Master Gardeners

Grow It Eat It Celebrates 15 Years of Teaching and Promoting Food Gardening!

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Food gardeners are an important part of any local food system. In Achieving Sustainability through Local Food Systems in the United States (PDF) (2013), agricultural economists Dale Johnson and James Hanson, Ph.D. state: “By far the greatest, but often overlooked, local food source in the United States is gardening.”

About 35% of Maryland households are doing some type of food gardening and have lots of important questions: What’s this worm eating my kale? How do I improve my soil and test it for lead? How do I start a school garden? Where can I take a vegetable gardening class?

Since 2009 many residents and communities have received science-based food gardening answers and help from Grow It Eat It (GIEI)– one of the six major sub-programs of the University of Maryland Extension (UME) Master Gardener Program that teaches and promotes home, school, and community food gardening. This article serves to introduce this amazing program and some of its successes. I plan to write a second article later this year on some of the exciting 2023 GIEI projects from around the state.

What is GIEI?

Grow It Eat It was developed late in 2008 by UME staff, faculty, and volunteers in response to the Great Recession. Many people were already interested in trying their hand at food gardening as a way to eat more fresh produce and connect with nature. The economic collapse forced folks to find ways to reduce household expenses.

The main GIEI objective has been to increase local food production by combining the power of grassroots education and technical assistance delivered by field faculty and Master Gardeners, with UME’s digital gardening resources. Master Gardeners (MGs) have taught hundreds of classes, developed demonstration gardens, and helped thousands of individuals and groups start food gardens and learn and use best practices. Residents can learn about GIEI classes and events by visiting their local Extension web pages and connecting on social media. MGs also help residents solve food gardening problems at Ask a MG Plant Clinics around the state. The Home and Garden Information Center (HGIC) supports GIEI by training MGs, creating and maintaining digital resources, and answering food gardening questions through the Ask Extension service.

GIEI intersects and collaborates with other MG sub-programs– Bay-Wise Landscaping, Ask a MG Plant Clinic, Composting, and Pollinators– and with UME’s nutrition, natural resources, youth development, and urban ag programs. This helps the program address four of the five Strategic Initiatives guiding the College of Ag & Natural Resources.

5 strategic initiatives of the University of Maryland Extension College of Agriculture and Natural Resources

As the faculty lead, I have loved every minute spent working with UME faculty, staff, and volunteers to shape, improve and expand the program. Master Gardener Coordinators and Volunteers decide how to best shape GIEI to meet local needs. The State MG Office organizes regular GIEI statewide planning/sharing meetings and continuing education classes, and provides seeds, teaching, and marketing materials. MGs responded to the pandemic by moving GIEI classes online. GIEI projects and activities steadily increased in 2021 and 2022 and should surpass pre-COVID levels in 2023.

packets of sunflower and green bean seeds
75K seed packets have been distributed to residents to promote food gardening and the UME MG Program. Sunflower and bean seeds in 2023!
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Swarms, Swarms, and More Honeybee Swarms!

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Swarm of bees on a branch
Photo by Anne Arundel County Master Gardener Beekeeping Project

On May 12, Nancy Allred, Interim Master Gardener Coordinator, Anne Arundel Co. called to say that one of the two Master Gardener Beekeeping Project hives at Hancock’s Resolution Park in Pasadena had swarmed. Swarming is the natural process that a honeybee colony uses to reproduce itself, so this is an exciting event. My husband and I packed up our bee jackets and drove to Hancock’s Resolution to check on the swarm.

Hancock’s Resolution is a historic farm park operated by the Friends of Hancock’s Resolution (FOHR) a 501(c) (3) non-profit organization. Under an agreement with Anne Arundel County Recreation and Parks, FOHR operates the farm and offers programming that interprets the site’s historical and agricultural significance. This remnant of a 410-acre middling plantation located in northern Anne Arundel County is on Bodkin Creek, near the mouth of the Patapsco River, and was once a well-situated market farm with close access to the Chesapeake Bay and the port towns of Baltimore and Annapolis.

Master Gardeners tend a demonstration garden and are on hand to discuss 18th-century farming practices, answer questions about plants, and invite visitors to participate in garden activities (however, activities and access are currently on hold due to COVID-19). Since 2009, Master Gardeners have tended the hives and provided pollinator educational programs that currently feature an observation hive that provides a view of the inner workings of a beehive.

Master Gardener beekeeper at Hancock's Resolution Park
Master Gardener beekeeper at Hancock’s Resolution Park – Photo courtesy historichancocksresolution.org

We were pleasantly surprised to see that the swarming bees had settled on the lower limb of a tree right next to the hives. Often swarms land just beyond the reach of your tallest ladder, so we were very lucky.

When swarming, the colony splits into two distinct colonies. The queen and about half of the workers (females) leave the hive in search of an appropriate site for their new home, often a large cavity in a tree. Typically the swarm temporarily settles on a tree or structure near the hive with the workers surrounding the queen in a cohesive “teardrop” of bees. Scouts fly off to find a suitable site for the colony, which might take a day or two or more. Once they identify a suitable site, the swarm takes to the air and follows the scouts to the new site. Meanwhile back in the original colony, the workers are busy raising several queens, one of which will become the new queen of the hive.

Tending the swarm
Photo by Anne Arundel County Master Gardener Beekeeping Project

In many cases, beekeepers are thrilled to see a swarm because if they can catch the swarm, they can add another colony to their apiary or replace a colony that died during the winter (in the last few years in Maryland, beekeepers have reported losing approximately half of all colonies each year — but that’s a topic for another article).

