Queen Anne’s County Master Gardener Newsletter
The Watering Can
V O L U M E
I S S U E
1 0
O C T O B E R
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“Farm to Food Bank”
INSIDE THIS
ISSUE:
MG of the Month
1 4 ,
1
Speaker: Amy Cawley, Maryland Food Bank
Wednesday, October 17th, 9:30am
Coordinators Cor- 2
ner
Amy Cawley, Food Solicitor
QAC MG News
3
Demo Gardens
4
Bay-Wise
4
Grow It Eat It
5
MG Monthly
Meetings
6
Educational
Opportunities
7
Book Review
8
Wednesday, October 17 at Tilgh-
for the Maryland Food Bank for the man Terrace
Eastern Shore, is our October
(Directions on page 10)
speaker. Her talk will focus on the
"Farm to Food Bank" program. She
will discuss how it works, what the
Food Bank accomplished this year
and how Master Gardeners can
contribute to the program.
Volunteer Ops/
Victory Garden
9
Calendar
1011
MG of the Month: Linda Doub
Linda Doub once again has
earned special recognition by
the Master Gardeners for her
work above and beyond this
month.
Linda, a graduate of the first
MG class in 1998, is coordinating the Master Gardener training classes on Fridays at
WREC. This is a huge job —
coordinating speakers,
handouts, equipment, hosts
and trainees for three coun-
ties. In addition, Linda is
on the holiday party committee, preparing a great
event for us on December
12.
Linda’s indomitable spirit
and perseverance came
through for us again, even
though she is doing it on
one leg, having injured her
foot as classes were getting underway. THANKS
LINDA, for all you do!
Coordinator’s Corner
PAGE 2
October! Cool misty mornings, stews and soups, young winter weeds showing up
in the gardens, bringing in the pots, cuttings and bulbs for wintering over, leaving some
seed heads for winter birds, hot weather just a memory. Hope you have all had some
time to be in your gardens in this wonderful fall weather.
Master Gardener
Coordinator - who will
wear the hat next?
Note that our November meeting has been moved to
November 28.
In this issue of The Watering Can, be sure to see the notice about the Holiday
Luncheon on Page 6, a wonderful book review by Nancy Robson on page 8, and the great
news about Sabine Harvey’s Victory Garden on page 9.
Good Gardening!
Thanks to David Taylor for helping at QAC Fair in August, Pete Gerdom, Stephanie
Simpson and Elizabeth Riffe for staffing the MG information table at Kent Island
Farmers Market in October, Jeanne Johnson and Vida Morley
for initiating and coordinating Bay-Wise visits for members of
Chestertown Garden Club, Connie Metcalf for helping with
Thanks To:
plant clinics, Sabine Harvey for creating the QAC MG Facebook
page and for her great work with the Victory Garden. As always, thanks is due to all of you, but if we missed a deserved thank you or if you
wish to express your appreciation to someone, please let Sabine Harvey or Carol
Jelich know and it shall be acknowledged in the next newsletter.
SUBMIT YOUR HOURS PLEASE
UPDATE YOUR
CONTACT INFO!
Please send any changes
to Pat Bowell at
bowell74@verizon.net,
505 Railroad Ave,
Suite 4,
Centreville, MD 21617
or fax: (410) 758-3687
THE
2012 is going by quickly, and Master Gardeners have been busy this
year. Take some time this week to write up your time sheets and bring them
to the MG meeting, drop them off at or mail them to Extension Office, or email
them to Pat Bowell at bowell74@verizon.net. Also contact Pat if you have a
question about filling out the timesheets. Let someone on the steering committee know if you need help finding projects to work on.
Funding for our program depends on our ability to show the impact we are making in our community, and we do this by reporting our
great projects and the many volunteer hours that make them successful.
Here are the links to a pdf form and an excel form:
http://mastergardener.umd.edu/files/ActivityLog.pdf
http://mastergardener.umd.edu/Administrative1/index.cfm
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VOLUME 14, ISSUE 10
QAC MG News:
The following Master Gardeners have accepted responsibilities to keep the program going until a new coordinator is
hired. Please contact them if you have questions/info about these areas and
keep dialog flowing!
MG Meetings: At present, no one has agreed to lead. Meeting times are set in
Centreville at Tilghman Terrace (no August due to fair) July 18, Sept 19, Oct 17,
Nov 14 from 9:30-11:30. The Extension office has audiovisual equipment available if requested ahead of time. Since no one has come forward, the Steering
Committee decided that hostesses for the monthly meetings would be responsible for picking up audiovisual equipment and the hostess box.
