Supporting Migratory Birds

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With the return of warm weather, new plant growth, and emerging insects, you may have noticed the return of bird song, too. Migratory birds begin to return to their breeding grounds in May from locations as far south as Central and South America. Some species will stay in Maryland all summer to nest; others are passing through on their way to breeding grounds farther north. Maryland is under the Atlantic migration flyway, so we have quite a lot of migrating birds in our community, including orioles, warblers, swallows, and more!

Map of North America showing the four major bird migration flyways- the Atlantic Flyway, the Mississippi Flyway, The Central Flyway, and the Pacific Flyway.
Map by American Bird Conservancy

With bird diversity at its peak in our region due to the return of summer species and the temporary presence of northern species on their way home, it’s a great time to go birding! While the Maryland Ornithological Society’s annual May Count has already passed, you can check out their calendar for smaller birding events across the state, including meetings, tours, and educational opportunities.

You can also see which birds are coming and going through the BirdCast Migration Dashboard —enter your county to see how many birds flew over the previous night and cumulatively this season, as well as a list of species to expect this time of year. The Audubon Society hosts an interactive migration map where you can select a location and a bird species to watch where birds travel throughout the year, thanks to data collected from individually-tagged birds.

In addition to tracking their progress and contributing to community science efforts, there are steps you can take to help migratory birds on their journeys:

  • Keep cats indoors or supervise outdoor excursions, as free-roaming outdoor cats frequently prey on birds.
  • Reduce artificial light at night, as birds often fly at night to avoid predators, stay cool, and navigate by the stars and moon. Artificial light from the ground attracts and disorients migratory birds, disrupting their flight paths and increasing collisions with buildings. Minimize light pollution around your home by turning off outside lights, using red bulbs or red gel filters, and/or adding shades to direct light downward instead of up at the sky. You can also put path or porch lights on timers or install motion sensors, so lights are only on when you need them. Close your curtains or blinds at dusk to protect birds from indoor lights.
  • Lastly, an action where gardeners can excel: plant native vegetation to provide fruits and support insects for native birds with varied diets. For example, our Maryland State bird, the beloved Baltimore Oriole (Icterus galbula), which spends the winter in Central America, feeds mostly on insects like caterpillars, beetles, and grasshoppers, but also eats berries and nectar. A native plant like serviceberry (any species in the genus Amelanchier) would be an excellent choice; it can host 124 species of caterpillars and produces fruits that look similar to blueberries, another oriole favorite (any species in the genus Vaccinium). Native birches (like the sweet birch, Betula lenta), plums (like the American plum, Prunus americana), and oaks (like white oak, Quercus alba) also support higher caterpillar abundances, and red mulberry (Morus rubra) and native blackberry species (like the Allegheny blackberry, Rubus allegheniensis) grow attractive fruits.

With these actions, you can help protect our beautiful springtime singers!

Close-up photo of a Baltimore oriole bird.
Baltimore oriole by Andrew Weitzel
Photo of a serviceberry branch and leaves with purple fruits.
Photo of a cluster of ripening blueberries on a plant.
Photo of red mulberry fruits hanging from a shoot.
Photo of blackberry fruits riopening on the plant.

Serviceberry by Native Foods Nursery; blueberry by 88 Acres; red mulberry by K. Dave; blackberry by Ragesoss

By Sarah Rothman, Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Environmental Science and Technology at the University of Maryland. Read more by Sarah.

Savor the Season, But Don’t Take Off the Gardening Gloves

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“In early June the world of leaf and blade and flowers explodes and every sunset is different.”
– John Steinbeck

June is a giddy month. As gardeners we have time to exhale and enjoy.  Spring tasks like mulching and heavy-duty planting are done.  Flowers are going gangbusters.  Veggies are plumping up.  But, as ever, there are a few things to do.  So revel you must, but keep those garden gloves at the ready to ensure your garden keeps looking good and producing well.   

Pinch back fall-blooming plants such as asters, mums, and tall sedum to prevent them from getting leggy. Use this trick to avoid supports for perennials that tend to flop, such as Shasta daisies. 

Are there empty spaces in your vegetable beds from harvested crops?  Consider planting a second crop of beans, beets, radishes, or cucumbers. This is called succession planting. The UME Vegetable Planting Calendar can help guide you.

A ripe pickling cucumber on the vine.
Fill in empty spaces in your beds with second plantings of vegetables like cucumbers. 

