N O V E M B E R , 2 0 1 6 V O L U M E 1 7 , I S S U E 1 1

Queen Anne’s County Master Gardener Newsletter

The Watering Can I N S I D E T H I S I S S U E :

News 2

Holiday Lunch 3

Volunteer

Opportunities 4, 5

Educational

Opportunities 6-8

Grow It Eat It 9

Bay-Wise 10

Demonstration Gar-

dens, Pollinators 11

Small Farm Confer-

ence 12

Calendars 13

Andrew Ristvey is an Extension Specialist for

Commercial Horticulture at Wye Research and

Education Center at Queenstown, MD. Before coming

to the Wye, Andrew worked on shoreline restoration

and then wetland and forest-stand delineation. He also

taught environmental and horticultural education at

Adkins Arboretum. Andrew’s present research

interests are plant nutrition, sustainable alternative crop

production with the fruit Aronia and green roof

systems.

Andrew will talk about eco-friendly gardening and in

particular how our soils affect plant growth and what we can do to

improve our soils.

Eco-friendly Gardening and Soil Health Andrew Ristvey

Wednesday, November 16, 9:30am

104 Tilghman Ave, Centreville

Do you have access?

I noticed that a number of active MGs actually are NOT signed up for the online

tracking system. Please follow this link and try to sign in: http://

extension.umd.edu/mg/program-management/tracking-volunteer-hours

IF YOU CANNOT SIGN IN, PLEASE LET ME KNOW!!!

One e-mail can solve that problem. The system is very easy to use and I am

here to help. I am in the office almost every morning, so just give me call if you

need help, 410-778-1661

And no, your computer will not blow up if you think you may have

made a mistake

P A G E 2

MONTHLY MEETING HOST SIGN-UP THIRD TUESDAY EVENING OR WEDNESDAY MORNING OF EACH MONTH

The evening meetings take place at the Queen Anne’s County

Library in Centreville, 121 South Commerce Street

The morning meetings take place at 104 Tilghman Ave, Centreville

T H E W A T E R I N G C A N

COORDINATOR’S CORNER

Wed, November 16th, 9:30am Kit Foster, Deane Horowitz , Cathy Tengwall

December 14th Holiday Luncheon (Margaret Gardner)

Tues, January 17, 6pm

Wed, February, 15, 9:30am

Coordinator Search Update

A search committee is in place and the job will be advertised soon. The closing date for

applications is November 18th. Job presentations are scheduled for December 13th and

15th.

If you know of anyone who might be interested in applying, please refer them to the

online application: https://ejobs.umd.edu/postings/search?utf8=%E2%9C%

93&query=&query_v0_posted_at_date=&query_organizational_tier_3_id=955&1950=2&query_o

rganizational_tier_2_id=any&804=&805=&806=&commit=Search

Save the dates!

Dec. 2— Annual Harvest Breakfast

Dec. 13 and 15 – MG Coordinator Inter-

views

Dec. 14 - Holiday Luncheon

Feb. 16 – April 8, Basic Training

May 25 - Annual MG Training Day

T H E W A T E R I N G C A N

P A G E 4 QAC MG Volunteer Opportunities

Hosts needed for Monthly meetings! At the moment, we have NO hosts for any of our meetings, including November. If you

would like to be a host on any of the following dates, please contact Sabine.

Wednesday, Nov. 16, 9:30am

Tuesday, January 17, 6:30pm

Wednesday, February 15, 9:30am

Tuesday, March 21, 6:30pm

KENT ISLAND ASK A MASTER GARDENER (PLANT CLINIC) Thursday, November 10 from 3:30 to 6:30 p.m

The theme will be COMPOSTING

Location: 830 Romancoke Rd,

Stevensville, MD 21666

At the October Plant Clinic, in

keeping with a Halloween theme, we

created a display of October

gardening tips, skeletons and

exoskeletons, a bat house and

information on bats and pumpkins

and gourds. Quite a few children

were curious about the skeletons and

bats, which, of course, brought in their parents who took information on October gardening

tips. We had a great time and hope you will consider volunteering in the future to help out!