Holiday Luncheon: Linda Doub and Karen Wimsatt. Wednesday, December
12th. Prospect Bay Country Club Cost $25— FMI see enclosed flier or contact
Linda at lindadoub@gmail.com
Newsletter compilation: Sabine Harvey greenbien@hotmail.com and Carol
Jelich carol.jelich@gmail.com.
Newsletter distribution: the Extension office—Shelia Shorter sshorter@umd.edu or Susan Wolff. 410 758-0166.
Publicity: The steering committee decided that each program chair would be
responsible for their own publicity.
Bay-Wise: Kate Greer, Jane Chambers, and Vida Morley.
Grow It Eat It: Linda Doub
MG Interns: Karen Wimsatt and Linda Doub
A Garden Affair: Judy Geggis and Genie Fitzgerald
Volunteer Hours Entry: Pat Bowell. Volunteer hour forms can be sent to the
Extension Office or directly to Pat at bowell74@verizon.net
PAGE 3
Steering Committee
Members:
John Ittu
johnittu@gmail.com
Linda & Jack Doub
lindadoub@gmail.com or
jkdoub@gmail.com
Sabine Harvey
greenbien@hotmail.com
Carol Jelich
carol.jelich@gmail.com
Debbie Pusey
debbiepusey@verizon.net
Jane Chambers
Earljane@atlanticbb.net
Kate Greer
Kway2bay@aol.com
Vida Morley
vidamorley@verizon.net
Jim Persels
jpersels@yahoo.com
Karen Wimsatt
Jimandkaren.wimsatt@gmail.com
Pat Bowell
Bowell74@verizon.net
Susan Seth
Seths46@verizon.ent
Liaison to State Office: Sabine Harvey has volunteered to attend MG State Coordinators meeting and state strategic meetings if possible. Anyone may contact
State Coordinator Jon Traunfeld, jont@umd.edu or Assistant SC, Robin Hessey,
rmhessey@umd.edu at 410-531-5556.
Extension Advisory Council (lets Extension office know what MG program needs are) Linda & Jack Doub, Jim Persels,
and Sue D’Camera.
2012 New MG Training Classes: will be at WREC on Fridays from September 7th-November 2nd from 9-3. Linda
Doub is the contact: lindadoub@gmail.com, 410 827-8613
3rd Thursday Centreville Demonstration Garden Cleanups will continue. Debbie Pusey will advise as to time and
location. debbiepusey@verizon.net, 410 758-8623
Plant Clinics
Alternate Saturdays At Chestertown Farmers Market: Sabine Harvey, greenbien@hotmail.com, 410- 810-3890. See volunteer page for details. Kent Island Farmers Market: Karen Wimsatt, jimandkaren.wimsatt@gmail.com , Thursdays
from 3 to 6:30 pm on November 8th and December 13th.
ANYONE MAY SEND MESSAGES TO THE WHOLE GROUP BY SENDING TO QACMG@googlegroups.com . Please
direct questions or email address changes to Marty Appel, list serve manager. kitraveler@yahoo.com, 410643-4351.
PAGE 4
Demonstration Garden Clean-up
Submitted by Debbie Pusey
Thank you to Kit Foster, Cheryl Huyck
and Susan Seth for helping out with
September’s work at the Centreville Library Rain Garden. The garden was in
better shape than we expected, but still
needed a lot of weeding and pruning. Oh, if we could only get rid of the
wiregrass! We managed to again fill the
pickup truck left for us by the QAC Department of Public Works.
ter. We’ll meet at 9:00am as the mornings are getting cooler. We usually
work for about one and a half hours –
that’s our limit! As always, we appreciate anyone who can help out, even for
a short period of time.
In October, we will work at the new
raised bed garden at the 4-H Park. The
garden has done very well for a first
season, but I’m sure we will need to do
some weeding and possibly some pruning to make sure it is ready for the win-
Find Us On Facebook
Thursday, October 18th: Raised
bed garden at the 4-H Park
Thanks to Sabine Harvey for creating a
Queen Anne’s County Master Gardener
Facebook page! This will provide another way to share information about
our program. If you are on Facebook,
be sure to ‘like’ our page at https://
www.facebook.com/
QueenAnnesCountyMasterGardeners?
fref=ts
Bay-Wise
Submitted by Carol Jelich
MG Jeanne Johnson invited Carol
Jelich to speak to Chestertown Garden
Club, to kick off an ambitious project to
have all the members of the Club schedule
Bay-Wise consultations and certifications.
