds (not meat, bones and fatty foods such as cheese, salad dressing and leftover cooking oil), with "brown" material like fallen leaves and straw. Do not add pet or human wastes to a compost pile. Moisten your pile some, but not too much as you put it together. You can do this in a bin or a pile. Choose a shady spot that is convenient to your garden. For best results turn or mix your pile periodically, but not during the winter.

For more detailed information check out Composting at Home from the EPA, How to Compost from Arkansas Extension, or Composting from Maryland Extension.

When it comes to the vegetable garden, cleanliness is the way to go. It is important to remove diseased and bug-infested plant material to minimize problems for next year. But outside the vegetable garden it pays to to have a messy garden. The Cornell Lab of Ornithology, through its Habitat Network program is asking gardeners to leave your garden messy. The Habitat Network notes that "Gardens are havens for wildlife–even at the end of the growing season. Overgrown grassy reeds, dried flower stalks, and shrubby fruit-filled branches provide food, cover, and protection in the fall and winter for animals big and small."

The University of Minnesota notes that "Wild bees are important pollinators of many fruits and wild flowers. The best way to provide nests for native bees is to provide undisturbed areas where they can make their own nests. Some key elements to provide are standing, dead stems, downed logs, brush piles, and most importantly, undisturbed ground (both bare and covered with thatch)." Check out thier handout on How to create habitat for stem-nesting bees.

As you might expect for a messy garden program, it is easy to do. Leave dried flower heads and ornamental grasses standing until spring, and wait until after several 50 degree days to remove them, to let overwintering pollinators wake up and move on.

To learn more go to the Xerces Society's Nesting & Overwintering Habitat For Pollinators & Other Beneficial Insects and the Minnesota Bee Lab's Create Nesting Habitat

By now, you may have harvested squash from your garden or you’re thinking about buying pumpkins or acorn, butternut or another type of squash from a farmer’s market. Soup and stew recipes are calling you as the weather cools. But you’re dreading cutting into that tough squash skin. Well, here’s an NPR Life Hack (on Instagram) that I tested and loved:

TO SOFTEN A HARD SQUASH, puncture it a few times around with a sharp knife. Then place it in your microwave and cook it on high for a minute or so (some may take a bit longer). 

BUTTERNUT SQUASH SIDE DISH:

End of the season deals.  You may be able to find tools and supplies at a discount as retailers are looking to clear out this year's inventory. Online retailers often start offering free shipping, too.

Uninvited guests.  It may be cold outside, but inside it is nice and warm And that can lead to uninvited guests. The University of Nebraska Extension notes that insects employ a variety of tactics for winter survival. "One is simply to move in with humans. Insects such as ladybird beetles (ladybugs), cluster flies, elm leaf beetles and boxelder bugs overwinter as adults in wall voids, attics and other out-of-the-way places in homes and other structures." Stink bugs do the same.

(The University of Wisconsin/Milwaikee notes that "Ladybugs, or Ladybird beetles, were named in the Middle Ages when the beetles controlled a plague of aphids that was having its way with the grape crop. Grapes and grape by-products were sufficiently important that the beetle was subsequently blessed by the Church with the name "Our Lady's beetle.")

Cornell notes that the best way to deal with insects entering the home to make sure they don't find a way in. Check around windows and doors, looking for openings and seal gaps with weatherproof sealant. Make sure screens are in good shape; even small openings will allow pests in. If you forgot to do that this fall, the best approach is to vacuum them up as you see them. Try not to crush them, as stink bugs and Asian lady beetles give off an unpleasant odor. And as the University of New Hampshire notes, "empty the bag or canister outside quickly before they crawl out again."

Bring in clay pots or garden ornaments so they won't crack or break from fluctuating winter temperatures.

If you grow ornamental sweet potatoes, take some cuttings and root them in water. Once they have nice roots, pot them up and grow them as houseplants.