Liz Hammond 410-758-2992 er93hammon@aol.com

Deane Horowitz 410-604-0969 deanoch@yahoo.com

Galilee Gardens at Harbor View: Contact Nancy O’Connor at

nanmart201@verizon.net

MANTS Registration is OPEN

Early Bird Rates Now Available

January 11-13 • Baltimore Convention Center

January 11 & 12 (9am-5pm) • January 13 (9am-2pm) $15 pp through December 2

nd

$20 pp after and on-site

(Registration fee is for all 3 days, not per day)

T H E W A T E R I N G C A N

P A G E 5 QAC MG Volunteer Opportunities

Compost Bin Construction Beth Brownley. Engineering teacher and the Environmental Coordinator at Kennard Elementary

School is looking for MGs to help built composting bins

The compost collection system in the cafeteria has already been built. It is an old rolling cabinet

which holds 5 gallons buckets for compostables. The buckets will be moved to an all-terrain wagon

and transported outside the compost bins. Students designed the bins but they need help building

them.

Eventually, the students would like

to use the compost to grow lettuce

in a salad table (also still to be built).

If you are interested in helping with

some carpentry or if you would like

to go into the 3rd and 4th grade

classrooms to teach students about

composting, please contact Beth

Brownley,

beth.brownley@qacps.org or Sabine

Harvey.

To the right is a sketch of the compost bins design. It can certainly be modified if it is too

complicated.

Partnership with Environmental Concern

Environmental Concern (EC) in St. Michael’s is constructing pollinator gardens at all elementary

Schools in Queen Anne’s County. Through the Milkweed and Habitat Monitoring Program, QACPS

students will evaluate existing habitats functions while increasing the habitat provided for pollinator

species. EC is educating teachers and students about how wetlands serve as a habitat, a food

resource to animals, supporting pollinator populations and reducing nutrient and sediment loads

entering the Chesapeake Bay. With the Chesapeake Bay as a classroom, and several local

environmental organizations as partners in education, it is EC’s

shared hope that today’s students will become tomorrow’s

environmental stewards.

With this in mind, EC would like to take the next step with the

QAC Master Gardeners. Environmental Concern would be pleased to offer educational

workshops to Master Gardeners for their initial training and advanced professional

development for a minimal fee. In return, Master Gardeners would offer/trade

volunteer hours to assist in educating about the schoolyard habitats, and building a

relationship with the students to support their monitoring and maintaining these sites.

If you are interested in this opportunity, please contact Debbie Longhurst, dlonghurst@wetland.org

Environmental Series Lectures and Films November 3: Inhabit: A Permaculture Perspective

6:30-8:30 pm @ Sumner Hall, (206 S. Queen St.)

An introduction to permaculture, an ecological design method for solving

issues related to agriculture, economics, and governance. This 92-minute

film shows how people can have a positive impact on the health of the

planet by participating in food production systems that align with natural

processes.

For more information, go to http://www.chestertown.com/environment.

T H E W A T E R I N G C A N

P A G E 6

Educational Opportunities

Upper Shore Beekeeping Association

Special talk: November 12 at the Lower Eastern Shore Beekeeping meeting in Salisbury.

Guest speaker is Dr. Delaney, Chair of the Entomology Department at the University of

Delaware.

Wed. Nov. 19: USGS scientist and photographer Sam Droege will speak on his research

on native bees. Yellow Building at the library in Chestertown, 6:30pm

The Versatile Cabbage November 15: The Versatile Cabbage

6:30-7:30 pm, Chestertown Town Hall, 118 N. Cross St.

Vegetables in the Cabbage/Mustard family have been a staple in the human diet for cen-

turies, yet they are largely overlooked in the post-industrial world. Explore the many

variations of this easy-to-grow and highly nutritious plant family in a show-and-tell tasting

of dishes including Brussels sprouts, bok choy, western/eastern cabbage, mustard greens,

kale, broccoli, cauliflower, horseradish

and fermented cabbage.

Please consider bringing your

favorite dish featuring a vegeta-

ble in the cabbage family.

For more information contact Sabine,

greenbien@hotmail.com

T H E W A T E R I N G C A N

P A G E 7

Educational Opportunities

Food Fight Thursday, November 10

Chesapeake Bay Beach Club, Kent Island

Time: 8:30 AM to 5 PM

Cost: $5

This conference will take a fresh look at one of the most basic human needs – food!

