September 2008

Table of Contents

by George Cornwall

The September 30, 2008, meeting will be held in the multi-purpose room of Bowie City Hall at 7:30 p.m. The speaker will be Susan Wallis, a Horticulturist at Patuxent Nurseries. She will speak on FALL PLANTING. Hope to see you all there.

Back to Top

by Jesse Terres

For me some of the more enjoyable aspects of the garden club are the terrific speakers we have had over the years. It has always bothered me to limit the speakers to 30 to 40 minutes so we can get on with the business aspect. For me the business has always been very boring and it’s then I realize how hard the chairs are. Some folks leave after the speaker and I sometimes wish I were going with them. Recently some of the speakers have gone well over the so-called 40-minute limit and I, your president, have made no effort to cut them off. First I believe for me to do so would be rude. I don’t know but what they are just about to end their talk anyway, and most importantly, the membership by their continuous questioning demonstrate a very active interest in the speaker’s gardening talk. To me that is what our garden club is mostly about and in no way conflicts with our by-laws. My intention is to bring this subject up for discussion in further detail during our October meeting.

The tastiest tomato I grew this year was an heirloom variety called German Johnson. Not the earliest and not the most prolific, but the flavor makes it worth the effort. My only regret is I didn’t grow more of them. I’ve started a few plants to try in my greenhouse and will let you know of my success/failure. If I only get one tomato it will be worth the effort.

Another tomato we’ve enjoyed is a hybrid determinant variety called Health Kick. Health Kick tomatoes (shown at left) “provide 50 percent more Lycopene (an antioxidant proven to battle cancer) than other tomatoes.”  And from all my tomatoes I have I had some of the best homemade tomato juice ever!!! And BLTs!!! I’ll have plants of both German Johnson and Health Kick at our garden sale next year.

Bud Kerr gave me enough lima bean plants this spring to plant a 12-foot row. I never cared for lima beans, but have recently been converted. Fresh from the garden to the kitchen!!! While shelling them the baby beans bypass the pot and go directly to my stomach. Many thanks, Bud! I’ll love you forever for that introduction.

IPM (Integrated Pest management) I believe means not spraying pesticides until the insect is present or after observing insect damage. We of the Chrysanthemum Society ordinarily do not practice IPM simply because insect damaged blooms would never make it to the show bench. The past few years I have only sprayed on occasion and still had success with my blooms. This year I’ve sprayed only once and that was with a specific pesticide for a specific insect--spider mite. What I do use on a fairly regular basis is Messenger that stimulates a plants defense and growth mechanisms. To date it has worked very well.

Back to Top

Meeting Minutes, August 26, 2007

 The Tuesday August 26th meeting of the Bowie Crofton Garden Club was held at the Bowie Community Center on Stoneybrook Drive instead of the usual location at the Bowie City Hall.

 Jesse Terres, President called the meeting to order at 7:30 pm.

 Jesse announced that the October 28th meeting would not be held at Bowie City Hall but at the Bowie Community Center.

 The July minutes were unanimously approved.

 Committee Reports:

 Field Trips

 Longwood Gardens:

Ellen Brous reminded everyone of the trip to Longwood Gardens on Monday, October 6. The cost is $40 and leaves the Bowie Senior Center at 8:45 am and will return to Bowie around 7:00 pm.  Please send your check to Ellen ASAP, payable to the Bowie-Crofton Garden Club.  Please be advised that on September 15, the trip will be announced in the Bowie Blade and will be open to the public.  Please refer to the flyer that Ellen has provided at both the July and August meetings for additional details.

Philadelphia Flower Show:

The Philadelphia Flower festival will be held on March 2, 2009 and the cost will be $50.  The theme is "Gardens of Italy."

 Membership

 Everyone received the printed newsletter. Please let Lynne Snyder know if you want to receive it by email instead and save the postage and printing cost.

One new member and two guests were introduced.

 Treasurer

 Please pay your dues for the 08—09 fiscal year. Dues were due in June.

 Master Gardener Certification Class

Rich Dodson reported that the Master Gardener class is almost full, with 37 participants. The first Master Gardener class will begin on September 3rd. Several Garden Club members have registered to participate in the 17 sessions totaling 51 classroom hours.

Old and New Business

 Jesse asked if there was any old business or new business to report. There was no discussion for either and Jesse was eager to move on with the meeting since we had two guest speakers.