Carol and Vida presented to an enthusiastic group, and the visits are underway!
Carol will also present Bay-Wise to the MG
training class this month, and encourage
them to join the committee and schedule
visits.
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To join the Bay-Wise Committee or
schedule a Bay-Wise visit to your
garden, contact Jane Chambers,
Kate Greer, or Vida Morley, BayWise committee co-chairs.
VOLUME 14, ISSUE 10
Grow It Eat It
PAGE 5
State Wide GIEI Meeting
Tuesday, December 4, 10-2
4-H Office, College Park
The Victory Garden at Kent County Middle
School has, once gain, been growing strong!
So far, we have harvested almost 900 lbs of
food and of course we are not done yet.
More than 500 lbs of veggies have been
donated to the Kent County Community
Food Pantry. We have also been very lucky
that we are allowed to serve the harvest in
the school’s cafeteria. This past month, the
entire 6th grade, about 120 students, got to
feast on yellow and red watermelon. We
hope we can harvest some more for the
other grades.
As always, Master Gardeners are welcomed
and encouraged to help with this project.
For more info contact Sabine Harvey at
greenbien@hotmail.com
You can also see lots of pictures and activities on
Facebook: “School and Community Gardens in
Kent County”, https://www.facebook.com/
pages/School-and-Community-Gardens-in-KentCounty/134646973218491
The QAC GIEI program is looking
for new speakers for 2013.
If you are interested, if you simply want to learn
more about the program, if you are a new MG and
want to get involved, please contact:
Sabine Harvey, greenbien@hotmail.com
2013 will be the year of the
ROOT VEGETABLE!
VOLUME
14,
ISSUE
10
PAGE
Date
Topic
Time
Place
Wednesday, October 17, 2012
Farm to Food Program
Amy Cawley. MD Food Bank
9:30am to 11:30 am
Tilghman
Terrace
Wednesday, November 28, 2012
* Week later due to Holiday*
Planning for 2013
9:30am to 11:30 am
Tilghman
Terrace
Wednesday, December 12, 2012
* Week early due to Holiday*
Holiday Luncheon
6
Prospect Bay
Master Gardener Holiday Luncheon
Wednesday, December 12th - 11am to 2pm
Prospect Bay Country Club
Social Gathering 11~11:30
Lunch 11:30~1pm
Presentations 1pm~2pm
Menu:
Vegetarian Salad or House Salad (with choice of
Salmon or Chicken)
Soup: Carrot/Ginger
Iced Tea - Water - Self Serve Coffee
Apple Crisp / Whipped Cream
Feel free to bring a guest: Cost $25 Per Person
--------------------------------------------RSVP by: Dec. 3rd - Make Checks Payable to: Linda Doub
Mail to: 320 Overlook Drive, Queenstown, MD 21658
Your Salad choice of:
__Vegetarian Salad or House Salad with: __Salmon or __Chicken
$25 per person x _______ Total Cost Enclosed ___________
PAGE 7
Educational Opportunities
Native and Easy to Grow Fruits Workshop
Looking to add some flavor to your home garden?
This hands-on workshop will equip you with the knowledge to grow low-maintenance
fruit species successfully in your own backyard.
Speakers:
Jon Traunfeld, Director of the University of Maryland Extension's (UME) HGIC
Dr. Jerry Brust, UME IPM Specialist
Dr. Karen Rane, UME Plant Pathologist
Russ Moss, Baltimore City Forestry Board & Baltimore City Farms
Elizabeth Hill, UME Urban Agriculture and Food Systems Educator
Topics:
Fruit species and varieties that work well in Central MD
Site preparation and maintenance
Common pests, diseases, and sustainable solutions
Sunday, November 4, 2012 12:30 pm – 5:30 pm
Baltimore Center for Maryland Agriculture
1114 Shawan Road, Cockeysville MD 21030
Some workshop sessions are outdoors—please dress appropriately.
Event will occur rain or shine.
Registration for this event is $15. For event information and
registration, please visit: baltimore.umd.edu/Urban_Agriculture
Plus sample a local novelty—Paw Paw ice cream!