National and regional speakers will engage attendees in highly interactive sessions to evaluate

how we are planning for a better, more equitable food system built upon Eastern Shore agricul-

ture. Who benefits from the current food system? Can Shore agricultural or behavioral shifts

improve human, societal, and environmental health? What changes to our food system are real-

istic?

Come help plan for a better system and learn the realities of how food affects our region. Come

hungry and join us November 10th, in Kent Island, MD, for a provocative day of evaluating what

it is to have a truly healthy, sustainable, and realistic food system!

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/17th-annual-planning-conference-food-fight-tickets-27078772337

P A G E 8

Virginia Flower and Garden Expo Virginia Beach Convention Center

January 27-29, 2017

$10—$4Discount for groups of 10 or more (does NOT need to travel as a group!)

Last year Karen Wimsatt as well as Jim Persels visited the Expo and they really enjoyed

themselves. If people are interested, Karen would be willing to gather names. If more than 10

people are interested, Karen will arrange to get the discounted tickets. In order to receive the

discount, one needs to BUY 10 or more tickets, but one does NOT need to attend as a group

(i.e., you can go whenever you would like). More information is available at vafgs.org

27th Annual Harvest Breakfast December 2nd, 2016, QAC 4-H Park

Speaker: Tony Riggi

QA Soil Conservation District

“75 Years of Soil Conservation in QAC”

Doors open at 6:45am

Program starts at 7:30am

RSVP BEFORE November 21st: 410-758-0166

Please bring a monetary donation to The Maryland Food Bank—Eastern Shore Branch

T H E W A T E R I N G C A N

Educational Opportunities

2017 Garden Trends Report: Grow 365

Eight trends inspire clean gardening 365 days-a-year The backyard and kitchen counter have a lot in common this year; they’re both ideal places to

grow.

In this report you will find:

Eight new industry trends

What is driving the increasing consum-

er desire for clean food, clean air and

clean medicine

How the clean food movement is re-

defining indoor gardening for the mod-

ern age

How to inspire Millennials to garden

year-round

An elevated consumer interest in horticulture not only as a hobby but as a career

P A G E 9

A subversive plot: how to grow a revolution in your

own backyard by Roger Doiron

Roger Doiron is founding director of Kitchen Gardeners International, a network of people taking a

hands-on approach to re-localizing the global food supply. Doiron is an advocate for new policies,

technologies, investments, and fresh thinking about the role of gardens. His successful petition to

replant a kitchen garden at the White House attracted broad international recognition. He is also a

writer, photographer, and public speaker.

Follow the link for a fun Ted-talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ezuz_-eZTMI&feature=youtu.be

T H E W A T E R I N G C A N

Grow It Eat It—Statewide Meeting November 14, 10am-1pm

4-H Center, College Park

Get ready for 2017! It will be

the year of

“The small fruit”

For carpooling info, please contact Sab-

ine

Grow It Eat It

smallfruits.org

Looking back at the 2016 growing season By Erica Smith: If you ended the summer growing

season as frustrated and tired as I did: the last thing

you may have wanted was more talk about vegeta-

ble gardening!

But now we've all taken a breather and are enjoying

the cool weather of fall, so much as I personally

would like to forget a lot of 2016's gardening issues,

it's worth taking a look back while it's still fresh…

Continue reading: http://groweat.blogspot.com/

October was a busy month for the Bay-Wise Committee. We went on four visits resulting in three

certifications and have several more scheduled that should be completed by the time you are

reading this.

On Thursday, October 20th seven of us visited the Inn at the Chesapeake Bay Beach Club. Beth

Stang, the landscape manager, originally talked to us at the county fair. As a result of questions and

concerns that she had, we all agreed a Bay-Wise visit would be a good idea. For those who have

never been there, the Inn is situated on 4 acres of which approximately 2.5 acres is buildings and

parking lots. Large retention ponds landscaped with native plants and trees control the storm water

run-off from the parking areas in the front and side of the main building. They were engineered and

designed to meet critical area requirements. There are also bio-swales planted with grasses along

the perimeter of the property.

Around the back of the main building are numerous out buildings and garden areas with brick paved

walking paths lined with trees and landscaped beds consisting of a mix of native and non-native

plantings. There are several seating areas for guests to relax and enjoy the surroundings. Beyond

the tool shed building is a huge vegetable with raised beds divided by brick paths. Vegetables grown

here are used for the menu at the Inn’s restaurant.

