I am still here too. Of course not much action going on outside, but the weather's been very mild for Dec., hoping it stays that way.

LRV, what kind of mushrooms do you grow?

Hi Robin and Veilchen, good to see you here.

I grow shitake mushrooms. Atleast for the past 4 years now. The same original oak logs have been producing each year for me. I just move them as need be, so the critters will leave them alone.

Robin do you have any articles on the web for review? I would enjoy seeing your work. Do you work with the government on agricultural projects? For some reason I thought you were an activist or worked with the gov on helping people in Maine with gardening/agricultural. Thqanks in advance for setting me straight.

Dan...the MOFGA in Barharbor meeting ...I didnt realize I missed that this year:( and yes, next year, I'll be there with bells on. Thanks for the info.

Hope everyone is doing well, I still have compost that I am trying to place over where the chickens have been scratching through and up my beds ( garlic bulbs and tulip bed!!)inbetween the thaws...too bad its raining today...I may decide to go out and give it a good hour anyways.

>>Robin do you have any articles on the web for review? I would enjoy seeing your work. Do you work with the government on agricultural projects? For some reason I thought you were an activist or worked with the gov on helping people in Maine with gardening/agricultural. Thqanks in advance for setting me straight.I have several articles in the link below. I don't work for the government but do work with them on some small things. I use FSA when I need them. My husband is chairman of the board of S&WC and the executive board of natural resources for the state. I do a lot of educational things here and visit other farms to help where I can but it's on my own. We do participate in Senior FarmShare and WIC FMNP. Those are gov't programs for low income seniors and young families.

I am kind of an activist. I'll talk to anyone who'll listen to me whether it be one person or 100 about the sad state of agriculture and our food supply, and how we're losing a little more control of what foods we have daily. And what we need to be doing to correct the disasters that have been made. And........anything else I can say before eyes start glazing over. I just took a public speaking course and made classmates sit through three agricultural speeches. =) One of the speeches has been turned into an article on buying locally - another topic I can talk all day about.

Is anyone going to the Ag Trade Show in Augusta in January? I'm still not sure which day I'm going but I'll be there. I need to look at the workshop schedule again before I make up my mind.

Here is a link that might be useful: Farm & Garden

I applaud you, Robin!! More people need to realize the importance of buying locally. Or growing their own.

Hey folks,

I'm writing from out on Vinalhaven Island where I've lived for the past 11 years fulltime. I'm a headhunter 9 to 5, but find that my obsession with organic farming and heirloom fruit trees has taking up more and more of my time over the past two years. I bought 10 1/2 acres of land in the town of Union back in 2003 and am in the process of establishing a small farm and orchard there. At some point in 2006, I will be selling my home on Vinalhaven and moving inland 20 miles so I can be on my land fulltime. It's tough being a weekend farmer, especially with the deer in this State! My plans are to have a mature and productive heirloom fruit orchard by the time I'm 50 (I'm 42 now) and to be running the orchard and farm fulltime and supporting myself from it exclusively. I have no idea how exhausting it will be to grow and maintain 2,500 fruit trees and a small organic farm, but I'm looking forward to the challenge. Sometimes it's best not to know the magnitude of what you're up against :)

Hi, everyone!

A soon (?) to be Maineiac.. does this count? I have been lurking on this forum in my spare time for almost 2 years, and I have always greatly enjoyed the 'informed' discussions on this forum (organic gardening, buying locally, Robin, conserving resources etc.. I am all behind you).

Anyway, after falling in love with Maine we decided to 'retire' there, and found a place just outside Rockland (from where you can get a ferry to Vinalhaven, lamb_abbey) at the end of August.. We hope to move there permanently this summer from Upstate New York. There is a lot of work to do on the house (actually, the work just started), and I will have a lot to do to restore the gardens (used to be gorgeous, everyone around says, but now 90% lawn).

I know I am going to re-think my gardening (on account of wildlife and wet ground), but I am looking forward to tackle this with your guidance.

Some of my battles...I transplanted some plants from my NY garden last September, labelled them... to find the labels dugged up and scattered around. Only the white ones... ??? We had so much rain in October that I stopped planting anything after that, as there was a "river" (I may exaggerate a little) running an inch below the surface of the ground... in some areas. With the cold/mild weather, freezing/thawing, heaving (I believe) happened, and some of my plants have been pushed up and have exposed roots.. Never saw that here (but the amount of water in the ground must be the explanation) So I just mulched as well as I could.