Further information: http://baltimore.umd.edu/Urban_Agriculture/
REGISTRATION FORMS for MG Advanced Training can be found at: http://
mastergardener.umd.edu/AdvancedTraining/RegSpr2012.pdf, or pick one up at the
a monthly meeting. Questions? Contact Robin Hessey at rmhessey@umd.edu
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VOLUME 14, ISSUE 10
PAGE 8
Building Soils Naturally
Submitted by Nancy Robson
I’m not an agronomist, and I have a
feeling you’d really need to be one to
properly assess this book. But I’m totally on board with the notion that
you need to feed the soil and all its
critters before it can feed the plants
that grow in it. That’s the premise of
the just-published Building Soils
Naturally; Innovative Methods for
Organic Gardeners by Phil Natua
(Acres USA, 2012, $19.95). Nauta, who
taught organic horticulture at Gaia
College and was a director of the Society for Organic Urban Land Care, asserts that feeding the soil well not only helps maintain the health of our
planet, it grows vegetables and fruits
that are so nutritionally dense that
they don’t rot for weeks. I find that
last claim a bit suspect, though it does
make sense to me that the more nutrition available for fruit and vegetable
uptake from the soil, the more nutritionally dense they will be. Twinkieeffect aside, the book is well organized, is written in a breezy style and
has lots of great info.
There are three sections: The Soil and
Its Inhabitants, Six Steps to Creating
Healthy Soil, and Garden Action Strategies. Within those sections are short
chapters on such things as Soil Nutrient Testing (and choosing the best
testing facility), Calcium and Phosphorous, Other Major Nutrients, and Garden Health Management Plan. Each
chapter has a short review list so you
can quickly check to see what chapter
might be most helpful to your particular question if, like me, you have trouble keeping every single bit of chemistry, Cation Exchange Capacity (CEC)
and the chart of Reams-Based Ideal
Nutrient Levels in Soil in your head.
Natua restates – but enlarges upon -much of the currently accepted wis-
dom in the spiral-bound
Master Gardener tome that’s
laughingly called the
‘handbook,’ though Building
Soils Naturally is a much
more detailed look at soil
ecology and chemistry and
includes soil nutrients’ effect
on Brix (a measure of the
dissolved solids in plant
juice, including sucrose and
fructose, vitamins and minerals, protein and amino acids and more), which has got
to affect the density of vitamins and minerals in their
fruits.
Nauta also takes issue with
some current conventional wisdom. For example, he says that
soaker or drip hoses that target
individual plants deprive the organisms in the un-watered soil and
affects nutrient uptake; he prefers
to overhead water since research at
University of Nebraska shows it
loses only about 4% to evaporation. (I would think the real percentage loss would fluctuate depending on ambient temperature,
wind velocity and sun exposure,
but never mind.). Regardless, overhead watering, which is what Nature does, makes sense, provided
you’re strategic and not profligate
with it. For example, in our garden
during drought, the dust from the
surrounding coats the leaves of
everything. A good overhead soaking very early in the morning every
ten days or so washes off the
leaves, clearing stomata, while giving the plants and the critters in the
surrounding (mulched) soil critical
hydration. It produces visible benefits – even though the sprinkler wa-
ter is chlorinated town water
and does more to keep things
alive than to grow stuff. The water I haul from the rain barrels
every five days or so and pour
only on the plant roots actually
helps things grow. There’s a visible difference.
I question some of Nauta’s assertions, but as I said, I’d need to be
an agronomist to do a proper job
of it, in which case I might agree
with them. And I find that taking
issue with assertions usually
means we do further research
and pay closer attention, good
things in gardening and in life. I
highly recommend Building
Soils Naturally. The bibliography
runs to 43 books, some of which
look like they’d be really good
additions to a serious gardener’s
(and a serious planet-dweller’s)
library.
.
VOLUME 14, ISSUE 10
Volunteer Opportunities
GARDEN
AFFAIR CHAIR
NEEDED!!
Next year the Garden Affair will be held on Saturday,
May 4, 2013. It was moved to the
first Saturday in May. The first planning meeting is scheduled for Monday, November 19, 2012, at 9:30 am
at the Extension office, and all are
welcome to attend the meeting.
Could you volunteer to chair or cochair this important event on the MG
calendar? Please contact Susan Seth if
you are interested. Remember:
NO CHAIR = NO AFFAIR
PLANT CLINIC
PAGE 9
Victory Garden Receives $5,000
On September 22, St. Brigid’s Farm in Kennedyville
organized its 5th annual
“Field to Fork” Dinner.
The dinner is held on the
farm, in an empty pasture
with dairy cows grazing nearby. All food,
including cheese and wine, comes from
local farms.
