Linda,
Here is the weekly update. I sent it to Purple Sage too - that way you don't have too.
Irene




Update for Demo Garden, August 24, 2010

This week in the Demonstration Garden at Ida Lee the Master Gardeners are harvesting swiss chard, peppers, tomatoes and squash.

They are also digging up sweet potatoes. These are very easy plants to grow and are very lovely. Sweet potato plants could be grown as a ground cover and they loosen our clay soil for later gardens. And the taste of homegrown sweet potatoes is far superior to store bought and they will store through the winter even if you don’t have a root cellar. These plants need to be planted next spring as the soil warms up.

There is still time to plant a crop of parsley, cilantro, beets, turnips, spinach, lettuce, cauliflower, cucumbers, kale or radishes. If your garden beds are still full perhaps it’s time to try container gardening for some of these crops. You can put these containers near the back door and harvest these plants in the cooler fall weather.

The Master Gardeners are spraying the squash, melons and pumpkins with copper as a fungicide as these crops can develop powdery mildew in wetter weather.

They are also covering the potato bed with straw. This can be used instead of “hilling up” your potatoes (“hilling up” means mounding soil up the potato plants as they grow to encourage potatoes to grow along the stem of the plant that is under the soil).

They are still harvesting figs from the 2 fig trees. Virtually the entire harvest of pears and apples was lost this year due to theft by some unknown person/people, as you may have read in local newspapers.

In the ornamental area the beds are being weeded and deadheaded (spent flowers are being removed) to keep the beds looking good and to keep the plants from expending too much energy on producing seeds.

While you are weeding and watering your gardens, be on the look out for bag worms. These insects make small bags to hibernate in from the leaves or needles of the tree it lives in. These bags are sometimes difficult to spot but look carefully. Remove these when you see them and destroy them as hundreds of worms will emerge from them next spring and they can eventually defoliate your plant.

Remember to keep your garden watered, about 1 inch per week.

Happy Gardening and if you have any questions about this information or any gardening practices, please contact the Master Gardeners at
phone: 703-771-5150
email:
And you can find the Demonstration Garden at Ida Lee Park in Leesburg.

Linda,
Here is the weekly update. I sent it to Purple Sage too - that way you don't have too.
Irene




Update for Demo Garden, August 24, 2010

This week in the Demonstration Garden at Ida Lee the Master Gardeners are harvesting swiss chard, peppers, tomatoes and squash.

They are also digging up sweet potatoes. These are very easy plants to grow and are very lovely. Sweet potato plants could be grown as a ground cover and they loosen our clay soil for later gardens. And the taste of homegrown sweet potatoes is far superior to store bought and they will store through the winter even if you don’t have a root cellar. These plants need to be planted next spring as the soil warms up.

There is still time to plant a crop of parsley, cilantro, beets, turnips, spinach, lettuce, cauliflower, cucumbers, kale or radishes. If your garden beds are still full perhaps it’s time to try container gardening for some of these crops. You can put these containers near the back door and harvest these plants in the cooler fall weather.

The Master Gardeners are spraying the squash, melons and pumpkins with copper as a fungicide as these crops can develop powdery mildew in wetter weather.

They are also covering the potato bed with straw. This can be used instead of “hilling up” your potatoes (“hilling up” means mounding soil up the potato plants as they grow to encourage potatoes to grow along the stem of the plant that is under the soil).

They are still harvesting figs from the 2 fig trees. Virtually the entire harvest of pears and apples was lost this year due to theft by some unknown person/people, as you may have read in local newspapers.

In the ornamental area the beds are being weeded and deadheaded (spent flowers are being removed) to keep the beds looking good and to keep the plants from expending too much energy on producing seeds.

While you are weeding and watering your gardens, be on the look out for bag worms. These insects make small bags to hibernate in from the leaves or needles of the tree it lives in. These bags are sometimes difficult to spot but look carefully. Remove these when you see them and destroy them as hundreds of worms will emerge from them next spring and they can eventually defoliate your plant.

Remember to keep your garden watered, about 1 inch per week.

Happy Gardening and if you have any questions about this information or any gardening practices, please contact the Master Gardeners at
phone: 703-771-5150
email:
And you can find the Demonstration Garden at Ida Lee Park in Leesburg. Update for Demo Garden, August 30, 2010

This week in the Demonstration Garden at Ida Lee the Master Gardeners are watering all the dry areas of the garden. Drip irrigation has been installed in the garden but there are areas that are not covered. With dry weather forecast for most of the week it is important to keep the moisture level even. Remember, you can tell if your garden needs to be watered by removing the mulch, if you have any, and sticking your finger into the ground. If the soil is dry when you stick your finger in up to the second knuckle, it is time to water.