 Program:  1st guest speaker

 Rich Dodson introduced Dr. Howard Waterworth. Dr. Waterworth spoke on "Plant Pests and Other Diseases." He received his Ph.D. in Plant Pathology from the University of Wisconsin and performed research on plant diseases as a scientist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture in Beltsville, MD for 35 years. He is also a Master Gardener. We were all amazed by how much we learned from him.

He reassured us that we are not alone in the battle with plant pests and diseases. Dr. Waterworth was very informative on discussing plant problems and diseases and was often humorous and entertaining in his presentation. He confirmed what every gardener already knows -- that every plant can get some type of disease.  There are some 80,000 plant diseases, so there are broad categories of symptoms.

 Program: 2nd guest speaker

 Jesse Terres introduced Beth Chaisson who spoke to the Garden Club at a past meeting. Beth spoke about the 2nd Bowie Stream Team Clean Up on Saturday, October 18 from 9 am to noon.

 For more information, call Beth at 301-809-3047 or contact her at Echaisson@cityofbowie.org

Beth provided several information pamphlets at the meeting: Bowie Stream Team Clean Up and the Bowie Backyard Habitat Program and the National Wildlife Federation Habitat Certification Application.

 Stream Team Clean-up

 Our next Stream Team Clean-up scheduled for October 18, 2008 in conjunction with Gorgeous Prince George's Day. There will be 6-10 different Stream Teams meeting at 6-10 different locations around Bowie. Each Stream Team will have approximately 10 adults and 10 kids participating. (There were 219 volunteers in the spring and 50% were kids).

 Beth would like to know if the Bowie-Crofton Garden Club would like to participate in the fall clean- up. Would 6-10 members of the Garden Club like to work with each Stream Team to do some plantings near the streams on the day of the clean-up? The idea would be to distribute to each stream team about 10 NATIVE plants that would be planted in the fall and bloom in the spring for the April spring clean-up. We could make a statement by planting the same Native plant at each of the clean-up locations. The plants should be something showy like Cardinal flower or Redbud tree. It would be great if the Garden Club could work on this idea and select the plant. Maybe we can get a local nursery that sells natives to donate the plants.

 Announcement: Barbara Eberstein reminded everyone to give her a call if they had any interest in establishing a Hosta group within the BCGC.

 Door prizes were awarded, plants were exchanged and the meeting was adjourned at 9:15 pm.

 Respectfully Submitted, Kathleen Beres, Secretary

Back to Top

By Karin Banta

Membership Report

The Garden Club currently has 86 families and 108 individual members in good standing. We have updated the nametags to reflect the current membership.

 If you have not yet renewed your membership, please do so at the next meeting or by mailing a check to the return address on the newsletter. Thanks!

 If you are able to read the newsletter online or can print it off and read it, please save both trees and expenses by switching to online-only newsletters. Just send an email to Lynne Snyder at LynneinMD@gmail.com to update your preferences. The less money we spend on printing and mailing newsletters, the more money we have to put toward our clubs goals.

Field Trips

By Ellen Brous

JOIN US ON A TRIP TO LONGWOOD GARDENS. Kennett Square, Pennsylvania

Monday, October 6, 2008

 Please note that I changed the date for BCGC members to respond -- I changed it to September 15th. No one is signing up from the garden club and I need to get this out to the general public because we need to fill up the bus in order to go on the trip. 

I have way too many Iris plants and would like to give them to somebody. After all these years I have a lot of stuff -- Rose of Sharon plants all over the place; some large grape plants at the end of the yard that the birds always beat me to; a whole basket of daffodil bulbs (Yellow Bloom); wisteria is growing all over one part of the front; lots of Tansy too this year.

 Neil Potash [snpotash1@juno.com], 301-390-6572.

For information on how to grow and care for Iris, see http://www.schreinersgardens.com/about_iris.shtml.

by Rich Dodson

Sorry that I have been “Out of the Loop” for a couple of months, but (amongst other things) I have been deeply involved in setting up the Master Garden Certification Classes that we are holding at St. Matthew’s United Methodist Church in Bowie. September 3rd was the first of 17 classes and, while it got off to a “Slightly Rocky Start,” due to a misunderstanding with the Master Gardener Coordinator from the Clinton Extension Office, we still had a GREAT turnout; we have 41 Master Gardener Candidates in the class!  We have six from the B-CGC. The following gardeners from the Bowie-Crofton Garden Club are enrolled in the Master Gardener program held in Bowie this session: Kathleen Beres, Karin Banta, George Cornwall, Rich Dodson, Mary Kirkeby and Joan Walker.