So, you see, I have a lot to learn. I probably should have been more patient and should have waited to plant anything until I had some understanding of the soil.

Anyway, we are very busy with the move, so, if you don't see me much on the forum, that's why.

Looking forward to our new place and exchanges on this forum.
Anne-Marie

Anne-Marie

Congratulations on your new home in Rockland. It's a sweet little town. When I moved to Vinalhaven from Chicago back in '94, Rockland was a totally different place. It's been quite nice to see the gentrification of Main Street and the addition of many new stores, museums, etc. I think MBNA money has had a big influence, although MBNA has since pulled out. The overhaul of The Strand theater on Main Street and the opening of the Atlantic Bakery have been wonderful. The one downside to Rockland as I see it is actually living there during the Lobster Festival. It's absolute chaos. At least you won't have to worry about a place to stay during that maddening week :)

What will you be doing to your gardens?

Anne-marie, this was the wettest fall on record. I am worried about some of my flower beds in the slow-draining areas. I guess we'll see how it all turns out come spring.

Hello LRV et al;
I am here but do not come to the website that often and have not spent anytime on this forum. When this forum first started I posted a "hello" and there was not much of an echo. It seems to be doing much better now. I was fascinated about your note LVR about growing mushrooms as one of the local nurseries had a sign out featuring portobello mushroom kits. I was going to post somewhere on the gw site to find out what anyone knew about them but if you are actually growing mushrooms, you can tell me what I need to know. I have an acre that is gardens and lawn close to the house and woods forming a ring around the perimeter of the property. One of the borders is very wet and there is usually running water when the weather is wet or spring thaw. Some is natural and some I believe comes from stormwater runoff. Is there an area where mushrooms would grow? Thanks for your help. diene

Sorry, I have been staying away from GW--I don't like the changes, and I have to log in (i.e. view those annoying pop-up ads first) every time I come to any forum..I just don't know if I can live with the new GW!!

Lamb_Abbey, my husband is from Chicago..LOL! Anyway, besides learning about the soil (especially the quality of the draining), I need to remove a lot of lawn (any suggestions?), and see what comes up from the old beds along beautiful rock walls. I got my seed order from Johnny's yesterday, so that should get me in the planning mood! There are 2 apple trees, but I am afraid they are in bad shape-one may be dead actually.

I worked one large (already existing) bed last fall so I could get my veggies started, but I will need to build a deer-proof fence, I think. I also started a few small beds in the lawn with newspapers, compost and leaves, but I don't know if these will be ready. Hopefully I can be there more permanently in June. By the way, I have NEVER seen so many slugs--just everywhere, and yet, the few plants there did not seem damaged. Maybe lawn is enough for them, but that will change with young seedlings, I'm sure.

Veilchen, everyone I talk to says it has been the worse year on record for rain. It is pretty obvious there is A LOT of water in the ground (it comes up in our basement as well!!!), so I can't wait to see what might survive. We'll have to start a new thread: what survived the wet fall and winter!

I am so anxious to start a garden and restore the beauty of the gardens that were there once, and at the same time I am sad about the one I'm leaving behind--although I'll divide many of my plants before leaving. Really hope the next owner will be (or will become) a gardener. Will need a lot of guidance--if I can live with the new GW!

Anne-Marie --soon to be a Mainer!

welcome Anne-Marie,and Lamb

I hear what you say about the new methods that we need to use on logging on and all the pop ups. Try this if you want to hang out with composters :
http://s14.invisionfree.com/The_Compost_Froup/index.php

I too miss the old garden web prior to last year, as I dont adjust to change as well as I use to and I find ivillage quite different in their orientation than what Spike was all about. Oh, the good ole days.

I am a snow bird now in Arizona and there is a drought going on, a record much like Maine is having but on the oppposite end of the spectrum.

Hi, all.

It's been awhile since I've checked in on the discussion. Today I was thinking of what first brought me to the Maine Gardening Forum: Chipmunks. These rascals are having a fine winter, so hopefully they won't be too ravenous as the frost comes out; hopefully, they will leave the bulbs alone! Last fall I did plant bulbs--I couldn't help it. I set some bulbs in appropriately sized plastic pots and cut hardware cloth to fit snugly over the tops of the pots. Where there was not room for pots, I set a piece of hardware cloth above where I'd planted the bulbs, and just below the soil. In the grand scheme of things, it seemed silly and awkward; but the folks I work for really appreciate these heralds of spring (and so do I).