They are also continuing to plant seeds for Fall crops, including beets, escarole, turnips, spinach, arugula, romaine and cauliflower. These are considered cool season crops and they can stand some cold, in fact their flavor can be enhanced by frost. Cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, spinach and Brussels sprouts cannot stay in the garden all winter, but, with some protection (about 8 inches of mulch to prevent “heaving”), these plants can: kale, some lettuces, bunching onions, parsley, parsnips, salsify and carrots.

This time of year the Master Gardeners are also very busy harvesting. This past week they harvested chard, tomatoes, squash, melons, peppers, basil and mint. They also harvested figs and the last of the berries from the raspberry and blackberry canes.

They are also putting plants that are finished into the compost bins and turning them into soil amendments for next year’s garden. They have sped up this process by chopping them up with the new lawn mower that was donated. Grinding up the material provides more access for the bacteria and insects to get in and break it down. If you want to do this just mow your spent plants with your mower with the bag on and then dump the bag into the compost bin, add some brown (straw, dried grass clippings, leaves, shredded newspaper, etc.), add water, stir it up and in a few months you could have compost.

In the ornamental area, the Master Gardeners have created a new iris bed and planted the irises in it. They continued with regular garden maintenance with removing spent plants and deadheading. This keeps the garden looking good and prevents the plant from expending energy producing seeds.

Happy Gardening and if you have any questions about this information or any gardening practices, please contact the Master Gardeners at
phone: 703-771-5150
email:
And you can find the Demonstration Garden at Ida Lee Park in Leesburg.

Linda,
Here is the weekly update. I sent it to Purple Sage too - that way you don't have too.
Irene




Update for Demo Garden, August 24, 2010

This week in the Demonstration Garden at Ida Lee the Master Gardeners are harvesting swiss chard, peppers, tomatoes and squash.

They are also digging up sweet potatoes. These are very easy plants to grow and are very lovely. Sweet potato plants could be grown as a ground cover and they loosen our clay soil for later gardens. And the taste of homegrown sweet potatoes is far superior to store bought and they will store through the winter even if you don’t have a root cellar. These plants need to be planted next spring as the soil warms up.

There is still time to plant a crop of parsley, cilantro, beets, turnips, spinach, lettuce, cauliflower, cucumbers, kale or radishes. If your garden beds are still full perhaps it’s time to try container gardening for some of these crops. You can put these containers near the back door and harvest these plants in the cooler fall weather.

The Master Gardeners are spraying the squash, melons and pumpkins with copper as a fungicide as these crops can develop powdery mildew in wetter weather.

They are also covering the potato bed with straw. This can be used instead of “hilling up” your potatoes (“hilling up” means mounding soil up the potato plants as they grow to encourage potatoes to grow along the stem of the plant that is under the soil).

They are still harvesting figs from the 2 fig trees. Virtually the entire harvest of pears and apples was lost this year due to theft by some unknown person/people, as you may have read in local newspapers.

In the ornamental area the beds are being weeded and deadheaded (spent flowers are being removed) to keep the beds looking good and to keep the plants from expending too much energy on producing seeds.

While you are weeding and watering your gardens, be on the look out for bag worms. These insects make small bags to hibernate in from the leaves or needles of the tree it lives in. These bags are sometimes difficult to spot but look carefully. Remove these when you see them and destroy them as hundreds of worms will emerge from them next spring and they can eventually defoliate your plant.

Remember to keep your garden watered, about 1 inch per week.

Happy Gardening and if you have any questions about this information or any gardening practices, please contact the Master Gardeners at
phone: 703-771-5150
email:
And you can find the Demonstration Garden at Ida Lee Park in Leesburg. Update for Demo Garden, August 30, 2010

This week in the Demonstration Garden at Ida Lee the Master Gardeners are watering all the dry areas of the garden. Drip irrigation has been installed in the garden but there are areas that are not covered. With dry weather forecast for most of the week it is important to keep the moisture level even. Remember, you can tell if your garden needs to be watered by removing the mulch, if you have any, and sticking your finger into the ground. If the soil is dry when you stick your finger in up to the second knuckle, it is time to water.

