Last Two Days for the County Ag Fair!
Yesterday, on breaks from the Master Gardener's Demo Garden, I picked up a free compost ring AND thermometer from the County Recycling tent, got an amazing grilled cheese sandwich, talked with a juggler on stilts, and saw baby ducks and pigs, miniature horses, goats, sheep - and a calf actually being born in the birthing barn. (Whoa!) And I didn't event get to the blacksmithing demos, birds of prey tent, chainsaw sculpture demo and the carnival rides.
It really is true - the 63nd Annual Montgomery County Agricultural Fair in Gaithersburg is "udderly terrific," and great fun for the entire family. You should have seen the scores of kids glued to the baby cow being born - what a memory.
There are just two days left for this great county institution, this Friday and Saturday, August 19 - 20, and it runs late both nights. (Although if you want to see animals, day time is best.) If you haven't gone yet, or if you went but didn't get your fill of all the great stuff, make sure to spend a few hours at the County Fair these last two days - you'll be glad you did! Click here for schedule, directions, and other info.
It's Fall Gardening Time!
It might feel counterintuitive in the 90 degree heat and humidity, but it's time to start your fall gardening, if you haven't already.
Fall is a great time to be gardening in our area - lower temperatures allow us to have another round of great cool weather crops including lettuce, spinach, radishes, carrots, broccoli, cabbage, Asian greens and more. We come out of our drought and heat, so you have to water a lot less, and by the time we get to October we're almost completely bug free.
What to grow? Check out the cool weather crops listed in the Home and Garden Information Center's "Planting Dates for Vegetable Crops in Maryland" and in the Master Gardener's "Vegetable Planting Calendar for Central Maryland."
For crops that should already have been planted from seed, not to fret: our local county nurseries (Behnke's, Johnson's, Season's and others) stock an increasing number of transplants for your fall veggie garden. (Just make sure to call before you go, as some are still arriving.)
Need to know which cultivars (varieties of the plant) to use? Check out HGIC's "Recommended Vegetable Cultivars for the Maryland Home Garden" for varieties that have been proven to work in central Maryland.
And for one last tip: strongly consider starting cool weather seeds in flats and starter trays. (Seen in picture.) Soil temperature is critical for successful germination, and even though young cool weather plants might grow okay during the last few weeks of summer, the seeds might not germinate if the soil is still being baked by 90 degree temperatures. It's very easy to start them inside in trays.
One of the great advantages of our area is being able to grow for three seasons, four with the right equipment. Fall is not the end of the food gardening season, it's the beginning of a whole new one - let's use it!
Schools Go Back to Cooking From Scratch
Hardly a week goes by without some new group or sector of our economy discovering the joys and healthful benefits of fresh food, particularly local fruits and vegetables.
One of the crucial fronts in this "good food revolution" is the school cafeteria, and as this NY Times article explains, many schools are beginning to turn their backs on the chicken nuggets and other highly processed foods that have dominated school lunches for years, and are relearning the art of cooking from scratch.
While this might take a lot of training, and moving around of budgets, school systems such as the one highlighted in Colorado are finding they can serve fresh - and freshly prepared - food for the same amount as the processed stuff - or less. As one school nutritionist notes, healthy fresh food is "not just for elites."
All in all, another big step in the right direction. Click here to read "Schools Restore Fresh Cooking to the Cafeteria."
Why Are My Tomatoes Dying?
If your tomato plants look like the sickly one below, you're not alone. While some folks have had good years with their tomatoes, others, particularly in the down county area, have had a tough time of it. What are the reasons for this?
* Heat and drought - We have just experienced the hottest July on record for the DC area. Heat not only causes tomatoes to curl up and dry up without frequent watering, it also effects them in other ways: tomatoes can drop their blossoms or have poor fruit set when temperatures regularly go over 90 degrees.
* Heavy rains - Ever go into your garden the day after one of our heavy downpours and find tomatoes with cracked skins? This is a result of inconsistent watering, and heavy rains which swell the tomato too quickly after weeks of drought.
