Monthly News for Gardeners
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News and events for gardeners from Penobscot, Piscataquis, and Somerset Counties from University of Maine Cooperative Extension, Soil and Water Conservation Districts, Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation, and Forestry, Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association, and other trusted partners |
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June 2022
Fellow gardeners of Central Maine,
Yours,
Donna, Kate, and Laurie
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Four Steps to Making Your Landscape Pollinator-Friendly |
By Laurie Bowen, Community Education Assistant Penobscot and Piscataquis County
This is the time of year when we eagerly search for new blooms in our gardens, forests, and fields, and we are not the only ones! Our gardening colleagues, the pollinators, are savoring them too. How important is it for pollinators to have those blooms? After a long winter, pollen and nectar resources are essential for their continued survival. In turn, pollinators play a crucial role in ensuring that countless flowering plants are able to propagate themselves by seed and, for us, they play a key role in the development of many of our food crops. In fact, most of our vitamins and minerals are derived from insect-pollinated plants. It’s estimated that one in three mouthfuls of food and drink we consume are thanks to pollinators.
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A Gardener’s Balancing Act: Encouraging Pollinators and Managing Ticks |
By Lynne Holland, UMaine Horticulture and Social Media Professional and collaborators noted below.
June is National Pollinator Month and pollinator-friendly garden practices are becoming more important as their populations continue to decline. It is also when people are spending more time outside and are concerned about tick exposure for themselves and their animals. However, being pollinator-friendly also means being insect-friendly, so when you create a good habitat for pollinators have you also created a tick haven? It’s a complicated question, so we asked some Cooperative Extension experts from Maine and New Hampshire:
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Strawberry season is here! To preserve your harvest of strawberries, UMaine Cooperative Extension Bulletin #4047 has instructions as well as recipes for strawberry jam as well as strawberry-rhubarb jelly. If you prefer a video How to Freeze Strawberries is available for viewing.
If you are looking for farms that will have these delicious treats then check the UMaine Cooperative Extension interactive Farm Directory
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June Maine Garden Harvest Guide
By Abigail Griffith, Community Education Assistant; David Handley, Small Fruit Specialist, and Kate Garland, Horticulture Professional
Reviewed by: Naomi Jacobs, Master Gardener Volunteer
Harvesting produce at its peak is the best way to achieve optimal flavor, shelf life, and overall quality. Additionally, many crops have improved yields if harvested in a timely manner. Determining the best time to harvest produce is not always intuitive, but can be simple with a little guidance. This season, we’ll offer practical crop-specific harvest tips for the home gardener each month. Additional growing information can be found in the resources linked to certain crops.
Asparagus: If you planted crowns this year, wait until the second year to harvest. Harvest spears when they reach 6 to 8 inches. Harvest all of them, even the skinny ones. Cut the spears at or just below the soil line. You can harvest every one to three days, depending on the temperature. It is recommended that you harvest for two weeks in the first harvest year, three weeks in the second harvest year, and four weeks in the third. In Maine, don’t harvest after about June 15th. These practices will promote fern growth that supports strong crowns and buds for next year’s crop. For more information see Bulletin #2071: Growing Asparagus in Maine.
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Learn To Love Pollinators |
4H Summer Learning Series
Open to all youth ages 9 & up
Maximum 15 attendees
Do you like insects? Do you like to explore gardens, meadows, and things that grow? Join this workshop series to learn more about pollinators, and how and why they are important. Each week we will explore something new related to Maine’s pollinators. Activities will include building a pollinating bee, building a nest for native bees, and more. Materials will be provided and mailed to participants. Some gathering of items from outdoors will be required to participate. Deadline to register: June 22.
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Northern Flicker
By Doug Hitchcox, Maine Audobon Staff Naturalist
Photo credit: Doug Hitchcox, Maine Audubon Staff Naturalist
Perhaps one of the most striking North American woodpeckers, the Northern Flicker is a year-round resident of Maine woodlands, and as temperatures rise you can expect to come across this bird more frequently. Flickers spend most of their time foraging for ants and beetles, fitting their specially-adapted curved bill into hard-to-reach spots. This distinctly patterned woodpecker has a polka-dot covered breast with notable black and red shapes around its face and chest. The Northern Flicker uses drumming (a mechanical noise) instead of vocalizing to proclaim its territory, a common behavior amongst woodpeckers. Woodpeckers will find objects to drum on that will create the loudest noise possible, usually a hollow dead tree, but sometimes metal signs or telephone poles. If it has discovered the right material, a flicker can be heard from at least half a mile away.
For more on the importance of Maine native plants to support birds and other wildlife, visit Maine Audubon’s “Bringing Nature Home” webpage.
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Resources to Meet Your Needs
Timely UMaine Extension Publications
- Webinars & Videos
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Garden Chats: Growing Resilience From the Ground Up- You may have missed the live Zoom presentations, but we've rounded up fact sheets for each week's discussion for your reference
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Victory Garden for ME series: videos for first time vegetable gardeners
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Growing Maine Gardeners: An initiative led by UMaine Extension’s Home Horticulture team to address the increased demand for gardening education throughout the state of Maine and to provide additional support for beginner gardeners.