They are also continuing to plant seeds for Fall crops, including beets, escarole, turnips, spinach, arugula, romaine and cauliflower. These are considered cool season crops and they can stand some cold, in fact their flavor can be enhanced by frost. Cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, spinach and Brussels sprouts cannot stay in the garden all winter, but, with some protection (about 8 inches of mulch to prevent “heaving”), these plants can: kale, some lettuces, bunching onions, parsley, parsnips, salsify and carrots.

This time of year the Master Gardeners are also very busy harvesting. This past week they harvested chard, tomatoes, squash, melons, peppers, basil and mint. They also harvested figs and the last of the berries from the raspberry and blackberry canes.

They are also putting plants that are finished into the compost bins and turning them into soil amendments for next year’s garden. They have sped up this process by chopping them up with the new lawn mower that was donated. Grinding up the material provides more access for the bacteria and insects to get in and break it down. If you want to do this just mow your spent plants with your mower with the bag on and then dump the bag into the compost bin, add some brown (straw, dried grass clippings, leaves, shredded newspaper, etc.), add water, stir it up and in a few months you could have compost.

In the ornamental area, the Master Gardeners have created a new iris bed and planted the irises in it. They continued with regular garden maintenance with removing spent plants and deadheading. This keeps the garden looking good and prevents the plant from expending energy producing seeds.

Happy Gardening and if you have any questions about this information or any gardening practices, please contact the Master Gardeners at
phone: 703-771-5150
email:
And you can find the Demonstration Garden at Ida Lee Park in Leesburg. This week in the Demonstration Garden at Ida Lee Park the Master Gardeners have been tending the Fall crops and harvesting the summer crops. They harvested tomatoes, squash, parsley and basil. These summer crops will continue to produce right up until the first frost, which may not be for another month. And the parsley will continue to produce even after that.

The Fall crops of radishes and carrots were fed an organic fertilizer of fish emulsion, which is a higher nitrogen fertilizer (fertilizers have nitrogen, "n"; phosphorus,"p"; and potassium, "k" as their main ingredients). This will gives these plants a quick burst of growth to help get them well established.

The Fall crops are also being "thinned". This means the seeds came up too close together and some of them are being removed so the plants have room to grow. The plants being thinned are the radishes, kale and arugula. Another Fall plant that always needs thinning is beets because beet seeds are actually a cluster of seeds, so several seedlings come up in the same place.

The Master Gardeners are also continuing to plant lettuce seeds. They have planted new seeds almost every week so that the harvest is spaced out over several weeks.

The melon vines have all wilted so they are being removed. The wilt was probably caused by vine borers or squash bugs that injected disease while feeding on the leaves. This is common in the north Atlantic region with members of the cucurbit family (squash, cucumbers, melons, pumpkins,etc). You can use an organic pesticide to reduce the problem or you can keep these plants under row cover for as long as possible to keep the squash vine borer or squash bugs out but you have to be careful not to hurt the pollinators or keep them out completely.

The Late summer has been very dry at Ida Lee so the Master Gardeners are continuing with watering and adjusting the watering system so it waters for a longer period of time to water deeply. This insures that the plants get plenty of moisture. If you water longer just make sure you don't have "run off", water flowing out of the gardening bed, as this can contribute to stream pollution (and it wastes water).

In the ornamental area of the garden, the Master Gardeners have been cutting back the butterfly bushes. They have done this for two reasons, the butterfly bushes can become invasive if the seed heads are left on and because the plants were covered with stink bugs. These bugs have been a problem this year in many gardens. More information can be gotten by contacting the Master Gardeners' "Help Desk".

Weeds are being pulled from the Siberian irises; suckers are bring removed from the vitex tree; the other ornamental beds are also being weeded; and the tansy and amaranth were cut back. Plants are being shredded with the shredder and the lawn mower and being put in the compost bins to compost.

A lovely new sign has been added to the "Shade Garden", a very nice place from which to enjoy the views of the garden.

September is another busy gardening month. This is a great time to add new plants to your garden (and there are sales everywhere!) and to put in bulbs. It's also time to reseed and fertilize your grass, and to add lime if necessary.

Happy gardening and if you have any questions about this information or any gardening practices, please contact the Master Gardeners at
Phone: (703) 771-5150
Email:
And you can find the Demonstration Garden at Ida Lee Park in Leesburg.