As Brian and I looked at the swarm that had settled next to the beehives at Hancock’s Resolution, we considered catching the swarm and setting up a new colony.  However, all of the Master Gardener hives at Hancock’s Resolution and Quiet Waters Park made it through the winter just fine, and our own colonies had also survived, so we had no place to install the new swarm. Unfortunately, you can’t just put the bees back into the hive that they came from since that hive is already down the path of raising a new queen.

Since we had nowhere to put the swarm, I called a fellow beekeeper, Charles DeBarber, to come collect the swarm. Charles has worked with John Conners and myself with the beekeepers at the Correctional Institution for Women in Jessup, including to help remove a swarm that had moved into an abandoned building there. Charles wears many hats, including maintaining about 20 hives at Filbert Street Community Garden in nearby Curtis Bay, and he sets up hives for other community gardens in the area. He was thrilled to have another colony to donate to a community garden.

Charles arrived at Hancock’s Resolution 20 minutes after I called him and a few minutes later had the bees in a small box called a nuc complete with frames of honey and honeycomb to make them feel at home. The swarm was very gentle and only focused on protecting the queen who was somewhere in the middle of the ball of bees. Charles was able to collect the swarm without protective gear (don’t try this at home!) and no one got stung during this process. When Charles left, he was headed to a community garden to move the “ladies” into their new home.

Tending the swarm
Photo by Anne Arundel County Master Gardener Beekeeping Project

But that wasn’t the end of this story. The next day Nancy called again to say that ANOTHER swarm had appeared in the same location. Was it from the other hive, the same hive, or another hive in the neighborhood? There’s no way to know, but we suspect that it was from the other hive. Once again, we made the trip out to Hancock’s Resolution, called Charles, and got the second swarm (which was even larger than the first) dropped into another box to be delivered to its new home.

But, still, there’s more to the story.On May 22, ten days after Nancy called about the first swarm, she called again reporting a THIRD swarm. Once again, Charles showed up and retrieved the swarm and took it to a local community garden that was grateful to have such hardworking pollinators near their garden plots.

In the meantime, the Master Gardener Beekeeping Project honeybees at Hancock’s Resolution and Quiet Waters Park are thriving, collecting lots of nectar and pollen, raising young, and making sure that the hives have enough honey and pollen to survive the next Maryland winter.

It is a wonderful thing to support and help pollinators thrive. The transfer of pollen from the male organ to the female organ of a flowering plant – is essential to life on earth, for without pollination most people and non-human animals would not have enough food. Over 90% of all known flowering plants, and almost all fruits, vegetables and grains, require pollination to produce crops. Happily, there is a pollinator volunteer workforce that includes bees that does this job for us.

If you find a swarm on your property, you can find a beekeeper via Maryland Beekeepers Association to come and save it.

Pam McFarland, Anne Arundel County Master Gardener, University of Maryland Extension. Edited by Dan Adler.

UME Master Gardener “Learning Garden” at State Fair

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A team of UME Master Gardeners working with UME field faculty created an outstanding Learning Garden that inspired and educated residents during the 11 days of the Maryland State Fair. Practical, small-space gardening techniques were demonstrated in 25 distinct beds.

A dramatic “three sisters” bed served as the central point of visual interest, attracting people from across the fairgrounds: ‘Honeybush’ butternut squash at the base, sunflowers (instead of corn) growing upright, and ‘Algarve’ pole beans climbing to the top of the bamboo frame:

Three Sisters

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Learning How to Identify Maryland’s Native Trees in Winter: Look at More Than Just the Bark

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I was very excited to have the opportunity to take a winter tree identification class. I attended a great University of Maryland Extension (UME) Master Gardener Advanced Training course with UME native plant specialist Sara Tangren last week. I assumed we’d be looking at bark. The classroom at the Extension in Westminster was filled with tree twigs… not bark.

I never took the time to really notice the details of a twig. The opposite leaf pairs on the stem are opposite side to side, then front to back. I never paid attention to that simple pattern. I recognized new stem growth and last years’ growth, terminal buds, leaf scars, vein scars, lenticels, etc.

Maple twig buds and leaf scars are opposite.  A trick to remember trees that have opposite leaves is “MAD Horse Buck” – Maple – Ash – Dogwood – Horse Chestnut – Buckeye!

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Converting Lawn to Meadow at the Goddard Space Flight Center

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Americans have a lot of lawn – an area over 8 times the size of New Jersey is dedicated to alien grasses and the constant mowing that they require. Much of this lawn is unused, even unwanted. This is the situation at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, which maintains about 100 acres of turf. Staff were interested in converting unused lawns to meadows for the cost savings and the environmental benefits: pollinator habitat, cleaner air, cleaner water. Unfortunately, no one on the staff had converted lawn to meadow before, so they teamed up with the Maryland Master Gardener program, and the Meadow Making Advanced Training class series was born!

Throughout 2016 and 2017, Master Gardeners and Goddard staff have worked side by side, learning how to convert unused lawn into native meadow by solarizing weeds, adjusting soil pH, remediating soil compaction, sowing native seeds, and monitoring the germination of native seedlings and weeds.

All that planning and preparation have paid off. On Tuesday I visited to assist Goddard staff with the monthly monitoring and maintenance of the meadow. Of the 34 native species originally sown or plugged, 24 were confirmed present, and some are even blooming already: Continue reading →

Upcoming GIEI open house by Montgomery County Master Gardeners

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Please visit us on the afternoon of Saturday, April 29th! We will have all sorts of activities including: educational talks; workshops on plant propagation, mushroom growing, tomato grafting, and hydroponic gardening; children’s programs; plant and product sales; demos in our demo garden; and lots of Master Gardeners to answer your questions.

More information including a schedule here.