If you have chives, dig up part of a clump (or 2) and pot them up, then bury the pots outside, mulch well, and mark the spot. Then, on a nice day in January or February dig up the pot and bring it inside. In no time you will have a pot of fresh chives to brighten your winter meals.

If you use a calendar program on your phone or computer to keep track of your schedule, you can also use it to keep track of your garden.  You can add reminders for when to plant succession crops or when you need to thin your carrots. You can note when you planted your crops and when you started to harvest, to calculate your own "days to harvest." You can also add dates of first and last frost, so you can track your micro-climate from year to year.

As an alternative, look for an extra FREE calendar that businesses pass out this time of year and dedicate it to your garden. Mark frost dates, planting dates, track your succession planting, and weather conditions. You can also track your days to harvest and yield.

It is fun to use your phone to take pictures in your garden and it is a great way to remind yourself of what was planted where for crop rotation and to make sure you do not dig in the wrong spot by mistake. But you should be a bit careful. A man in England posted a selfie he took in his garden. Unfortunately, when the police noticed that all the plants behind him were marijuana, they stopped for a visit, and arrested him!

If you are leaving carrots and other root crops in the ground for winter harvest, be sure to mark the rows. Cover with a thick layer of straw or hay after the first frost to prevent the soil from freezing up.  You can also put some black plastic over a section of your carrots or parsnips for a few days to warm up the soil so you can dig them.

Kale should overwinter without protection and get some new growth and bloom in the early spring for pollinators.  You can even go out in the winter for a kale-cicle.

In addition to vegetables most of us like to grow flowers. Not only are they great to bring in pollinators and beneficial insects, they brighten our gardens. If you grow things like tuberous begonias, gladiolus, cannas, caladium or dahlias you can save a lot of money by digging them in the fall and storing them for the winter.

First, wait until after a killing frost has turned the foliage yellow. Then dig the tubers, corms, bulbs or rhizomes and cut the the stems off, leaving 1-2 inches. Brush off the soil. (If you wash it off, make sure they dry completely.) Let the tubers, corms, bulbs or rhizomes dry in a well ventilated area to cure. Then store them in mesh bags or bins with ventilation holes. You can use peat moss or vermiculite to pad them.

Then store them in a cool area. Remember to check them periodically over the winter and remove any that have started to rot.

Different tubers, corms, bulbs or rhizomes have slightly different storage preferences, so for more detailed and specific information visit Michigan State's Digging and storing tender bulbs and University of Minnesota's Fall care for tender and hardy bulbs

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Salvia officinalis is a favorite of many herb gardeners, for its beautiful appearance, scent and culinary uses. According to University of Wisconsin Extension sage was a sacred ceremonial herb of the Romans and has been cultivated for both culinary and medicinal purposes for many centuries in Europe.

Sage is a woody perennial shrub which is actually a member of the mint family (Lamiaceae). Many of us enjoy cutting it on Thanksgiving morning to use in our roast turkeys. While it is native to the northern Mediterranean, it is hardy in the US in Zones 4 to 10. While garden sage is usually known by its soft, gray-green, pebbly foliage and spikes of light-colored spring flowers, other beautiful varieties include purple sage (S.o. cv. Purpurescens), golden sage (S.o. cv. Aurea), and tricolor sage (S.o. cv. Tricolor). These do, however, tend to be less hardy than regular sage.

For more information on this herb, please also seethe Wisconsin Extension article on Sage or the National Gardening Association's article on Growing Sage. .

Submit questions online to be answered by Master Gardener Volunteers at  Ask a Master Gardener

OhioLine Yard and Garden provides fact sheets and information on a variety of gardening topics.

The Michigan State Tip Sheets,and the Cornell Growing Guides also offer lots of gardening information that is suitable for Ohio gardens.

Buckeye Yard and Garden onLine provides timely information about Ohio growing conditions, pest, disease, and cultural problems. BYGL is updated weekly between April and October.