Sent from my iPhone

)

Linda,
Here is the weekly update. I sent it to Purple Sage too - that way you don't have too.
Irene




Update for Demo Garden, August 24, 2010

This week in the Demonstration Garden at Ida Lee the Master Gardeners are harvesting swiss chard, peppers, tomatoes and squash.

They are also digging up sweet potatoes. These are very easy plants to grow and are very lovely. Sweet potato plants could be grown as a ground cover and they loosen our clay soil for later gardens. And the taste of homegrown sweet potatoes is far superior to store bought and they will store through the winter even if you don’t have a root cellar. These plants need to be planted next spring as the soil warms up.

There is still time to plant a crop of parsley, cilantro, beets, turnips, spinach, lettuce, cauliflower, cucumbers, kale or radishes. If your garden beds are still full perhaps it’s time to try container gardening for some of these crops. You can put these containers near the back door and harvest these plants in the cooler fall weather.

The Master Gardeners are spraying the squash, melons and pumpkins with copper as a fungicide as these crops can develop powdery mildew in wetter weather.

They are also covering the potato bed with straw. This can be used instead of “hilling up” your potatoes (“hilling up” means mounding soil up the potato plants as they grow to encourage potatoes to grow along the stem of the plant that is under the soil).

They are still harvesting figs from the 2 fig trees. Virtually the entire harvest of pears and apples was lost this year due to theft by some unknown person/people, as you may have read in local newspapers.

In the ornamental area the beds are being weeded and deadheaded (spent flowers are being removed) to keep the beds looking good and to keep the plants from expending too much energy on producing seeds.

While you are weeding and watering your gardens, be on the look out for bag worms. These insects make small bags to hibernate in from the leaves or needles of the tree it lives in. These bags are sometimes difficult to spot but look carefully. Remove these when you see them and destroy them as hundreds of worms will emerge from them next spring and they can eventually defoliate your plant.

Remember to keep your garden watered, about 1 inch per week.

Happy Gardening and if you have any questions about this information or any gardening practices, please contact the Master Gardeners at
phone: 703-771-5150
email:
And you can find the Demonstration Garden at Ida Lee Park in Leesburg. Update for Demo Garden, August 30, 2010

This week in the Demonstration Garden at Ida Lee the Master Gardeners are watering all the dry areas of the garden. Drip irrigation has been installed in the garden but there are areas that are not covered. With dry weather forecast for most of the week it is important to keep the moisture level even. Remember, you can tell if your garden needs to be watered by removing the mulch, if you have any, and sticking your finger into the ground. If the soil is dry when you stick your finger in up to the second knuckle, it is time to water.

They are also continuing to plant seeds for Fall crops, including beets, escarole, turnips, spinach, arugula, romaine and cauliflower. These are considered cool season crops and they can stand some cold, in fact their flavor can be enhanced by frost. Cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, spinach and Brussels sprouts cannot stay in the garden all winter, but, with some protection (about 8 inches of mulch to prevent “heaving”), these plants can: kale, some lettuces, bunching onions, parsley, parsnips, salsify and carrots.

This time of year the Master Gardeners are also very busy harvesting. This past week they harvested chard, tomatoes, squash, melons, peppers, basil and mint. They also harvested figs and the last of the berries from the raspberry and blackberry canes.

They are also putting plants that are finished into the compost bins and turning them into soil amendments for next year’s garden. They have sped up this process by chopping them up with the new lawn mower that was donated. Grinding up the material provides more access for the bacteria and insects to get in and break it down. If you want to do this just mow your spent plants with your mower with the bag on and then dump the bag into the compost bin, add some brown (straw, dried grass clippings, leaves, shredded newspaper, etc.), add water, stir it up and in a few months you could have compost.

In the ornamental area, the Master Gardeners have created a new iris bed and planted the irises in it. They continued with regular garden maintenance with removing spent plants and deadheading. This keeps the garden looking good and prevents the plant from expending energy producing seeds.

Happy Gardening and if you have any questions about this information or any gardening practices, please contact the Master Gardeners at
phone: 703-771-5150
email:
And you can find the Demonstration Garden at Ida Lee Park in Leesburg. This week in the Demonstration Garden at Ida Lee Park the Master Gardeners have been tending the Fall crops and harvesting the summer crops. They harvested tomatoes, squash, parsley and basil. These summer crops will continue to produce right up until the first frost, which may not be for another month. And the parsley will continue to produce even after that.