Autumn Lawn Care

by P. Allen Smith

This morning I noticed the autumn dew collecting on the grass. The morning sunlight shimmering on the blades reminded me that it is time to turn my attention towards lawn care. Taking a few simple steps now will ensure that my grass goes into winter with everything it needs to emerge lush and green next spring.

 Here are a few tips for preparing your lawn for the upcoming season. (Editor comment: So that it will look as nice as the  Sminkey family old lawn in Bowie, shown here.)

 Fall Feeding

In early fall apply a slow release fertilizer to your lawn with a ratio of 3.1.2 - high in nitrogen and potassium and low in phosphorous. This will promote strong root development going into winter. Later in the autumn, say October or November, apply a winterizing fertilizer. Be sure to water thoroughly after feeding the grass so that the fertilizer gets into the ground rather than sitting on top of the blades.

 Mowing

If you dislike mowing as much as I do, then you know the inclination to lower the mower blade in the fall is strong. I tend to think that if I cut the grass down to the roots I'll be done mowing for the year. For a healthy lawn, resist this temptation and continue to cut your grass to about 2 inches tall. It is also best to remove the grass clipping because cool, wet weather can turn them into mush.

 Soil pH

If you have problems with moss or mushrooms in your lawn, fall is an ideal time to apply agricultural lime or dolomite to improve the pH and prevent these two problems.

 Overseeding

If you have bare patches in your lawn or wish to establish a new lawn, mid September is the time to sow grass seed. Check with your local county extension service for the best type for your area. Be sure to purchase top quality seed and prepare the soil by tilling and working in organic matter. Keep the area adequately moist while the seeds germinate and get established. When reseeding spots within the lawn choose a seed variety that will match the existing turf in color and texture.

 Sod

This is a great time of year to create a new lawn or re-sod an old one. You just want to give your new lawn plenty of time to acclimate before it gets too cold. To prepare the area first kill any existing grass or weeds with a nonselective herbicide. Once the vegetation has died, till the area to loosen the soil. Sod will root best in moist soil so gently shower the area with water before you put down the grass down. It is easy to forget to water during the fall but you should keep the area consistently moist until the grass gets established.

 Leaves

Wouldn't it be nice if fallen leaves insulated grass from cold winter temperatures? Unfortunately leaves left on the lawn are not helpful and can actually be harmful. It is important to remove dead leaves because over time they will form a dense mat that smothers your grass. So get out the rake, add the leaves to your compost pile and keep reminding yourself all the great rich soil that will come from your efforts.

 Dethatching/Aeration

Our lawns benefit from an occasional loosening up, so to speak. Over time the soil gets compacted and thatch builds up. Thatch is un-decomposed grass roots and stems that collect and compound, weaving a mat around the blades of grass. To check the level of thatch in your lawn dig down about 3 inches deep and remove a piece of turf. What you will see is a brown root like material sitting between the soil and the green grass. A thin layer of thatch, less than 1/2 an inch, is good for your lawn. It increases durability, prevents weeds and retains moisture. Anything over this amount needs to be removed. If you have a small lawn and less than 3/4 of an inch of thatch, you can remove it by simply raking it up.

 If you have clay or highly compacted soil you may need to go the extra step of aerating your lawn. Be sure to do this before the end of September. It will take about 3 weeks for the grass to recover from the process. To aerate your lawn you can either rent a machine, hire a professional or, if you are working in a small area use, a pitchfork. Push the pitchfork into the ground at a 45-degree angle about 4 inches deep. Then rock the fork back and forth to loosen the soil.

 Annual Weeds

My best advice about weeds is to know your enemy. Is it an annual, biennial or perennial? Apply a pre-emergent now to prevent annual weeds and a post emergent later in the season to kill annual weeds that escaped the pre-emergent as well as perennial and biennial weeds.

 Perennial Weeds

One of the best ways to knock down many perennial weeds such as dandelions, clover and ground ivy is to use spot applications of herbicide. These types of unwanted plants are taking in nutrients to create food and storing it in their roots for winter. Herbicides applied in the fall go quickly to the roots right along with the nutrients.

 Disease

Fungi often thrive during the cool and moist autumn weather. Diseases such as Brown Patch, Take-All Root Rot, Snow Mold or Fusarium Patch are prevalent during this time. Check with your local garden centers for the best treatments in your area.

 Here is the URL for a P. Allen Smith Video with Some Tips on How to Prepare For a New Lawn:
http://www.pallensmith.com/index.php?id=8&video=1738