Maine
Master Gardener News
A
Newsletter for Maine Master Gardener Volunteers
Projects Highlighted
by Casey Bowie,
Extension Agriculture
Program Aide II
Where exactly is Fort Kent Maine? The clearest
answer without being too ostentatious is, it’s just
about as far north as you can drive your vehicle, where the pavement ends and
meets the St. John River which forms the natural border between
A short distance from the Fort Kent Cooperative
Extension office at the
Johnny’s Selected Seed’s donated a majority of
the seeds used to plant in the raised beds. Pelletier Florist and Greenhouse
donated a variety of vegetable transplants. The
Aroostook Master Gardener
Volunteers were participants in Plant a Row for the Hungry in 2006. All produce
grown at the
The
(a one day program with concurrent sessions where various gardening practices
were demonstrated), Master Gardeners presented educational talks on making
herbal tea, edible flowers, the art of Bonsai and creating garden gadgets. This
was the first year for the event, held on Saturday, September 16, 2006.
Six Master Gardeners received
their certificates during Demonstration Garden Day.
The first year of the demonstration garden projects proved to be a
successful one. Plans are currently underway to incorporate a children’s
gardening curriculum into the demonstration garden in 2007.
Maine Master Gardener
Publishes Gardening Book!
Liz Stanley, Home Horticulture
Program Aide, Knox,
In her new book, The Spare-Time Gardener,
Lincoln County Master Gardener Barbara Hill Freeman mixes practical advice with
a way to look at gardening, a philosophy that says that it's okay to do things
in stages, and that we don't need to achieve "the perfect landscape."
"Writing this book was an incredibly
interesting experience, but it took quite a while because I had to do it in my own
spare time," says Barbara, who works as Director of Communications at Coastal Maine Botanical
Gardens in Boothbay. "I've been thrilled with the response by readers and
gardeners at all levels of expertise, from people who are just getting started
to others who are respected horticulturists. What makes me happiest is that
they say it's fun to read."
With chapters like "The Good Gardener vs.
The Bad Seed," "Latin in the Landscape - Putting in a Good Word for a Dead
Language," and "Gnomes We've Known and Loved," Barbara takes
neither herself nor the subject too seriously. Nonetheless, she admits to
having strong views and offers them unapologetically.
In writing the book, she drew
on her experiences gardening on salt-sprayed ledge at her Boothbay Harbor home
and focused on the plants she grows (and hopes to grow) there. She advises
readers to participate in Master Gardener training and acknowledges how much
she learned from the program, which she took in the fall of 2003. Even with her
full-time job, writing, and the rigors of publishing, Barbara still manages to
contribute substantial volunteer time to her community.
The Spare-Time
Gardener is available in bookstores and botanical gardens across the country. It
received a favorable review in a recent issue of Horticulture magazine, and
soon after the book came out, Barbara was interviewed by Tom Atwell for an
article in the Maine Sunday Telegram. "The biggest surprise," she says, "was finding
it in the
New Extension
Publication
Adding a
Your Landscape
Bulletin # 2702
Price: $1.50
A rain garden is a depression
in the ground planted with water-loving native perennials and shrubs. Rain gardens help
protect the water quality in our lakes, streams, and rivers by reducing
polluted runoff. Learn how to plan for,
design, install, and maintain a rain garden on your property. Includes garden designs and plant lists.
(8 pages)
To order, visit the
Cooperative Extension Publications’ store site at:
http://extensionpubs.umext.maine.edu/
Vegetable
Varieties—Try Something New!
Mark Hutton, Vegetable
Specialist
Highmoor Farm, Monmouth
If you are like me, your mail box has been
filling-up with seed catalogs from your favorite suppliers. Now is the time to sit by the woodstove and
peruse the offerings of old favorites and new releases while dreaming of
spring. Oh, wait a minute - it isn’t
cold and it looks more like April than January, but we’ll all have to be
content to read the catalogs until spring truly arrives.
Perhaps you vowed to try something new in this
year’s garden and maybe I can help you with some ideas. Remember to only plant a few plants of any
new variety in the off chance you don’t like it, or it doesn’t perform as well
as your old stand-by.
Carrots
Purple Haze:
an All America Selection winner
in 2006. This is an Imperator type (tapers to a point) with a dark purple/red
exterior and orange center. Fair as a fresh eating carrot and very good
steamed, although the color fades with cooking.