The Fall crops of radishes and carrots were fed an organic fertilizer of fish emulsion, which is a higher nitrogen fertilizer (fertilizers have nitrogen, "n"; phosphorus,"p"; and potassium, "k" as their main ingredients). This will gives these plants a quick burst of growth to help get them well established.

The Fall crops are also being "thinned". This means the seeds came up too close together and some of them are being removed so the plants have room to grow. The plants being thinned are the radishes, kale and arugula. Another Fall plant that always needs thinning is beets because beet seeds are actually a cluster of seeds, so several seedlings come up in the same place.

The Master Gardeners are also continuing to plant lettuce seeds. They have planted new seeds almost every week so that the harvest is spaced out over several weeks.

The melon vines have all wilted so they are being removed. The wilt was probably caused by vine borers or squash bugs that injected disease while feeding on the leaves. This is common in the north Atlantic region with members of the cucurbit family (squash, cucumbers, melons, pumpkins,etc). You can use an organic pesticide to reduce the problem or you can keep these plants under row cover for as long as possible to keep the squash vine borer or squash bugs out but you have to be careful not to hurt the pollinators or keep them out completely.

The Late summer has been very dry at Ida Lee so the Master Gardeners are continuing with watering and adjusting the watering system so it waters for a longer period of time to water deeply. This insures that the plants get plenty of moisture. If you water longer just make sure you don't have "run off", water flowing out of the gardening bed, as this can contribute to stream pollution (and it wastes water).

In the ornamental area of the garden, the Master Gardeners have been cutting back the butterfly bushes. They have done this for two reasons, the butterfly bushes can become invasive if the seed heads are left on and because the plants were covered with stink bugs. These bugs have been a problem this year in many gardens. More information can be gotten by contacting the Master Gardeners' "Help Desk".

Weeds are being pulled from the Siberian irises; suckers are bring removed from the vitex tree; the other ornamental beds are also being weeded; and the tansy and amaranth were cut back. Plants are being shredded with the shredder and the lawn mower and being put in the compost bins to compost.

A lovely new sign has been added to the "Shade Garden", a very nice place from which to enjoy the views of the garden.

September is another busy gardening month. This is a great time to add new plants to your garden (and there are sales everywhere!) and to put in bulbs. It's also time to reseed and fertilize your grass, and to add lime if necessary.

Happy gardening and if you have any questions about this information or any gardening practices, please contact the Master Gardeners at
Phone: (703) 771-5150
Email:
And you can find the Demonstration Garden at Ida Lee Park in Leesburg.

Sent from my iPhone

) This week in the Master Gardeners' Demonstration Garden at Ida Lee Park in Leesburg, the Master Gardeners are still planting seeds for Fall crops. This week they planted lettuce, spinach and turnip seeds. These are easy crops to start from seed and can be planted in containers if you don't have garden space. Just plant the seeds, cover lightly, water and watch them come up. If you have planted them too close together you can take small scissors and "thin" them, just cut out the middle ones leaving a few inches between the seedlings. You can add these "thinnings" to your next salad for a taste treat.

And speaking of "thinning" the strawberry beds are being thinned again. If you are thinning your strawberry beds, remember these little plants can be replanted to start a new strawberry bed or given to fellow gardeners who are interested in starting their own strawberry beds.

The Master Gardeners have also been harvesting chard, peppers, squash, tomatoes and radishes. They did pull a San Marzano plant out because the tomatoes were not ripening. If your tomatoes are not ripening on the vine or if the bugs are destroying the ripe tomatoes on the vine, you can bring green tomatoes into the house and ripen them on the counter or window sill. These may not have the same delicious flavor as the warm, ripe ones eaten in the garden but they will still be tastier than any store bought tomatoes.

The Master Gardeners have also been pruning the grape vines that were started in recent years. These plants have done very well in producing organic grapes and a big part of this is proper pruning technique. The Master Gardeners are growing these grape vines in the same way that wine grapes are grown in the region, with the same trellising system which allows more air flow to cut down on mildew diseases. Stop by the garden and take a look at it for some ideas.