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Free Distance Nutrition Education Classes through UMaine Extension Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program is free to income eligible adults with children or your adults and if you are eligible for programs such as SNAP, WIC, or Head Start.
- Other
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Garden Mentorship Program: direct technical assistance and encouragement via phone or email throughout the season from trained Master Gardener Volunteers
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Maine Farm Products and Pick-Up Directory: The directory provides information on available local farm products and alternative pick-up options developed by farmers statewide to accommodate the recommended social distancing in light of COVID-19.
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Learn at Home: Educational Resources to Use During School Closures: From science to financial literacy, whether for toddlers or teenagers, we encourage you to take advantage of these activity books, guides, and other resources to help children remain engaged in educational experiences throughout their school closure.
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Learn at Home with 4-H Friday Fun! Each Friday, watch for a new hands-on activity that you can try out with simple materials you have at home. Watch a short video clip to see how it’s done or download our 4-H Learn from Home activity sheets. Each activity outlines materials needed, easy-to-follow instructions, reflection questions for discussion and activity extensions.
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Social Media: Many of our staff are stepping up efforts to communicate to audiences via social media. For example, see Rogers Farm Demonstration Garden’s short educational Facebook videos (also on Instagram).
Traditional Services Being Offered in New Ways
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Identifying insect pests: Charley Armstrong, will identify pest samples via images. See instructions for submitting an insect specimen.
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Identifying plant diseases: Dr. Alicyn Smart will identify plant disease samples via images. See instructions for submitting a sample.
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Tick testing: Ticks are being tested on a limited basis. See instructions for submitting a tick sample.
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Publication orders: We are still processing orders from our publication catalog, including pesticide application training materials.
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Soil testing: The Analytical Lab and Maine Soil Testing Service remains open and is taking samples with a priority on commercial samples. If you need to drop off a sample, you can place it in the box outside of Deering Hall; do NOT enter the building.
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General gardening questions: Contact your county office. Emails are preferred. If it’s necessary to leave a voicemail, please leave your email address (if available) or a mailing address in addition to your phone number.
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Extension Programs in other states:
If you find a great program when you're poking around online, let me know so I can share with your fellow gardeners: donna.coffin@maine.edu
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Garden Organizations and Allies
Click the links to learn more, find a chapter near you, and get involved.
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Master Gardener Volunteers
Guidelines for Master Gardener Volunteers (Updated 6/8/21):
Reminder for MGV
Check out Kate Garland's information about the "Take Five" Winter Walk Series for Master Gardeners starting in January that was sent to MGVs in a separate email.
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Mission
The University of Maine Cooperative Extension is the major educational outreach program of the University of Maine with offices statewide. UMaine Extension provides Maine people with research-based educational programs to help them live fuller, more productive lives.
Mention or display of a trademark, proprietary product, or firm in text or figures does not constitute an endorsement and does not imply approval to the exclusion of other suitable products or firms.
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The goal of the Central Maine Gardening Newsletter is to connect gardeners with resources and events that encourage and inform.
Quick Links
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Local Weather Anytime
Most outdoor activities are driven by the weather. Our local National Weather Service in Caribou has meteorologists on staff 24 hours a day. They are willing to talk with you about predictions for your town. Give them a call at 492-0180. Or check out their online detailed maps at http://www.weather.gov/car/.
Need Pesticide Credits?
Interested in Volunteering with UMaine Extension?
Nearly 8,000 volunteers devoted more than 150,000 hours to their communities last year through the University of Maine Cooperative Extension! Look around our
Photos: Edwin Remsberg, Donna Coffin, or Laurie Bowen unless other listed.
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Contributors
Donna Coffin, Extension Professor
Kate Garland, Extension Horticulturist
Laurie Bowen, Food Systems Program Assistant
The goal of the Central Maine Gardening Newsletter is to connect gardeners with resources and events that encourage and inform.
The University of Maine does not discriminate on the grounds of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, including transgender status and gender expression, national origin, citizenship status, age, disability, genetic information or veteran status in employment, education, and all other programs and activities. The following person has been designated to handle inquiries regarding non-discrimination policies: Director, Office of Equal Opportunity, 101 North Stevens Hall, 207.581.1226.
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Piscataquis County Office |
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Open Monday - Friday 8 am to 4:30 pm
307 Maine Ave Bangor, ME 04401 207.942.7396 or 800.287.1485
Piscataquis County Office - website
Open Monday, Thursday, Friday 8 am to 4:30 pm
165 East Main St Dover-Foxcroft, ME 04426 207.564.3301 or 800.287.1491
7 County Drive Skowhegan, Maine 04976-4209
Tel: 207.474.9622 or 1.800.287.1495 (in Maine)
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