Backyard Gardening

By Ginny Counsil

The Penn State Master Gardeners of Clinton County are hosting a
Garden Sense Symposium, along with a fall plant sale, on September 18, 2021. These activities will be part of the Farm-City Festival at the Clinton County Fairgrounds. The symposium, normally held in January, includes several gardening-related workshops and presentations. Holding a symposium in the autumn has been a goal of the Master Gardeners for years. It is the perfect opportunity to offer fall gardening tips to veteran and new gardeners alike. We have a great line-up of presentations throughout the day, and we hope you will join us for a day of gardening fun and learning!

Tom Butzler, Clinton County Extension Educator, will start our morning sessions by talking about planting trees (See Photo 1). Tom will demonstrate the proper way to plant trees, including the correct width and depth to dig the hole for the tree roots. He will also talk about how to care for your new tree during those very important first few years, as its roots reach down and out into the soil. This will give the sapling a great start to becoming a healthy tree that you, the birds, and the pollinating insects can enjoy, hopefully for decades. This year, Tom will be planting two trees at the Clinton County Fairgrounds.

Ryan Bridge, better known throughout Pennsylvania as the “Bug Man,” will share his live bug collection. He will educate and fascinate children and adults alike about the wonderful and mysterious world of insects and their close relatives.

Dave Jackson, Centre County Extension Forestry Educator, will tell us about the invasive plants which have, unfortunately, become all too common in Pennsylvania. Dave will also discuss the methods and equipment that can be used to rid our gardens, yards, and woods of these invasive plants. Write your questions down, because this is your chance to ask an expert!

The afternoon sessions will be presented by some of our very own Penn State Master Gardeners of Clinton County. Master Gardener Anne Gibson will give an overview of the demonstration gardens that the Master Gardeners started at the Clinton County Fairgrounds in the fall of 2016. They began preparing the ground at the east entrance of one of the exhibition buildings before winter, and planted native plants the following spring.

Soon after, Master Gardeners renovated the planting beds beside the west entrance. Now all of these plants are fully grown, and the bees and butterflies are loving the pollinator gardens!

Master Gardener Apprentice Melissa Green will talk about the benefits of composting. She will demonstrate how to build and maintain a healthy compost pile. Melissa will also discuss which materials should, and should NOT, be added to your compost.

Are you interested in becoming a hobby beekeeper? If so, Master Gardeners Jim Randall and Charles Kincaid will explain how they got started in beekeeping. Bees play an important part in the pollination of many plants (See Photo Two). Jim and Charles will present a PowerPoint slide show. They will also have beekeeping equipment on hand to view.

Throughout the day, a children’s table, hosted by Master Gardeners Chryslynne Held and Donna Krempasky, will be available in the Main Pavilion. They will provide several activities geared toward inspiring the next generation of gardeners.

Our annual plant sale will also be held throughout the day, right beside the Main Pavilion. We will be offering trees, shrubs, perennials, and bulbs, with an emphasis on native and hard-to-find varieties. Our plants will be available for purchase on a first-come, first-served basis. A catalog of plants that will be included in our sale is available on our website at https://extension.psu.edu/programs/master-gardener/counties/clinton. Although our plant sale is typically held in the spring, autumn is also a good time for planting. There is so much that can be done in the fall to ensure success for the next year’s growing season. If you want to see pretty new springtime blooms such as tulips, daffodils, hyacinths, and crocuses, September and October are the months to get your bulbs and other plants in the ground. Cooler temperatures and more plentiful rainfall during the fall make it much easier on the plants (and the planters!), compared to Pennsylvania’s typically hot, dry, and humid summer months. It is to be hoped that the amount of rainfall we got this year, especially in August, is NOT the new “normal” for Pennsylvania’s weather! With top growth dying back as winter approaches, plants are able to focus their energy on developing stronger root systems. It is also early enough for the roots of transplants to spread out and get acclimated to their new home before the winter cold freezes the ground to a solid mass. By spring, the transplants are already established and ready to grow.

Please join us on September 18, for a day packed full of all things gardening!

Ginny Counsil has been a Penn State Extension certified Master Gardener since 2016. She can be reached at clintonmg@psu.edu or through the Clinton County Master Gardener Hotline at (570) 858-0198.