There is still time to order your garlic for fall planting, since the best time to plant in our part of Virginia is early to mid-October. There are 2 main types of garlic, hard-neck variety and soft-neck variety. Hard-neck varieties do better in cooler climates, while sort-neck varieties do better in warmer climates (these are the kind that you find at the grocery store - formerly grown in California, now grown in China) due to their winter "chill requirements". But in Virginia, we are very lucky and can grow both kinds very successfully. Sort-neck varieties of garlic are milder and have more cloves in a bulb while hard-neck are much more flavorful and have fewer cloves. Both are wonderful to grow so prepare your bed (or container) with some organic material added to the soil and get ready for a delicious summer harvest of your own garlic.

Speaking of bulbs, if you missed out on the Master Gardeners' (spring flowering) bulb pre-order this year there is still time to buy some of these bulbs. You can buy them at the Master Gardener booth at the Bluemont Fair this weekend or contact the Help Desk at the Extension Office.

Now is also the time to think about crop rotation for next year's crops. Draw a simple diagram of this year's garden and plan next year's by putting the various plant families in different locations in the garden. This will help cut down on pests and diseases that over-winter in the soil.

Happy Gardening and if you have any questions about this information or any gardening practices, please contact the Master Gardeners at
phone: 703-771-5150
email:
And you can find the Demonstration Garden at Ida Lee Park in Leesburg.

Linda,
Here is the weekly update. I sent it to Purple Sage too - that way you don't have too.
Irene




Update for Demo Garden, August 24, 2010

This week in the Demonstration Garden at Ida Lee the Master Gardeners are harvesting swiss chard, peppers, tomatoes and squash.

They are also digging up sweet potatoes. These are very easy plants to grow and are very lovely. Sweet potato plants could be grown as a ground cover and they loosen our clay soil for later gardens. And the taste of homegrown sweet potatoes is far superior to store bought and they will store through the winter even if you don’t have a root cellar. These plants need to be planted next spring as the soil warms up.

There is still time to plant a crop of parsley, cilantro, beets, turnips, spinach, lettuce, cauliflower, cucumbers, kale or radishes. If your garden beds are still full perhaps it’s time to try container gardening for some of these crops. You can put these containers near the back door and harvest these plants in the cooler fall weather.

The Master Gardeners are spraying the squash, melons and pumpkins with copper as a fungicide as these crops can develop powdery mildew in wetter weather.

They are also covering the potato bed with straw. This can be used instead of “hilling up” your potatoes (“hilling up” means mounding soil up the potato plants as they grow to encourage potatoes to grow along the stem of the plant that is under the soil).

They are still harvesting figs from the 2 fig trees. Virtually the entire harvest of pears and apples was lost this year due to theft by some unknown person/people, as you may have read in local newspapers.

In the ornamental area the beds are being weeded and deadheaded (spent flowers are being removed) to keep the beds looking good and to keep the plants from expending too much energy on producing seeds.

While you are weeding and watering your gardens, be on the look out for bag worms. These insects make small bags to hibernate in from the leaves or needles of the tree it lives in. These bags are sometimes difficult to spot but look carefully. Remove these when you see them and destroy them as hundreds of worms will emerge from them next spring and they can eventually defoliate your plant.

Remember to keep your garden watered, about 1 inch per week.

Happy Gardening and if you have any questions about this information or any gardening practices, please contact the Master Gardeners at
phone: 703-771-5150
email:
And you can find the Demonstration Garden at Ida Lee Park in Leesburg. Update for Demo Garden, August 30, 2010

This week in the Demonstration Garden at Ida Lee the Master Gardeners are watering all the dry areas of the garden. Drip irrigation has been installed in the garden but there are areas that are not covered. With dry weather forecast for most of the week it is important to keep the moisture level even. Remember, you can tell if your garden needs to be watered by removing the mulch, if you have any, and sticking your finger into the ground. If the soil is dry when you stick your finger in up to the second knuckle, it is time to water.

They are also continuing to plant seeds for Fall crops, including beets, escarole, turnips, spinach, arugula, romaine and cauliflower. These are considered cool season crops and they can stand some cold, in fact their flavor can be enhanced by frost. Cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, spinach and Brussels sprouts cannot stay in the garden all winter, but, with some protection (about 8 inches of mulch to prevent “heaving”), these plants can: kale, some lettuces, bunching onions, parsley, parsnips, salsify and carrots.

This time of year the Master Gardeners are also very busy harvesting. This past week they harvested chard, tomatoes, squash, melons, peppers, basil and mint. They also harvested figs and the last of the berries from the raspberry and blackberry canes.