Fruit trees naturally drop excess fruit this time of year.  That is normal thinning that helps to produce fewer, larger fruit.  You also can manually thin plum, peach, apple and pear trees.  Just leave 5 to 6 inches between fruits.

Just say no to mulch volcanoes! The excessive mounding of mulch around trees and shrubs can injure and even kill them. Mulch should be only one to three inches deep and not be in contact with the base of your trees and shrubs.

The hum of mowers is a constant serenade.  Are you remembering to let those grass clippings lie to provide up to a quarter of the nitrogen your lawn needs? It’s free fertilizer, folks. We just had a week of rain, but hot dry weather is coming.  Mow high – 3 to 4 inches – to keep your lawn healthy and reduce weeds and disease issues.  No scalping, please.

A closeup of a lawnmower next to grass that is mowed and some that is not mowed.
Let grass clippings lie for free fertilizer. 

How is your compost pile doing?  If all the rain has made it damp and a bit smelly, stir in some dry, carbon-rich materials such as straw or shredded leaves or newspaper. You need a mix of green (nitrogen-rich) and brown (carbon-rich) ingredients to keep compost cooking.  Turn compost regularly and keep it slightly moist to create the best ever soil amendment.

A man next to a compost bin made out of chicken wire is using a pitchfork to toss rotted straw into the bin.
Turn compost regularly to make a 4-star soil amendment. Photo credit: Elizabeth Howe

Mosquitoes love wet weather.  It makes tiny breeding pools more likely in pot saucers, buckets, tarps, outdoor toys and more. Look for standing water and remove it regularly.  

The wet weather also has made millipedes emerge from damp leaf litter to wander up the exterior house walls, patios, basements and even one area hot tub. These inch-long brown worm-like creatures get their name from the many tiny legs.  They do no harm and will disappear once things dry out.  There’s no need to treat for them.  

This is also snake mating season.  A few years ago I came across a happy couple in a slithery embrace in my yard.  My neighbor’s young boy asked me what they were doing. His mom smiled and nodded so I started with, “When a girl snake and a boy snake like each other very much…” Oh dear. Some people have a snake phobia.  I don’t, but I get it.  Just remember that snakes are good garden buddies, helping to rid our yards of mice, moles and voles.  Let them be. It’s illegal to kill snakes in Maryland.

Enjoy this time in your glorious June garden…snakes and all!

By Annette Cormany, Principal Agent Associate and Master Gardener Coordinator, Washington County, University of Maryland Extension. This article was previously published by Herald-Mail Media. Read more by Annette.

Wait on those tomatoes… maybe

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Tomatoes still under lights

It’s the beginning of May, so it’s time for my annual appeal to hold off on planting out your tomatoes and other cold-sensitive crops. I think the plea may fall on deaf ears this year, because looking ahead at the 10-day forecast here in upper Montgomery County, I see only one night that might fall below 50 degrees F., and only barely below. Days are nice and warm. It feels like tomato-planting time.

Let’s just state a few caveats, though, and then I’ll let you go about your business.

  • In many recent years, we’ve had a substantial drop in temperature in mid-May, even after summerlike conditions had already taken hold. That may not happen this year, but it still could.
  • It looks like we are finally going to get some rain coming up—hurray!! We really need it. But a rainy period isn’t the best time to put tomatoes in the ground, not because you get wet, but because the plants do. Wet leaves and splashing mud will make them more susceptible to fungal diseases that could be lurking in the soil. If you do plant during or before a lot of rain, make sure the soil is covered by mulch.
  • Most importantly, the air temperature at planting time matters less than the soil temperature, and at least where I’m measuring, the soil temperature is far below the ideal 60 degrees F. that tomatoes prefer. Get yourself a soil/compost thermometer and stick it in the ground where you intend to plant; see for yourself. Cold soil temperatures hold back the growth of plants that like it warm, and fruit may be poorly formed.

My tomato and pepper plants are still inside under lights. They’ll venture outside to start hardening off this weekend, so that in another week or so, if the forecast looks good, I’ll be able to consider putting them in the ground. But I’m definitely going to check that forecast and stick that thermometer in the soil.

If you’re in a hurry, and are ready to jump in and protect your plants if we have a mid-May frost, I can’t stop you from planting. You may end up with plants that produce much earlier than mine. Or they may sulk and get diseases and make misshapen fruit. Sometimes the bet pays off, and sometimes it doesn’t. I like to play it safe.