Our group spent a very pleasant 3 ½ hours there and finalized our visit with a completion of the

yardstick and Bay-Wise certification. The Inn received our new, larger sign for public properties to

put on display along with their existing signage about cleaner water for the Chesapeake Bay. Submitted by Debbie Pusey

T H E W A T E R I N G C A N

P A G E 1 0

MG’s Report: Bay Wise

MG’s Report: Bay-Wise Submitted by Denise Malueg

Pollinator or Natural Enemy of the Month:

We had a great turn out for our final work day of the 2106 season for the Centreville Library rain

garden. A huge thank you to Kit Foster, Judy Geggis, Cheryl Huyck, Jackie Kelly, Laura Klingler,

Betty McAtee, Chris Mourse, Cindy Rieger, and Louise Shearer. I think there may have been some

early helpers there also before I arrived, so if I’ve missed anyone, I apologize.

Usually, we spend a good part of our time just trying to keep the weeds at bay. But the county

recently put down mulch throughout the bed and the weeds were minimal. We were able to

divide and really conquer areas that we normally don’t have time for. The red twig dogwood trees

got a very badly needed pruning as did the elderberry. We did leave some perennials for the

wildlife, but most of the them were cut back so that the garden would be manageable next spring

when we see signs of new life again.

Now it’s time to enjoy the holidays and plan for next year over the winter.

Submitted by Debbie Pusey

T H E W A T E R I N G C A N

P A G E 1 1

MGs Report: Demonstration Gardens

What's that buzzing? There are honeybees all over the pineapple sage! "I thought bees couldn't

see red," said my resident beekeeper. Maybe they don't, but they sure can smell a good thing

when it's one of the last good things out there!

Indeed, honeybees are devouring the red, tubular flowers of this pineapple sage "shrub." Bees can-

not fit their little, round bodies inside the slender bloom, so they rip along the outside of the flow-

er to access their rewards.

The weather has been warm enough that the bees still fly every day (above 50*F). I'm glad we still

have something blooming for them. Along with this sage, we've got the self-seeding annual

Melampodium, Chrysanthemum, Asclepius and Zinnias.

Not just honeybees, but all insects are visiting the blooms. What food is blooming in your garden?

You might find some surprises!

P A G E 1 3

NOVEMBER 2016

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

1 2 3 Movie: Inhabit:

A Permaculture

Perspective, 6:30

4 5

6 7 8 9 10KI Plant Clinic,

3:30-6:30pm

11 12

13 14 GIEI Meeting,

College Park,

10am—1pm

15 The Versatile

Cabbage, 6:30pm

Chestertown

16 Monthly MG

Meeting, 9:30am

Centreville.

17 18 19

20 21 22 23 24 25 26

27 28 29 30

DECEMBER 2016

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

1 Movie: Alone

in the Wilder-

ness , 6:30pm

2 Harvest Break-

fast, 7am

3

4 5 6 7 8 KI Plant Clinic,

3:30-6:30pm

9 10

11 12 13 MG Coordi-

nator Interviews

14 Holiday Lunch 15 MG Coordi-

nator Interviews

16 17

18 19 20 21 22 23 24

25 26 27 28 29 30 31

Photo taken by Lisa Spears

University of Maryland Extension

Queen Anne’s County

505 Railroad Ave.

Suite 4

Centreville, MD 21617

Vision Statement: A healthier world through environmental stewardship

QACMG Website:

http://extension.umd.edu/queen-annes-

county/home-gardening

University of Maryland Extension

505 Ra i lroad Avenue, Su ite 4

Centrev i l le MD, 21617

Phone: (410) 758-0166

Fax: (410) 758-3687

http://extension.umd.edu/queen-annes-

county/about

December Newsletter Deadline:

November 20, 2016

The University of Maryland Extension programs are open to any person and will not discriminate against anyone because of

race, age, sex, color, sexual orientation, physical or mental disability, religion, ancestry, national origin, marital status, genetic

information, political affiliation, and gender identity and expression. Equal opportunity employers and equal access programs.

Master Gardener Coordinator,

Queen Anne’s County