* VFN - These initials, which you will see on descriptions for hybrid tomatoes, stand for Verticilium Wilt, Fusarium Wilt, and Root Knot Nematodes - all of them major enemies to tomatoes, along with early blight, and all in unfortunate abundance in our Maryland soils. The heirloom tomatoes we all love to grow have virtually no resistance to these common soil-borne problems, and can die quickly once effected. Try some of the hybrids next year for better results. (And remember that even they are not immune, just resistant. The picture is a plant effected by Fusarium Wilt, next to a more resistant variety.)
* Stink bugs - Many gardeners are reporting getting hammered by these invasive pests that suck tomatoes (and peppers, and apples, and peaches, and corn...) causing flavorless woody white spots called "stipples." If they haven't hit your garden yet they probably still will - see below to know what you can do about them. (For tomatoes, the Juliet variety has been noted to have some resistance, while early producers such as Early Girl can give you a crop before the stink bugs come out in force.)
Stink Bug Update, and a Simple Device You Can Use
Move over aphids, harlequin beetles and squash bugs - stink bugs (the brown marmorated variety) have, in just a couple quick years, become everyone's favorite pest to hate.
And for good reason: as this recent article from the Washington Post points out, stink bugs are causing major damage not only in gardens, but also in agricultural crops from the mid-Atlantic to the South, and are currently found in 38 states. They are recent invaders to our shores, and have no natural enemies. (Currently research is being done on parasitic wasps to control the stink bugs, but they will likely not be available for at least 2013.)
Chuck Schuster, head or the Montgomery County Extension, notes that many professional growers in our county have had to turn to the heavy guns to combat this menace, strong insecticides such as malathion. These methods are not available to the organic gardener, however, and the more limited number of remedies that are no match for the stink bugs. While we wait for the parasitic wasps, handpicking, or covering where you can with a barrier like floating row cover, are the best answers.
Here is the latest update on stink bugs from the UMD's Home and Garden Information Center. And here's a simple device that will make collecting and disposing of them a lot easier and less messy (in your home as well as the garden):
* get a clear plastic quart soda bottle
* carefully and evenly cut off the top 1/4 of the bottle
* turn the top portion upside down, so the bottleneck is now pointing down
* tape that inverted top in place
The stink bugs (as well as harlequins and other slow movers) will fall into this simple collector, but have a very hard time getting out. And since most bugs tend to fall when disturbed, it is easy to place the bottle under the leaves or fruits they are on and brush them into it. You don't have to crush anything - either fill it with soapy water so they drown or seal it until they run out of air.
Here's hoping better solutions to this major garden pest arrive soon.... Keeping Farm Animals Cool During the Summer You know how hard you think it is to keep cool during the heat of summer? What about farm animals, who don't like the heat any better than you do, but don't have air conditioned buildings to retreat into? A recent post on WTOP news reported on the job they are doing keeping the animals cool at Rocklands Farm in Poolesville, a free range farm and one of our favorites. (Okay, we love 'em all!) The do a wonderful job taking care of their many charges at Rocklands, and as it turns out, free range raising of animals gives them the best opportunities to stay cool and comfortable as well. Click here to read "Free range farmers help animals battle the blazing heat." Three More Great Events This Weekend A trio of great late summer events are coming up this weekend. Check 'em out - and if you go, tell 'em you heard about them at Montgomery Victory Gardens! Tomato Tasting Contest at the Silver Spring Farmer's Market, Saturday, August 20 from 10am to 12 Noon - Sample the multitude of tomatoes available at the farmers market and vote for your favorite! Sponsored by Washington Gardener's Magazine. Click here for directions. "Closing the Food Loop," in Bethesda on Sunday, August 21 from 9:30am to 1pm - A panel discussion, locally-sourced breakfast and visit to the Bethesda Farmer's Market, organized by Bethesda Green. Fee of $25m, payable at the door. Click here for details. Summer Social at Nick's Organic Farm in Potomac on Sunday, August 21, from 1 - 6pm - Bring your own picnic or potluck, includes music, speakers, and farm tours. Co-sponsored by the Maryland Organic Food and Farming Association, and a fundraiser in the campaign to Save Nick's Organic Farm, the only organic seed-producing farm in Montgomery County. Click here for details. # # #
That's it for now, friends! Enjoy the rest of the summer, get those fall gardens going, and keep sending us your feedback, comments, and ideas for items we can post in the update!
Yours in relishing the fruits (and veggies!) of the summer season,
Gordon Clark, Project Director Montgomery Victory Gardens
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