I am finally finishing an undergrad degree (English) this spring (it's never too late) and am looking forward to becoming more involved in landscape gardening for others. I guess this tags me as Garrison Keillor's idea of the quintessential English major. I anticipate reciting Shakespeare and Wordsworth to encourage bloom, and Henry James to discourage chipmunks.

Currently, my dog and I work solo, tending three largish gardens in the Rockland area. Apart from my steady gardens, I pick up various jobs as I can, and especially like working for older folks. I've been staying busy enough pruning shrubs and roses; what a wonderful winter for pruning it has been.

I am grateful to those on this forum for sharing their experiences.

Maureen

Hey everyone,
Just checking in. Haven't visited in awhile. I somehow got hooked on That Home Site. Hope your all doing well. See you in the spring!! Can you imagine how many slugs there will be this year? Ugh.....
lori

Sorry I'm so late posting.
Haven't checked in with Garden web in quite a while until yesterday and found myself checking out Tomatoville, instead. I'm 6 miles west of Rockland and 8 east of Union in west Rockport, work in Rockland for one of my jobs. By my 'handle' here, one of my interests is in heirloom tomatoes and other'native' seed growing and saving. We got our first real perennial beds in last year after five years at this location. Sell heirloom tomato and assorted other veg and herbs plants from home to help pay for my addiction to trying 'new' varieties. Would really like to participate in some plant exchanges, if we can coordinate times and some dates. Sharon

Maineiacs? You have no idea how this moniker just tickles me, as generally the folks "from away" use the term. I'm not a Maineiac. Alas, I'm a fifth generation Native. Speaking for other gardening Natives (40 plus years for me)I'm happy to see so many new Mainers getting their hands in the dirt. Gardening here is a challenge, but there is nothing like those few glorious months between mud and leaf peeper seasons when there truly is no place like home.

If you are new to gardening here, don't get discouraged! The trick here is to be patient and look around at old gardens in your area to see what is truly winter hardy. I prefer old fashioned flower varities to their overly hybridized progeny not only for their hardiness but for their more graceful form and more generous scent and particularly Old Garden Roses.

Hey Mainetomato, my favorite so far is Brandywine. The only drawback is the lumpy bumpy shape, but the taste is
amazing. What's you're favorite?

Oldmainegurl,

Burpee has an improved hybrid Brandywine called Brandy Boy. I grew it last year and it was the best tasting tomato in my tomato patch. As the catalog says, it has several improvements over Brandywine. It has a lot, if not all, of the Brandywine flavor and isn't as bumpy as Brandywine, although it was still the bumpiest of the tomatoes I grew and somewhat more lobed than Burpee's picture. However, I'll be growing it again this year, along with several other varieties.

MM

I'm a brand newbie here. Looking forward to learning from all of you and potentially sharing if I have anything important or relevant to add!

Hi everyone,

I'm from Belfast, moved here 12 years ago. I grow veggies and flowers, kill roses(unintentionally) and slugs(intentionally). I've been gardening 20 years.

My veg garden is all ready for spring-for once I prepared it in the fall. I had some trees taken down that were spoiling the garden with shade, so I am anticipating a good summer. It is 15x60, with raspberries at one end. My garden is organic. I am an enthusiastic composter.

Hi, folks,

I live in Arrowsic (near Bath). I am an organic landscaper. I have been neglecting GW lately, due to the changes mentioned by others. I do relatively little gardening for myself, as the house renovations are not completed yet, and I am always so busy taking care of my client's gardens, but boy do I have big plans for the future!

For those in the general area of Sagadahoc county, there is an active local chapter of MOFGA here. We meet once a month for a potluck dinner and some sort of educational presentation, tour, or activity. I would be happy to provide more info if requested.

Think Spring!

Hello!

I live in South Gardiner, and mostly just lurk on GW. I've got a 25x25 garden which I will probably overplant, plus my husband tilled up a big perennial/herb bed. I planted a whole bunch of bulbs this past fall, and in the most protected southern exposure area, the tulips and daffodils are already coming up, and the crocuses are blooming. Hooray for spring!

I just joined GW and am just getting my bearings. I live in Chelsea, just east of Augusta. We just built a small home in the woods and I have gotten two small gardens finished, one is perennials and the other an herb garden. This year I hope to start on an impossible banking in front of the house made by the bulldozer that put in our well. Thank goodness there are hundreds of rocks around! Looking forward to getting ideas and imput from you folks.

