Washington Gardener Magazine is the award-winning publication for Mid-Atlantic USA gardeners by local gardeners.
This fall, I have taken on two editorial interns. Look for their author bylines in our upcoming Washington Gardener Magazine issues, our YouTube videos, GardenDC Podcast, and on this blog. As a first assignment, I asked them to write a short introduction to our readers so you can get to know them.
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Ripe Tomato on Tomato 'Citrine' plant on July 20, 2026. |
Guest Blog by Maya Hand
I had never gardened before this summer, beyond occasionally
weeding with my mom when I was little! I grew up with my mom growing many herbs
and flowering plants in our backyard. She had squash and zucchini some years,
and she always had cherry tomatoes, which I enjoyed plucking and eating off the
vine. She usually planted the tomato 'Super Sweet 100.'
On June 1, I transplanted tomato ‘Citrine’
and The Purple Tomato™ seedlings into the community garden plot on Fenton
Street. I planted zinnia Zydeco™ Fire and zinnia ‘Crestar Fieldgrown Mix’ seeds
in the pollinator strip.
There was a good deal of weekly weeding to
do in the plot and pollinator strip throughout the summer. The main aggressors
were morning glory vine, mulberry weed trees, yarrow, and crabgrass. The most ease I had
pulling up the weeds was when using a Cobrahead weeder after a rain.
The moisture that remained in the soil helped get the roots loose. There was
one mulberry weed tree next to the Purple Tomato that persisted even though we
kept it covered by a piece of old tile. I cut it back
each week, along with uncovered side shoots.
I watered and weeded every Monday when fellow intern Koree, editor Kathy Jentz, and I went to the garden together. Kathy watered the plants during the rest of the time (except when rain did the watering for us). There were
several Mondays when I added a bit of fish fertilizer to the water for the tomatoes.
The zinnia seeds were up by the end of the
first week of June.
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| Zinnia seedlings on July 6, 2026. |
On June 22, I added a tomato ‘Fourth of July’ seedling and an African marigold 'Lanna Lace' seedling to the same patch as the tomato 'Citrine' and The Purple Tomato™. I also top-dressed around the tomatoes with a mix of aged horse manure and coffee compost.
The first ripe 'Citrine' tomato appeared later that week -- these tomatoes are ready to eat when they turn a light golden yellow. By the end of June, the 'Citrine' tomato plant was continuing to produce fruit, and the Marigold had one flower and a few buds forming. Sometime in the second week of July, Kathy saw one 'Fourth of July' tomato ripening before it disappeared (likely eaten by a rodent).
Since the zinnias had still not flowered by the last week of July, I thinned them out (removed several seedlings so they weren't crowding each other so much). The zinnias started blooming the following week! I regretfully forgot to take a photo of them in bloom.
We entered one flower from the 'Lanna Lace' marigold into the Montgomery County Agricultural Fair in August, and it received a first place ribbon in one of the marigold categories. We also entered The Purple Tomato™ in the "Most Unusual Tomato" category, but they did not earn a ribbon, perhaps they were not fully ripe at that point.
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| Me with our first-place African Marigold 'Lanna Lace' flower, at the Montgomery County Agricultural Fair, on August 18, 2026. |
Of the tomato plants, the tomato 'Citrine' grew the largest and produced the most fruit. I did not see another 'Fourth of July' tomato after the one that disappeared. Though I only saw unripe tomatoes on The Purple Tomato™ plant, Kathy harvested some ripe ones when I was not at the plot. My last day at the garden was August 10. By then, I had tasted a few 'Citrine' tomatoes!
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| Tomato 'Citrine' and African Marigold 'Lanna Lace' on August 10, 2026. |
Despite being told by two cooks in my life (my mom and stepdad) that I have a developed palate, I am unable to describe the flavor and texture of the 'Citrine' tomatoes in a way that is distinct from similar cherry tomatoes. I don’t have a very developed intra-vegetable palate!
I tried the nine varieties at our Tomato Taste at the FRESHFARM Silver Spring Market and liked 'Citrine' the best. (Note: Those tomatoes were from farms in the DMV, not us.) But I was too busy managing the table to pay close attention to the experience of eating each variety. I will say that I like the 'Citrine' tomatoes' combination of lightly sweet with a touch of sour, and there's that satisfying snap that all fresh cherry tomatoes have when you bite into them.