They are also putting plants that are finished into the compost bins and turning them into soil amendments for next year’s garden. They have sped up this process by chopping them up with the new lawn mower that was donated. Grinding up the material provides more access for the bacteria and insects to get in and break it down. If you want to do this just mow your spent plants with your mower with the bag on and then dump the bag into the compost bin, add some brown (straw, dried grass clippings, leaves, shredded newspaper, etc.), add water, stir it up and in a few months you could have compost.

In the ornamental area, the Master Gardeners have created a new iris bed and planted the irises in it. They continued with regular garden maintenance with removing spent plants and deadheading. This keeps the garden looking good and prevents the plant from expending energy producing seeds.

Happy Gardening and if you have any questions about this information or any gardening practices, please contact the Master Gardeners at
phone: 703-771-5150
email:
And you can find the Demonstration Garden at Ida Lee Park in Leesburg. This week in the Demonstration Garden at Ida Lee Park the Master Gardeners have been tending the Fall crops and harvesting the summer crops. They harvested tomatoes, squash, parsley and basil. These summer crops will continue to produce right up until the first frost, which may not be for another month. And the parsley will continue to produce even after that.

The Fall crops of radishes and carrots were fed an organic fertilizer of fish emulsion, which is a higher nitrogen fertilizer (fertilizers have nitrogen, "n"; phosphorus,"p"; and potassium, "k" as their main ingredients). This will gives these plants a quick burst of growth to help get them well established.

The Fall crops are also being "thinned". This means the seeds came up too close together and some of them are being removed so the plants have room to grow. The plants being thinned are the radishes, kale and arugula. Another Fall plant that always needs thinning is beets because beet seeds are actually a cluster of seeds, so several seedlings come up in the same place.

The Master Gardeners are also continuing to plant lettuce seeds. They have planted new seeds almost every week so that the harvest is spaced out over several weeks.

The melon vines have all wilted so they are being removed. The wilt was probably caused by vine borers or squash bugs that injected disease while feeding on the leaves. This is common in the north Atlantic region with members of the cucurbit family (squash, cucumbers, melons, pumpkins,etc). You can use an organic pesticide to reduce the problem or you can keep these plants under row cover for as long as possible to keep the squash vine borer or squash bugs out but you have to be careful not to hurt the pollinators or keep them out completely.

The Late summer has been very dry at Ida Lee so the Master Gardeners are continuing with watering and adjusting the watering system so it waters for a longer period of time to water deeply. This insures that the plants get plenty of moisture. If you water longer just make sure you don't have "run off", water flowing out of the gardening bed, as this can contribute to stream pollution (and it wastes water).

In the ornamental area of the garden, the Master Gardeners have been cutting back the butterfly bushes. They have done this for two reasons, the butterfly bushes can become invasive if the seed heads are left on and because the plants were covered with stink bugs. These bugs have been a problem this year in many gardens. More information can be gotten by contacting the Master Gardeners' "Help Desk".

Weeds are being pulled from the Siberian irises; suckers are bring removed from the vitex tree; the other ornamental beds are also being weeded; and the tansy and amaranth were cut back. Plants are being shredded with the shredder and the lawn mower and being put in the compost bins to compost.

A lovely new sign has been added to the "Shade Garden", a very nice place from which to enjoy the views of the garden.

September is another busy gardening month. This is a great time to add new plants to your garden (and there are sales everywhere!) and to put in bulbs. It's also time to reseed and fertilize your grass, and to add lime if necessary.

Happy gardening and if you have any questions about this information or any gardening practices, please contact the Master Gardeners at
Phone: (703) 771-5150
Email:
And you can find the Demonstration Garden at Ida Lee Park in Leesburg.

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) This week in the Master Gardeners' Demonstration Garden at Ida Lee Park in Leesburg, the Master Gardeners are still planting seeds for Fall crops. This week they planted lettuce, spinach and turnip seeds. These are easy crops to start from seed and can be planted in containers if you don't have garden space. Just plant the seeds, cover lightly, water and watch them come up. If you have planted them too close together you can take small scissors and "thin" them, just cut out the middle ones leaving a few inches between the seedlings. You can add these "thinnings" to your next salad for a taste treat.

And speaking of "thinning" the strawberry beds are being thinned again. If you are thinning your strawberry beds, remember these little plants can be replanted to start a new strawberry bed or given to fellow gardeners who are interested in starting their own strawberry beds.