By Erica Smith, Montgomery County Master Gardener. Read more posts by Erica.

Q&A: What Damaged My Hydrangea?

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New green hydrangea leaves with brown spots and edges caused by cold temperatures.
Cold night temperatures caused the edges and tips of these new hydrangea leaves to turn brown.

Q:  The new leaves on my hydrangea shrub recently turned brownish on the tips, and they look a bit withered. What can I do to save it?

A:  The shrub is probably fine and you shouldn’t need to do anything for now. It’s likely cold damage, from overnight temperatures below or near freezing. Bigleaf hydrangea (Hydrangea macrophylla) tend to be particularly eager to leaf-out as soon as the weather warms in spring, often too early to avoid frost damage in years with fluctuating temperatures. This inconveniently early emergence is encouraged when plants grow near warmth-retaining materials like a stone retaining wall, solid fence, or house wall.

Give the shrub time to produce more new growth to cover any eyesore leaves. You don’t need to prune damaged leaves off, but you can if they’re too bothersome, once the plant is fuller with more growth. Be aware that, once dormancy is broken, flower buds on the stems are also vulnerable to frost/freeze damage, and that might not be as evident as the singed edges or distorted-leaf symptoms on expanding foliage. If the shrub doesn’t flower this summer, it could be due to spring cold injury, or branches that were pruned back before determining if the bare tips were actually dead.

In the future, you can try using an old sheet or pillowcase (any fabric; avoid plastic) to cover the plant for the night if the forecast calls for temperatures close to freezing. Garden centers that have the ability to protect tender plants can tip pots over and cover them with a thick horticultural felt, which gives the plants a few degrees of protection due to the cover blocking frost and trapping some warmth radiating off the ground. (You can do this with potted plants that have broken dormancy too early, but in home settings it’s more practical to just move them temporarily closer to a sheltered wall instead, or put them in a shed or garage for the night.)

New green hydrangea leaves with brown spots caused by cold temperatures.
Brown leaf spots on new hydrangea leaves from cold weather

New green hydrangea leaves that are turning a dark purplish color and are wilting due to severe cold temperatures.
New hydrangea leaves collapsing from cold injury. Photo credit: Debra Ricigliano

By Miri Talabac, Horticulturist, University of Maryland Extension Home & Garden Information Center. Miri writes the Garden Q&A for The Baltimore Sun and Washington Gardener Magazine. Read more by Miri.

Have a plant or insect question? The University of Maryland Extension has answers! Send your questions and photos to Ask Extension. Our horticulturists are available to answer your questions online, year-round.

How to Pick a Healthy Plant

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Woo hoo!  It’s time to go to the garden center.  It’s hard to curb our excitement, isn’t it?  All that color and beauty is overwhelming, and I always feel like a kid in a candy store. I know you are oh-so-ready – me, too – but let’s take a moment and talk about how to pick really good plants.  After all, you deserve the best, right?  

Healthy plants look better, last longer, grow more vigorously, and allow you to pat yourself on the back for being such a savvy plant shopper. So, whether you’re buying vegetables, annuals, herbs or perennials, take the time to really look at the plants you’re considering.  Use these tips to pick the best of the bunch. 

Photo of a tray of healthy tomato transplants each in their own individual 4 inch containers. The plants are dark green and stocky.
Green, healthy tomato seedlings just the right size to transplant. 
Photo credit:  Elizabeth Jones, Washington County Master Gardener

First, think green.  A healthy plant has dark green leaves.  So if a plant looks pale or yellow, walk away.   It’s probably stressed and growing slowly.  Of course, this excludes plants bred to have red, purple, chartreuse, or variegated leaves. 

Bigger isn’t always better.  Yes, you want a healthy plant, but smaller plants with healthy root systems often adapt better than large plants when planted in your garden. When I see someone wrestling a 3-foot tall tomato plant out a garden center door now, I cringe. Too early! Too big!  I look for 8-inch tall tomato plants in 4-inch pots and prefer perennials in quart pots. Steer clear of tall, skinny plants. Opt for thick bushy ones instead. Skinny plants have often been grown in poor light or overgrown their pots. You want lush compact growth.