What are you growing and harvesting in your garden this week?
About the Author: Maya Hand was an intern with Washington Gardener Magazine this summer 2026 session.
About Fenton Friday: Every Friday during the growing season, I'll be giving you an update on my community garden plot at the Fenton Street Community Garden just across the street from my house in zone 7 Mid-Atlantic MD/DC border. I'm plot #16. It is a 10 ft x 20 ft space and this is our 15th year in the garden. (It opened in May 2011.) See past posts about our edible garden by putting "Fenton" into the Search box above (at the top, left on this blog).
Guest Blog by Koree Perry
As a summer 2026 intern for Washington Gardener Magazine, I had the pleasure of growing ‘Puerto Rican Everbrush’ okra (while also failing to grow nasturtium flowers as my chosen pollinator plant). Throughout the entire internship, I tended to multiple plants at the community garden where we were growing things, but growing okra with my own hands was one of the most rewarding experiences I’ve had in my life!
I have never been a green thumb. To be completely honest, there were times when I was a child that I didn’t even like being outside, either because of the weather or bugs or not liking dirt on my hands. Throughout this internship, however, I’ve grown an appreciation for gardening and learning how to navigate a garden. The first few weeks showed me that the nasturtium seeds, for whatever reason, were not going to come up. I was a bit sad since I was excited to grow my own flowers, but I stuck through with my okra! I didn’t realize how quickly they would grow, nor did I realize how tall they would get. By the end of June, they were already nice and leafy.
While growing the okra, my main tasks after first planting were weeding and watering. They weren’t difficult plants to grow by any means, but weeds loved to sprout near them or wrap around them. At first, our editor-in-chief Kathy Jentz showed me how to make the most of my okra seeds by planting at least three seeds in five different holes. When the okra came up through the ground, I cut out the other two seedlings that grew from each group in order to let the strongest-looking ones have the best chance for full growth. Week after week, I pulled weeds and vines away from trying to strangle my okra until they plants reach over three feet in height!
As the okra pods began to form on the plants, they became incredibly long! Before this internship, I had only ever seen okra that was about the size of my palm, but the okra that I grew had gotten bigger and bigger by the week. At the end of my internship, we entered it into the Montgomery County Agricultural Fair where it placed fourth overall!
What are you growing and harvesting in your garden this week?
About the Author: Koree Perry is an intern with Washington Gardener Magazine this summer 2026 session and is a Baltimore native.
About Fenton Friday: Every Friday during the growing season, I'll be giving you an update on my community garden plot at the Fenton Street Community Garden just across the street from my house in zone 7 Mid-Atlantic MD/DC border. I'm plot #16. It is a 10 ft x 20 ft space and this is our 15th year in the garden. (It opened in May 2011.) See past posts about our edible garden by putting "Fenton" into the Search box above (at the top, left on this blog).
Greetings, readers and listeners! My name is Maya Hand (pictured above, at right). I am a rising senior journalism major at the University of Maryland in the Philip Merrill College of Journalism. I am minoring in science, technology, ethics and policy. I want to be a science communicator, doing science writing as well as formats like podcast and video. I have contributed as a science writer to UMD’s College of Computer, Mathematical and Natural Sciences (CMNS) News site. I have also written and produced an audio package for WMUC News, UMD’s student-led radio. I am about to depart for a two-week study abroad program in Tanzania, where I will collaborate with students from UMD and the University of Dar es Salaam to create a broadcast about Dar es Salaam’s youth-led innovations against climate change.
I enjoy dancing, listening to podcasts, hiking, and eating international cuisines! I am excited to join the Washington Gardener magazine. I look forward to learning more about gardening and getting to engage with the local gardening community!
Hello everyone! My name is Koree Perry (pictured above, on left) and I am a senior studying Multi-Platform Journalism Philip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland College Park, and I will be one of two of the interns this summer for Washington Gardener Magazine. I’m a native of Baltimore City, MD, and while I’m a beginner at all things gardening, I’m excited to learn and write this summer! I was a freelance writer and copy editor for Her Campus, a Gen Z lifestyle publication on campus, as well as the historian for the Maryland Association of Black Journalists for the 2025-2026 term.
Outside of my time with Washington Gardener, I love to cook, read, and write fiction (I’m currently working on writing my first book)! I’m excited to be apart of this wonderful magazine and able to write meaning stories about gardening for you all to hopefully enjoy!
