October 2022 UME Master Gardener

State Office Announcements

October brings change in the colors of the leaves and the start of a new season. 

In today's newsletter we honor Sherry Frick, a devoted gardener and loving friend. Her passion and kindness will be remembered by all of us in the Master Gardener program.

Remembering Sherry

It is with a heavy heart that I share the news of the passing of Sherry Frick, UME’s Master Gardener Coordinator/ENR senior agent associate, as well as the AgFS Educator for Allegany County for the last eight years. Sherry had the most giving heart and enthusiasm for life, and she will be deeply missed by all.

Sherry was an incredibly dedicated and active member of the college community. She spearheaded a number of notable projects that earned her significant recognition for their undeniable impact across the state. Her innumerable accomplishments include the Jane Gates Heritage House teaching garden, where she helped serve the museum’s mission of faith, education, and African American History. Sherry designed and executed a backyard transformation that included four raised beds for vegetables, a small bed for fruit, and a pollinator garden.

Sherry initiated the “Apples for All” project in 2017, where she collaborated with a local WWII veteran who wanted to donate all of the fruit from his orchard to folks in need. Frick organized 35 volunteers to pick and distribute over 6,000 pounds of apples to 22 organizations including food pantries, homeless shelters, senior centers, soup kitchens, and schools. 

Some of Sherry’s other innovative projects include the installation of the new rain garden at a local school as well as her work at 13 different sites where she assisted in the planning and design of community or demonstration gardens. Sherry was ever present at her local farmer’s market as an ambassador for its popular demonstration garden, which she was instrumental in designing. The garden provided a platform for programming opportunities and emphasized native plants, attracting pollinators, the historical use of plants for medicine, dye, fiber, edible landscaping, and food gardening.

When the pandemic hit, instead of scaling back programming, Sherry ramped it up. She collaborated with the Garrett County horticulture educator to transition programs into a virtual format. Their gardening and forestry series drew an amazing 3,500 participants for their synchronous sessions. Also during that time, Sherry chaired UME’s Program Reopening Committee which was tasked with developing guidelines and resources for Extension educators to return to in-person programming in response to COVID-19 health and safety issues. 

In her free time, Sherry was engaged in many service activities including three visits to Haiti with a local church to educate women about proper seed planting techniques and growing vegetables and flowers.

A memorial service will be scheduled at a later date, which we’ll be sure to share with all of you.  

Condolences may be sent to Sherry's husband.


Josh Frick

190 Snowy Creek Rd.

Oakland, MD 21550


Losing a member of our college is truly heartbreaking. Please take care and don’t hesitate to reach out to my office should you need anything.


Dean Craig Beyrouty 

Dean of the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources

VMS Demographics

In an effort to become an increasingly more diverse and inclusive program to better serve all Maryland communities, it is important that we understand who our program represents today. Beginning today, Monday, October 10th at 9 am, VMS will prompt each Master Gardener to complete or update their demographic information upon logging in. As always, sharing your demographic information is voluntary, but please consider filling this out so that we can continue to improve the Master Gardener program in alliance with the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources (AGNR) Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Respect (DEIR) Strategic Plan. Thank you!

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AGNR's DEIR Strategic Plan

Continuing Education

Fall Vegetable Garden Evaluation:

Is it time to redesign your garden? 

Monday, October 10th, 2022 | 12 pm - 1:30 pm

Zoom Webinar | Free

Fall is the perfect time to assess your garden’s performance and design. This talk gives gardeners the tools to evaluate their site and introduces gardeners to design guidelines using photos of existing gardens. Examples will be primarily drawn from traditional in-ground gardens and raised bed gardens.

Register for Fall Vegetable Garden Evaluation

Hydroponic How-To

Thursday, November 3, 2022 | 12 pm - 1 pm

Zoom Webinar

An Introductory overview to hydroponic growing with a focus on home-scale gardening. Participants will learn the 3 main methods of growing hydroponically and see examples of each. The presenter will also explore hydroponics in the built environment, exploring ideas presented by futurists as well as the ‘here and now’ of hydroponic living walls.

Register for Hydroponic How-To

Native Seed Sowing

Wednesday, November 16, 2022 | 10 am - 12 pm

Queen Anne's County 4-H Park | $10

Native plants have different requirements and growing habits compared to other commercially sold seeds. Successful native seed sowing depends on techniques to break dormancy and germinate; this makes winter seed sowing an easy and rewarding practice. Join Senior Agent Associate Mikaela Boley to learn about selecting native plant species for the growing environment, how native seeds have adapted to different growing conditions, and engage in sowing seeds for winter.

The $10 registration fee goes towards supplies for participants to bring home 2-3 four inch pots with native seed. A variety of species will be provided for different growing conditions.

Buy Tickets for Native Seed Sowing

We're Hiring!

Horticulture Consultant

Become a part of the HGIC team and the UME family! We're looking for a Horticulture Consultant.

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More Info & to Apply

Catch Up on Continuing Education with Webinar Recordings

Did you miss our recent continuing education webinar?
Check out the recording below! You can always see both upcoming continuing education opportunities and recorded webinars on the State MG Continuing Education webpage.

Biodiversity & Diversity in Bio: What's the Point

Is there such a thing as "diversity for diversity's sake" or is diversity a metric worth pursuing consistently? It turns out that the answer to that question is the same regardless of whether you're discussing biology or biologists. In this presentation, you'll get a better understanding of why ecosystems thrive with diversity, why human systems follow the same pattern, and what the major barriers are to achieving diversity in natural and man-made contexts.

Watch the Recording

Ask Extension

A team of Maryland Certified Professional Horticulturists, Extension faculty, and Master Gardeners answer yard and garden questions from Maryland and Washington, DC residents. If you haven't used Ask Extension or suggested the service to your community, give it a try!  


Nationwide Ask Extension questions are now searchable by keyword, location, and more at ask2.extension.org. Searching previous submitted questions could be a great tool in your toolkit at plant clinics! 


1. Go to ask2.extension.org (you don't need a log-in).

2. Enter your search term(s). Click on search.

3. On the search results page you will see options to filter by date, month, expert, and state.

Ask Extension at HGIC
Search Ask Extension Questions

Maryland Grows Blog

Have you subscribed to the Maryland Grows Blog yet? Do you recommend it to your community?
The Maryland Grows Blog is a wonderful place for new and experienced gardeners to read timely tips on food gardening, soil improvement, trouble-shooting plant problems, and supporting pollinators in your landscape. To follow the blog find the "Follow Blog via Email" section on the right-hand side of the screen. Submit your email and you're officially a follower!

Fall colors: The Garden Thyme Podcast

Hosts are Mikaela Boley- Senior Agent Associate (Talbot County) for Horticulture, Rachel Rhodes- Agent Associate for Horticulture (Queen Anne’s County), and Emily Zobel-Senior Agent Associate for Agriculture (Dorchester County)


Photo: Delaware Botanic Gardens at Pepper Creek

Read article

Brighten your garden with fall blooming perennials 

 

By Annette Cormany, Principal Agent Associate and Master Gardener Coordinator, Washington County, University of Maryland Extension. This article was previously published by Herald-Mail Media.

Read article

Online Resources

Stephanie Pully
UME Master Gardener State Coordinator
Jean Burchfield
Program Management Specialist