The Master Gardeners have also been harvesting chard, peppers, squash, tomatoes and radishes. They did pull a San Marzano plant out because the tomatoes were not ripening. If your tomatoes are not ripening on the vine or if the bugs are destroying the ripe tomatoes on the vine, you can bring green tomatoes into the house and ripen them on the counter or window sill. These may not have the same delicious flavor as the warm, ripe ones eaten in the garden but they will still be tastier than any store bought tomatoes.

The Master Gardeners have also been pruning the grape vines that were started in recent years. These plants have done very well in producing organic grapes and a big part of this is proper pruning technique. The Master Gardeners are growing these grape vines in the same way that wine grapes are grown in the region, with the same trellising system which allows more air flow to cut down on mildew diseases. Stop by the garden and take a look at it for some ideas.

There is still time to order your garlic for fall planting, since the best time to plant in our part of Virginia is early to mid-October. There are 2 main types of garlic, hard-neck variety and soft-neck variety. Hard-neck varieties do better in cooler climates, while sort-neck varieties do better in warmer climates (these are the kind that you find at the grocery store - formerly grown in California, now grown in China) due to their winter "chill requirements". But in Virginia, we are very lucky and can grow both kinds very successfully. Sort-neck varieties of garlic are milder and have more cloves in a bulb while hard-neck are much more flavorful and have fewer cloves. Both are wonderful to grow so prepare your bed (or container) with some organic material added to the soil and get ready for a delicious summer harvest of your own garlic.

Speaking of bulbs, if you missed out on the Master Gardeners' (spring flowering) bulb pre-order this year there is still time to buy some of these bulbs. You can buy them at the Master Gardener booth at the Bluemont Fair this weekend or contact the Help Desk at the Extension Office.

Now is also the time to think about crop rotation for next year's crops. Draw a simple diagram of this year's garden and plan next year's by putting the various plant families in different locations in the garden. This will help cut down on pests and diseases that over-winter in the soil.

Happy Gardening and if you have any questions about this information or any gardening practices, please contact the Master Gardeners at
phone: 703-771-5150
email:
And you can find the Demonstration Garden at Ida Lee Park in Leesburg. The Master Gardeners have been back to work in the Demonstration Garden at Ida Lee Park after taking a week off during the rainy weather. They did not go to the garden and work while the soil was wet because working in wet soil can ruin the structure of the soil. This would cause the soil to become compacted and plants’ roots would be unable to get the oxygen that they need for growth. This can also happen when you step on the soil, even when the soil is not wet, so avoid stepping in your garden beds at all times and avoid working in them when they are wet.

Another reason to avoid working in the garden when the plants are wet is because it is easier to spread diseases from one plant to another when the leaves are damp.

This week at the garden the Master Gardeners have cleaned out the tomato and squash beds and they are preparing them for winter. They will do this by either planting a cover crop or by top dressing the beds with straw. Remember to keep your beds covered this winter so you don’t loose the nutrients you have been adding to the soil with compost and/or manure.

The harvest this week included carrots, squash, peppers, tomatoes, and watermelon. The watermelon came up from watermelons that were in the garden last year, in other words, they were self-sown. They were a heritage breed – “sun, moon and stars” – and they did very well.

The Master Gardeners have chosen this time of year to rework one of the drought tolerant gardens because this is a great time of year to plant new plants. The plants can get established during the cooler weather and will successfully over-winter. This is also a great time to buy new plants as nurseries are reducing their stock and plants are on sale. This also applies to trees and shrubs, other than evergreens which should be planted in the spring.

Also now is the time to fertilize and seed your lawn. Be sure and purchase the grass that is right for your lawn and spread it in the amount recommended by the manufacturer. You can also put lime down in your yard now. To determine how much lime you should spread take a soil sample and send it to Virginia Tech and you will receive their recommendations. Soil sample kits are available at the Loudoun County Extension Office or at your local library.

In conjunction with the Fall Farm Tour the Master Gardeners will be at the Demonstration Garden. We will have activities for children, including painting a pumpkin. And there will be “goodie bags” for the children to take home. The Garden to Table team will be presenting information about composting, winter garden chores and putting your garden to bed. We will start at 11am on Saturday. Please come and join us.


Happy gardening and if you have any questions about this information or any gardening question, please contact the Master Gardeners at:

email
And you can find the Demonstration Garden at Ida Lee Park in Leesburg.