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| Deer Tongue Lettuce (and Dill seedlings) |
Guest Post By Aicha Bangoura
With so many seed choices available at the annual Washington
Gardener Seed Exchange events this year, I was stumped on what I could
grow. I went with Lettuce and I didn't know whether or not I was setting
myself up for failure. I was tasked with planting four kinds of lettuce. A
couple of them were packaged for 2024 and were most likely not going to
germinate, but we thought they were worth a try.
I was interested when I read the names: Deer Tongue Lettuce,
‘Queen of Crunch’ Crisphead Lettuce, Oakleaf lettuce, and ‘Monet's Garden
Mesclun’ Signature Salads lettuce. It seemed like such a diverse range of seeds
to work with, but I would soon find out how some of them shared similar
qualities.
When we went over to the Fenton Community Garden in early
March, I was ready for an adventure.
I had my four popsicle sticks that listed each lettuce name
and scattered the seeds into their own rows. That was the easy part with the
assistance of Kathy Jentz, editor of Washington Gardener.
I wasn’t as confident when I was covering it up with
compost, because I was unsure of how deep the seeds should be plants, so I did
a very light dusting.
We notice baby rabbits that would run around the garden and
while common and oftentimes startling, those were memorable moments. When my
section was shielded with hardware cloth fencing material along with a
covercloth material overhead by Kathy, I felt the seeds would have a greater
chance of growing successfully.
A couple weeks later, I found out my lettuce seeds weren’t
developing as expected and there were barely signs of baby lettuces, but we
decided to give them a chance and wait for any possible changes. Unfortunately,
not much of a difference showed, especially for Oakleaf Lettuce and ‘Queen of
Crunch’ Crisphead Lettuce, so Kathy recommended that I replace them.
On April 3, ‘Queen of Crunch’ Crisphead Lettuce was
substituted to Blossomdale Spinach seeds and Oakleaf Lettuce was switched out
to arugula seeds.
Checking on the plots was always a new journey as there were
several duties that we had to handle. Weeds were constantly encroaching on
my vegetables and we had to diligently get rid of them.
By the end of April, I was pleased to notice my Deer Tongue
lettuce was growing taller. This reminded me of my science class days,
examining seeds and waiting for them to grow, but this was even more
substantial in the garden plot.
When we attended the Cathedral FlowerMart in Washington, DC,
on May 1, Kathy informed me that my lettuce was around one or two inches and at
the stage where I could eat them, but she suggested we let them develop a bit
more before I cut them, which I thought was a good idea.
At our final gathering on May 8, I harvested practically all
of my Deer Tongue lettuce with the use of clean kitchen scissors and placed
them into a handy ziploc bag. I was also surprised when Kathy pointed out that
there were some Arugula leaves growing nearby that I also collected.
In all, this activity challenged me. I came into it
relatively unseasoned, but I ended up restoring an admiration of gardening and
learned helpful lessons.
See last week's post about what my fellow intern, Lauren Bentley, grew this semester.
What are you growing and harvesting in your garden this week?
About Fenton Friday: Every Friday during the growing season, I'll be giving you an update on my community garden plot at the Fenton Street Community Garden just across the street from my house in zone 7 Mid-Atlantic MD/DC border. I'm plot #16. It is a 10 ft x 20 ft space and this is our 15th year in the garden. (It opened in May 2011.) See past posts about our edible garden by putting "Fenton" into the Search box above (at the top, left on this blog).
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| 'Rubybor' Kale by Lauren Bentley |
Guest Post By Lauren Bentley
Throughout my time at the Fenton Community Plot, I grew two rows of kale. I started them from seed in mid-March. One row was purple kale 'Rubybor' (an All-American Selections winner), while the other was a more traditional green variety -- 'Dwarf Blue Curled Vates'. Given the harsh winter, it was good to pick a cold-weather crop.
I have limited experience with gardening, so I was a little apprehensive that I wouldn’t know exactly what to do, but it was much easier than I thought!
Also, when I have grown something in the past, it has mostly been flowers. I have never had to grow a vegetable to harvest, so I was very excited about seeing the end result.
Over
the past few months, there has been very inconsistent weather, which made me
worried about how well the kale would sprout. There were a few very hot, 90
degree days, which were the biggest concern. However, the kale ultimately
persevered and turned out very well. We put a covercloth over it to insulate from the freezing nights and the hottest days, as well as to keep the insects from chewing on it.