Rainbow Mix: A nice looking mix of
white, yellow, and orange carrots. This
is something truly different to have in your harvest basket.
Cauliflower
Cheddar: If you like cauliflower you must try this orange
cultivar. For two years it has been the
hands down favorite here at Highmoor Farm. Plant in July in order to harvest in the fall
especially sweet flavor and brilliant color.
Peppers
Lipstick: This is a
fantastically sweet and tasty pimento shaped sweet pepper. Harvest it when the fruit are dark glossy red
for greatest sweetness.
Carmen: An All American
winner, developed at Johnny’s here in
Tiburon: This is perhaps my favorite pepper. Tiburon is a poblanos
type with medium
heat and good flavor. You can stuff it
and make chile rellenos,
roast them, or eat them fresh. You can
wait until they are fully mature, harvest and dry them then use to make mole
sauce.
Squash:
Sunray: This is a prolific
yellow summer squash with powdery mildew tolerance. It has great flavor.
Tomato:
Orange Blossom: This is an orange
fruited variety developed at the
Taxi: This yellow fruited
variety produces small to medium fruit that are meaty and sweet. Be careful with this one as the fruit get
over-mature. they become mealy.
Master
Gardener “Bright Ideas”
One of the best things you can do for your tomato
plants is to keep the soil around the plants covered during the growing season.
Soils contain the pathogens for Verticillum and Fusarium wilts, and keeping the soil covered prevents it
from splashing on the lower leaves, thus infecting the plants. If available,
grass clippings are a good choice for this purpose. They will also benefit your
plants by retaining soil moisture and preventing blossom end rot of the
fruit. I place newspapers (5 sheets
thick) down before applying the grass clippings as a mulch.
Norm Steele,
My garden is usually invaded
by deer, cats, dogs, children, woodchucks, squirrels, skunks, and/or even
a wandering moose. To address the problem last spring, I
purchased deer netting to surround my garden’s perimeter. This was a relatively simple and inexpensive solution. I
would recommend using 10’ cedar posts set at every 8 feet with unobtrusive deer
netting. The netting was practically invisible. It can be left up or taken down and stored
over the winter. I attached the netting
with fencing staples. I kept the netting
from sagging by weaving heavy fishing line through the netting and attached it
to the tops of the posts. This line
might be available at
a marine supply store (a fisherman gave me some). The most challenging part of the project for
me was digging the post holes. This past
summer, I had the best garden ever.
Diana Hibbard,
Bright Idea Editor,
UMCE
Place “Bright Idea” in
the subject line. If submitting an idea
by phone, 1-800-287-1471 (
24-7.
Knox-Lincoln and Waldo Extension News
The Belfast Garden Club will be starting weekly
planning "teas" this month. We’re getting into high gear to plan our
2nd annual Open Garden Days. This involves scheduling about
four months of one-day garden tours, one or two each week, from May into
September. Last year it was a great attraction because so many of the locations
were at homes inside our bypass or downtown. This area also contains a couple
of "museum in the street" sites, which are popular walking tours. I
certainly hope that any of you Master Gardeners visiting
The BGC will be receiving a grant in the spring for
a special one-time project. This grant was awarded in large part due to the
club’s impressive work and volunteerism.
So, you see, civic beautification is now generating its own rewards, by
tying together all the things that make
A future project for
Since city beautification is on such a good roll,
I think Master Gardeners should consider volunteering at the Troy Howard
Middle School. They deserve and really need the help. They will be having a
planning meeting this spring and Extension will send the word out as soon as
possible. Giving your time to Troy Howard’s garden project triples your
volunteer power – you help the school, the kids, and bring the many life-long
benefits of gardening into their futures.
The City of
Pat Felton,
New Baby!
Congratulations to Elizabeth and Rob Iserbyt on the birth of their son on December 8th,
2006. Lieven Roland Iserbyt
waited until the first snow storm to arrive in emergency fashion….9 days late
and weighing 8 pounds, 13 ounces.
His mother says that he shares his birthday with
the likes of Jim Morrison, Sammy Davis, Jr., Eli Whitney, Diego Rivera, Gregg Allman, Sinead O’Connor and zillions of other artists and
scientists. Maybe he’ll be a great gardener, too.
Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens is committed to
the protection, preservation and enhancement of the botanical heritage of
coastal
through horticulture, education and research.
Working in small teams or individually,
volunteers care for and maintain one of several garden areas or trails,
performing vitally important work: weeding, deadheading, pruning, mulching and spiffing up garden beds, as well as trimming, grooming and
raking trails. CMBG’s expert staff will assist where
appropriate. The program relies on weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly commitments of
2-3 hours.
Flower Arranging
With the 2007 grand opening, the
Front Desk reception
This includes answering the telephone, greeting
visitors, and light data logging during once/week shifts from 11:00 a.m. to
1:00 p.m. or 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Special Events
Special events always need volunteers! Work on
any of the Gardens signature special events held throughout the year.
Especially needed are volunteers for summer events.
To learn more, contact:
CMBG’s Volunteer Coordinator
Amanda Russell 633-4333 arussell@mainegardens.org.
Are you interested in trees,
trails, birds, community gardens, feeding the hungry, beautification, access to
the water, and the general greening of
Mayor Mike Hurley is looking
for citizens, educators, volunteers and non-profit groups to attend and
participate in a public
GreenStreets forum about the city. Participants are
welcome to ask for a tabletop display, speak about their projects or visions
for the city, ask questions, bring posters and brochures, or just listen and
learn what’s going on.
The meeting is on Sunday,
March 4th
noon - 4 at the Belfast
Boathouse.
FMI or if you’d like to help
organize the meeting, contact Mike Hurley at 338-1975.
Master
Gardeners are Needed
at the
The
The MAG curriculum is at the printers and will be
distributed soon. It meshes with
Upcoming Events
January 27
Morris Farm Master Gardener
Project Planning Meeting
At the home of Kay Lieser
in Wiscasset:
882-9135
Feb 6 – 8
March 1 – 3
Ecological Landscaping
Conference
www.ecolandscaping.org
Sunday, March 4
Belfast Boathouse, noon – 4:00
Hear what’s happening to keep
FMI or to help, contact Mayor Mike Hurley
338-1975
March 8-11
“Gardens around the World”
www.portlandcompany.com/flower/Pages2006/Index%202006.htm
Tuesday, March 13
Annual Master Gardener Pot
Luck and Awards Dinner
6:00 – 8:30 pm at the Knox-Lincoln Extension office FMI or to
help:
Liz Stanley
800-244-2104 x 123 lstanley@umext.maine.edu
Saturdays March 10, 17, 24, 31
Advance Training in Pruning
Woody Landscape Plants
Classroom and hands-on practice on ornamental
trees and shrubs, fruit trees and small fruit -$70.00 fee includes textbook and
safety glasses
FMI:
800-287-1479
(Additional snow date: April 7)
March
17-25
New England Spring
Flower Show
Bayside
http://www.masshort.org/showpage2.asp?page=2_0
Saturday, March 31
Workshops on gardening and
healthy living
FMI and registration: Sonia
Antunes
800-287-1426
Saturday, April 14
Workshops for Master Gardeners
and the public,
FMI: Barb Murphy, Extension
Educator,
800-287-1482
Saturday, April 21 at 11:00
Pruning Lecture and
Demonstration
Renae Moran, Tree Fruit
Specialist
Highmoor Farm, Rt 202,
FMI: 933-2100 (Rain Date: April 22)
Watch your mailbox!
Master Gardeners in the 2006
class will be receiving a survey.
Help us evaluate our program and get a chance to win a $50.00 gift
certificate from L.L. Bean!
Jan 1 – March 15
Contact your local Extension
office for a box and form.
Need Seeds for a
school garden project or for PAR?
Thanks to an anonymous
donation, the Knox-Lincoln Extension office has seed kits with all the basics:
lettuce, cucumbers, carrots, squash, tomatoes, peppers, eggplant and even some
flowers!
FMI: Liz Stanley 800-244-2104 x 123 lstanley@umext.maine.edu
Knox-Lincoln Extension
1-800-244-2104 or
832-0343
Mark Hutchinson
Extension Educator
markh@umext.maine.edu
Liz Stanley
Horticulture Program Aide
lstanley@umext.maine.edu
1-800-287-1426 or
342-4229
Richard Kersbergen
Extension Educator
richardk@umext.maine.edu
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