Proceeds of the dinner go to local organizations and this year that honor was bestowed upon the Victory Garden at Kent
County Middle School. Thanks to a record
number of people attending the dinner
(140) and a silent auction, St. Brigid’s Farm
will be donating $5,000 to the garden!!!!
I am absolutely speechless and do
not even know how to begin to say
thank you. We are looking into
building a high tunnel next to the
garden and/or building an outdoor
classroom.
Karen Wimsatt is looking into continuing into
the fall at Kent Island
Farmers Market, and is
open for suggestions
and volunteers to help.
If you need some hours,
you could help develop
a topical display on houseplants, fall
fertilizing, lawn care, or other topic of
interest to you, or volunteer to help
staff the display.
If we do expand the garden with a
high tunnel, I could certainly use some extra MG volunteer hands
in the garden. Actually, I could use some extra help regardless.
There is such a wide array of volunteer opportunities:
Watering
Weeding
Planting
Publicity/taking pictures
Starting vegetable transplants
Working with students
Contact Karen Wimsatt, 410-6437404. or jimandkaren.wimsatt@gmail.com.
For more info about the Victory Garden go to Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/School-and-CommunityGardens-in-Kent-County/134646973218491
Hostesses for Monthly Meetings:
For more info about St. Brigid’s Farm go to:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/School-and-CommunityGardens-in-Kent-County/134646973218491 or
http://stbrigidsfarm.blogspot.com/
We are still looking for a hosts/
hostesses for the MG Monthly meetings. Contact Jim Persells or Susan
Seth if you want to volunteer.
If any of this sounds interesting to you, please contact Sabine Harvey, greenbien@hotmail.com
Sabine Harvey
PAGE 10
Sun
October 2012
Mon
Tue
Wed
Thu
Fri
Sat
1
2
3
4
5 MG intern
Training, 9-3.
Wye REC.
6
7
8
9
10
11
12 MG intern 13
Training, 9-3.
Wye REC.
14
15
16
17 Monthly
Meeting, Farm
to Food; Steering Committee
meets after
18
19 MG intern 20
Training, 9-3.
Wye REC.
21
22
23
24
25
26 MG intern 27
Training, 9-3.
Wye REC.
28
29
30
31
Tilghman Terrace
104 Tilghman Ave
Centreville, Md. 21617
From South of Centreville
Follow 213 N. into town. Turn right at first
light onto Water street and * *
pass the PNC bank on your right. Tilghman
Ave will be the next street on your right.
Turn right onto Tilghman Ave. Street parking is available as well as in the back.
From North of Centreville
Follow 213 S. into town. Turn Left on E. Water St. ** Follow directions above.
Parking on street and in the rear of building.
THE WATERING CAN
Directions to the
monthly meeting!
PAGE 11
VOLUME 14, ISSUE 10
8
1
Thu
16
9
10
2 MG intern Exam 3
and Luncheon, 9-2
Wye REC
Fri
17
November 2012
7
15
24
Sat
6
14
23
Wed
5
13
22
Tue
4 Native Fruit
Class, Baltimore
County
12
21
Mon
11
20
Sun
18
19 2013 Garden
Affair Planning 9:30 at
QAC Ext. Of-
27
30
26
29
25
28 Monthly
planning meeting NEW DATE
November Newsletter
New Home Horticulture/Master Gardener
for Queen Anne’s County
Deadline:
Wednesday, October 24
University of Maryland Extension
505 Railroad Avenue, Suite 4
Centreville MD, 21617
Phone: (410) 758-0166
Fax: (410) 758-3687
QACMG Website:
I am happy to announce that the search for a Home Horticulture/
Master Gardener is complete ! We are pleased to welcome Hilary
Ennis to the Queen Anne’s office.
Hilary will be leaving her current position with the Delaware Extension Program where she worked as a research assistant to the fruit
and vegetable specialist.
Hilary will begin working for us on November 19th. We encourage
you to stop by and meet Hilary.
http://queenannes.umd.edu/QACMG/
index.cfm
Area Extension Director
University of Maryland Extension
Cecil, Kent and Queen Anne's Counties
It is the policy of the University of Maryland and University of Maryland Extension, that no person shall be subjected to
discrimination on the grounds of race, color, gender, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, age, marital or parental
status, or disability. Equal opportunity employers and equal access programs.
University of Maryland Extension
Queen Anne’s County
505 Railroad Ave.
Suite 4
Centreville, MD 21617
Vision Statement: A healthier world through environmental stewardship