'Dwarf Blue Curled Vates' Kale by Lauren Bentley
I started to see small leaves after about the first two weeks. I watered on Fridays when I made it down to the plot. When I first spread the seeds, I put a few of them too close together which meant I had to do some thinning throughout the gardening process.
We also did some other work while at the plots, such as decorating the bulletin boards and spreading new woodchips along the garden path in the meantime.
Today, I officially harvested the kale and left with a bag of it. The traditional green kale turned out much better than the purple one, as the leaves were bigger and seemed healthier.
Also, one of the purple kale plants was missing, so I think it might’ve been eaten by an animal (rabbit?). Overall, I’m very happy with how my planting experience turned out.
Kale was a fantastic beginner crop for me, and I highly recommend trying it for anyone who is just beginning their gardening journey, especially in the winter.
What are you growing and harvesting in your garden this week?
About Fenton Friday: Every Friday during the growing season, I'll be giving you an update on my community garden plot at the Fenton Street Community Garden just across the street from my house in zone 7 Mid-Atlantic MD/DC border. I'm plot #16. It is a 10 ft x 20 ft space and this is our 15th year in the garden. (It opened in May 2011.) See past posts about our edible garden by putting "Fenton" into the Search box above (at the top, left on this blog).
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| Cilanto 'Moroccan' at left and 'Slow Bolt' on the right. |
Guest post by Cavit Ireland
This season, we learned about a tale of two cilantros. One, a traditional cilantro–one we noted as the “regular” kind, and a variety of 'Moroccan' cilantro. We grew them side-by-side and under the same conditions, the regular cilantro’s growth responded quite differently to that of the 'Moroccan' variety. The experiment was a fascinating comparison of two kinds of the same plant.
The 'Moroccan' cilantro sprouted quickly and confidently. Within a week the seedlings germinating, the plants stood a few inches above the soil, while the regular cilantro seeds lay dormant. Soon enough, the 'Moroccan' patch was densely covered with a tiny blanket of green foliage. The germination rate was high, leaving very few bare spots between the seedlings. They grew in aggressively and filled in as leafy bunches that looked like they were almost ready to harvest before the regular cilantro made much progress at all.
When it finally emerged, the regular cilantro grew in more scattered bunches, slowly making space for itself. The thin row faced also more weeds than the 'Moroccan' cilantro. The leaves were slightly thinner and bunches grew less dense. It seemed to grow with restraint like a slow unfolding, unlike the 'Moroccan' cilantro’s burst of life.
Such characteristics carried over from the garden into the kitchen. I put both to the ultimate test: Taco Tuesday. Deeply fragrant with powerful flavor, the 'Moroccan' cilantro cut through the other foods and came out strong. While the regular cilantro had a similar scent to its counterpart, it brought a gentler taste to the table. It was a subtle boost, blending with the dish quite nicely.
Growing these varieties of cilantro next to each other showed me how the same herb can behave differently. The 'Moroccan' cilantro was bold and eager, while the regular cilantro took its time and refined its taste. It also goes to show that small differences can completely transform a meal.
What are you growing in your edible garden this week?
About the Author: Cavit Ireland is an intern this fall semester with Washington Gardener. He is a rising senior at the University of Maryland studying journalism and hosts Sonic Fruit, a weekly music program on WMUC 90.5.
About Fenton Friday: Every Friday during the growing season, I'll be giving you an update on my community garden plot at the Fenton Street Community Garden just across the street from my house in zone 7 Mid-Atlantic MD/DC border. I'm plot #16. It is a 10 ft x 20 ft space and this is our 14th year in the garden. (It opened in May 2011.) See past posts about our edible garden by putting "Fenton" into the Search box above (at the top, left on this blog).
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| Colin Davan and cucumbers. Photo by Ian Ferris. |
Guest Blog by Colin Davan
With a pile of seeds spread across the table, I was left with some tough decisions. After my fellow summer interns Miguel and Ian had picked their tomatoes and peppers, I was tasked with four seed packs: two kinds of cucumbers and two types of zucchini plants.
However, these were not just any vegetable plants. Each brought their own unique challenges and tasks. Starting with the cucumbers, I had one pack of Slicing Cucumber and another of Japanese Climbing Cucumber, which required a tomato cage surrounding it, hence the name.