Basil plants with off-color leaves with spots caused by basil downy mildew.
Look for plant problems such as this downy mildew on basil plants.
Photo credit:  Home & Garden Information Center

Next, check for signs and symptoms of insect pests and diseases. Don’t accept any hitchhikers. If you see insects, nibbled leaves, spots, webbing, or fuzz, put down the pot. Now, check out the roots.  Yes, it’s okay to hold a plant horizontally and gently wiggle it out of its pot to look at the roots. Healthy roots are white, not yellow or brown.  They should be solid, not mushy.  And they should not be encircling the pot or growing out of the bottom. That’s the sign of a plant that’s been in its pot too long. Beware of pots with unknown sprouts.  Weeds can hitch a ride on desirable plants, bringing untold problems into your garden.  Tiny seedlings you can remove, but if a pot is overrun, steer clear.

Beware of pot-bound plants with circling roots such as the one on the left.

Know your garden center.  Look around. Do all the plants look healthy?  Are staff members watering and inspecting the plants and providing good care?  Can they answer your questions?  Good nurseries grow good plants. Beware the deep discount.  Yes, that flat of begonias is half price, but what’s the real cost?  If they are overgrown, potbound, infested, or diseased, they are no bargain.   The real deal is a plant that is full, green, problem-free, and well-tended.

You can find good plants at local nurseries and garden centers and plant sales run by schools and nonprofit groups. Many Master Gardener programs have spring sales, as do arboretums, native plant societies, and other conservation groups. Get connected. I hope you’ll use these tips to enjoy gardens brimming with beautiful, healthy, productive plants.

By Annette Cormany, Principal Agent Associate and Master Gardener Coordinator, Washington County, University of Maryland Extension. This article was previously published by Herald-Mail Media. Read more by Annette.


How to Plant & Care for Bare-Root Shrubs

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Annually, our State Forest Tree Nursery grows millions of native trees and shrubs for conservation, reforestation, and residential projects that are sold as bare-root seedlings. Bare-root plants are also commonly sold by online retailers, and available at local plant swaps. Why bare-root seedlings? Some key advantages are that they are less costly to store and transport, quicker to plant, and less likely to spread pests and diseases. Cons are the root systems need to be kept moist and they need to be planted within a short timeframe.

This week, Francis Smith from MD DNR’s State Forest Service helped us plant 140 native bare-root shrubs- (red chokeberry (Aronia arbutifolia), black chokeberry (Aronia melanocarpa), and Canadian serviceberry (Amelanchier canadensis) at the Central Maryland Research and Education Center in Clarksville. He shared best practices on how to plant and care for bare-root seedlings.

Storage tips: plant your seedlings within 7 days. Until then, keep the seedlings moist, cool, and dark. A garage or cooler maintained at 33-50 degrees Fahrenheit is ideal. A packing or moisture gel such as Terra-Sorb is a convenient way to keep roots hydrated (Fig. 1). Submerging them in water seems intuitive, but is NOT recommended. Also, refrigerators are NOT recommended because they’ve dehumidifying properties that can damage seedlings. 

Photo of a young shrub out of the ground with its roots covered with moisture gel to keep them moist.
Fig. 1: Roots of a Canadian serviceberry seedling stored with a moisture gel

Field Handling & Planting Tips: keep seedlings in a cool, shaded area. Avoid pruning top growth if possible. Francis did recommend pruning roots that were longer than 3-5 inches (Figs. 2 & 3), so the roots will fit into the wedge and to encourage new root growth. You can use a shovel or a handy tool called a planting bar or a dibble bar (Fig 4.). Check out Francis’ 2-minute video ‘How to Plant a Bare Root Seedling’ for instructions on how to create a straight wedge, position roots in the wedge (straight down vs J-roots), and tamping the soil down to avoid air pockets. If mulching, be sure to leave a ring of bare soil around the seedling (Fig. 5), as some materials absorb nitrogen, depriving the seedling of nutrients.

A seedling shrub having its excessively long roots trimmed with garden shears.
Fig. 2: Seedling pre-trim
A seedling shrub showing the root system after trimming excessively long roots.
Fig. 3: Seedling post-trim
A person in a field planting a bare-root shrub seedling with a planting bar.
Fig. 4: Planting bar/dibble bar
Newly planted shrub seedling showing bare soil around the base and a wood chip mulch in a ring 6 inches from the bare soil.
Fig. 5: Bare earth ring around seedling

The beauty of working with bare-root seedlings is that they’re economical, quick to plant, and create minimal soil disturbance, decreasing weed seed brought to the surface. If you have a difficult site or have a large project in mind, this might be an especially good option for you. For more information, check out MD DNR’s ‘Bare Root Seedling Planting Guide.’