Moving to the zucchini, I was in charge of the Nimba Squash Zucchini and Dark Star Zucchini.
The summer plot got off to a hot start with
Miguel and Ian planting their tomato and pepper seedlings. In my first week, I spent my
time thoroughly weeding and clearing out the section of the plot I was given.
Since these vegetable plants required so much space, I delayed my seed sowing until
the second week.
After returning the following week, a glimpse of success began to push out from the mounds. Small green seedlings had begun to arise with a few pesky weeds around them. I tended to my four small mounds and returned the following week.
When I returned, I saw an increase in seedlings
that were beginning to flourish. Both of the cucumber plant mounds exploded as each
had several small seedlings that I would eventually thin down to two
each. However, I was not seeing close to the same progress with my zucchini
plants.
Photos from top down: Thriving 'Nimba' Squash Zucchini, Climbing Cucumbers, and failed 'Dark Star' Zucchini.
I would come to find later on that my zucchini plants would ultimately give me problems all summer. The Dark Star never produced a seedling and the Nimba Squash grew much more slowly than my cucumbers. However, that did not deter my garden grind. We planted a different zucchini squash variety (' Zucchini 'Black Beauty') in Dark Star's former spot and gave extra care to my zucchini each week.
As the blazing hot weeks in the garden went on, my Nimba Squash and both cucumbers would grow at exponential rates. Powerful rainstorms all throughout July, hot sunny days, and a little bit of fish fertilizer created the perfect mix for results.
By late July and early August, I had begun to see flowers and small cucumbers, but no actual zucchini yet. A bit of concern began to creep in as the deadline for submissions in the Montgomery County Fair was quickly approaching, and I did not have enough similar-looking cucumbers or zucchini ready to submit an entry.
I was able to harvest many cucumbers from my Japanese Climbing plant and ended up submitting them to the DC State Fair (results below*). While the zucchini plants struggled, I was able to get a nice zucchini, which I used in a chocolate zucchini cake. (Thanks Kathy for the recipe!)
At the end of my Fenton journey, I realized this experience was not only about producing cucumbers and zucchini, but also of overcoming obstacles and strengthening my patience. I am so incredibly grateful for the opportunity with the Washington Gardener Magazine this summer, as I got to enhance my journalistic skills while also being on the Fenton plot working in a nice community garden.
The cucumber won first place! See the results at https://www.dcstatefair.org/2025-contest-results.
About the Author:
Colin Davan is an intern this summer session with Washington Gardener. He is a rising senior at the American University in Washington, DC, studying journalism with a minor in history. He grew up just outside of Boston in two towns (Hopkinton and Framingham), both with backyards always filled with a wide variety of flowers, herbs, vegetables, and fruits.
In this special 250th episode of GardenDC: The Podcast about Mid-Atlantic Gardening, I let the interns take over the show and ask me their gardening questions. I share my best garden tips and hacks for solving problems ranging from pruning hydrangea to choosing organic fertilizers. This episode was also videoed so you can watch it on YouTube and other platforms that offer video podcasts.
If you liked this episode, you may also enjoy listening
to:
~ GardenDC Podcast Episode 100: Behind the Scenes
https://washingtongardener.blogspot.com/2022/04/gardendc-podcast-episode-100-behind.html
~ GardenDC Podcast Episode 200: Secrets of a Gardening
Podcast
https://washingtongardener.blogspot.com/2024/06/gardendc-podcast-episode-200-secrets-of.html
~ GardenDC Podcast Episode 142: Hydrangea Care and
Pruning
https://washingtongardener.blogspot.com/2023/03/gardendc-podcast-episode-142-hydrangea.html
~ GardenDC Podcast Episode 51: Companion Planting
Strategies
https://washingtongardener.blogspot.com/2021/03/gardendc-podcast-episode-51-companion.html
BTW, YOU can become a listener supporter/subscriber at: https://creators.spotify.com/pod/show/gardendc/subscribe
Visit https://shop.kathyjentz.com/ to browse our new online
store!
This episode is archived at: https://open.spotify.com/episode/3CauHImB6havSOafQqiyPY?si=WPOBR8BmTECiuY6IB5PQrA
Show Notes will be posted after 8-5-2025.
The holiday season is here and I bet you have a gardener on your gift list, so we've updated our annual Holiday Gifts for Gardeners ...