By Lisa Kuder, Native Plants and Landscapes Specialist, University of Maryland Extension. See more posts by Lisa.


How to Save Money in the Garden

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Confession time. I’m a career tightwad. I love saving money. I want quality but I don’t want to pay more for it. Gardening is no exception. Fortunately, there are plenty of ways to save on everything from plants to tools.

First, know that gardeners are generous souls. We love to share seeds, cuttings, divisions and more. So tap your gardening friends to see what you can snag or swap. Look for seed swaps. National Seed Swap Day is in late January. Many organizations including Master Gardener groups organize swaps. But you can find seed swaps throughout the year or organize your own.

Seven colorful vegetable and flower seed packets on a table.
Swap and share seeds with friends and neighbors. Photo credit: Erica Smith

Make your own compost. Use free pallets, chicken wire or recycled wood to make the frame. Toss in leaves, grass, straw, food scraps and other organic materials, all free. Grow plants you can divide in a few years to get free plants to use or share. Most perennials and bulbs should be divided every three years. Growing plants from seeds can save money, too. I direct seed some plants like basil and squash. Others nurture seedlings under grow lights which involves an initial investment but saves a good bit of money in the long run.

aA three bin compost system made from re-purposed wooden pa;llates. The first pallet on the left is half-filled with tree leaves. Two-ft. high wooden lattice fencing is placed in front of the pallets to hold in the bins' contents.
Make low-cost compost bins from re-purposed pallets. Photo credit: Jon Traunfeld

Potting soil prices have gone up, up, up so everyone’s looking for deals. Save by buying broken bags at a discount, hitting end-of-the-season sales or sharing the cost of a big bale with friends. Tap the buddy system to save in other ways. Split a flat of flowers or the cost of rented equipment like an lawn aerator.

Use what you have. Make pea stakes – trellises for the vines to climb – from tree and shrub trimmings. Turn chopped leaves and untreated grass trimmings into mulch. Become a rabid recycler. Use plastic salad boxes as seed starting trays. Convert old dresser drawers into grow boxes for salad greens. Repurpose everyday containers to grow vegetables. Five-gallon buckets and crates can become affordable small-space gardens.

Mature pepper plants growing in five-gallon, food-grade plastic buckets. There is one mature plant per bucket. One of the plants is the variety 'Gypsy.' It has large,, elongated yellow fruits. Each bucket garden is made of two buckets, one inserted into the other to create a self-watering garden. Plans are on the website.
Pepper plants growing in self-watering containers made from re-purposed food-grade
buckets. Photo credit: Kent Phillips

Save seeds. Unless you have a hybrid plant that won’t come back true to type, save seeds to use next year. Seeds even a few years old will often deliver good germination. Market your muscle. Some CSAs will give you a share of the crop or seedlings if you work in their gardens. Some gardeners I know have the same arrangement. Seek out sales. Garden groups often hold spring plant sales, offering significant discounts. Check with your local Master Gardener group to find out if they have a sale. Some public gardens also have plant sales.

Shop off season. Look for bargain plants and supplies at garden centers in late fall. Buy leftover amaryllis bulbs after Christmas. Book an arborist in the off-season to get a discount on tree pruning. Don’t overlook yard sales, thrift shops, and estate sales for discounted tools, pots, and other finds. Older tools often have plenty of life left.

Tap tech and barter. One garden writer found a woman on Craigslist too pregnant to dig her iris and strawberry beds. She did the digging in exchange for some rhizomes and runners. Check construction sites for free bricks and stones for paths and borders. One friend got a massive boulder by asking nicely. Another scored handsome old bricks, free for the hauling. Need free gardening advice? Call or e-mail your local Extension office with questions or send your questions and photos through our Ask Extension service. We’re here to help.

The garden savings go on and on. Take advantage, and don’t forget to pay it forward. Consider donating some of your seeds, harvest, and time to those who have helped you.

By Annette Cormany, Principal Agent Associate and Master Gardener Coordinator, Washington County, University of Maryland Extension.

This article was previously published by Herald-Mail Media. Read more by Annette.