Just came back to the garden web after an 8 year "leave". I'm glad and amazed to see all the new forums including this one. I live in Augusta and I grow veg., perennials (hostas are a favorite),mushrooms, fruit trees, evergreens and just about anything unusual. I have many perennials from the exchange forum. I think I have a plant from just about every state in the lower 48. I've met a lot of good people on this site. I'm working on getting "my page" up soon. Hope to talk plants with you soon. Ken

MaineMagic,

"This year I hope to start on an impossible banking in front of the house made by the bulldozer that put in our well."

Could you tell us a little more about that problem? Is it just a mound of earth that needs to be levelled, or is it an unavoidable slope that you need to plant on?

MM

I posted on one of the earlier Roll Call threads but this seems to have become as much of a chatting thread as anything, so ... just wanted to second lilyroseviolet's comment of "If there are any get togethers in Maine for seed/plant trades please let me know." I moved here at the end of August and am so loving being in Maine but remembering plant swaps upped the list of "what I miss from where I lived before" to 4 things from the previous 3. The Mid-Atlantic group has the most fantastic swaps, and I benefitted so much from them - getting tons of new plants and also having the opportunity to pass along things I had too much of to people who actually wanted them instead of just murdering those plants (not something I like to do, even to thuggish plants!). Any chance of there being a spring swap somewhere in the Bangor/Ellsworth/MDI sort of area? (unfortunately, i don't have a suitable place to host one...)? I think I'd only have seeds and maybe (hopefully) some wintersown seedlings to offer this year, also, (or spruce and fir saplings by the zillion but they probably don't transplant and probably aren't in short supply anywhere around here) but maybe more in the future ...

also, another question - when might spring wildflowers start to appear in the Ellsworth/MDI area? I'm so curious to see what's in this yard other than the one evident small garden patch!

Hello everyone, I'm living in nearly the same area as Mummichog and I'm loving this lack of MUD! I know that means that the black flies aren't too far behind but I'll take an early spring any way I can get it ! Mimmichog, welcome to the area! MDI is a great place to live and garden, and you'll love spending years seeing what you can get to grow. If you're any where near Northeast Harbor you MUST go see the Asticou Azalea Gardens right outside town on Rt. 198 off of Rt. 3. It's an amazing garden and well worth the drive. The peak season for bloom is coming up in May and early June so you'll have to plan a day trip. You won't believe the Japanese influences and the incredible variety of plants. You should also check out the Thuya garden terraces, and see if you can catch the Rockefeller Gardens tour when it's offered in the summer. Both places are excellent for seeing show gardens and for making plans on what you'd like to see in your own space. Our area is great for farmer's markets, and everyone has their own opinions on planting tricks, acid soil, black fly remedies , and favorite perennials. I don't know of any sed swaps, but this would be the place to make it happen! I hope we hear more from you, you'll love it here!

Hey Maine Magic:

Chelsea...just up the road..literally.
Randolph/Chelsea town line on Rt 226 is my stone wall.

York, Maine, here. I just found this site.

I am wondering how well lumbago grows along the southern coastal area.

Welllll...
the damp doesn't seem to affect it, but a heating pad is always nice.

welcome all!
Sweetfolly, how di you get your name? ANy chance of being named after the farm in TOwn Hill? just wondering. :)

Leasa from Eastport reporting in.

I haven't checked in for a while......
Lisa from Orono

Mary from Brewer here- busy with 5 cubic yards of loam to fill in low spots in back lawn and start new hosta/fern beds on perimeter of yard. I underestimated the hostas I'd planted last year and need to spread them out a bit. My Stargazer lilies are scentsational this year- they're planted in front by the kitchen windows so we can smell them all the time.

"scentsational" -- now there's a good word.

MM

Hi from the Woolwich area. Felt like fall this morning, thankfully we did not get any frost here on the Mid-Coast.

Hi from Biddeford, happy to have come across this thread. My outside garden is suffering, I have become totally obsessed with african violets! Are there any other Mainers with this wonderful affliction?

Someone mentioned slugs in an earlier posting. I moved from Seattle which I think takes the trophy for slugs. They get huge out there (a friend referred to them as quarter pounders).

Wow, that weekend storm blew away all the leaves off my lawn, I wonder where they went.....

Barbara

Hi all,

I moved here August 05 and I waited a whole year before I planted anything. I wanted to see what the yard looked like through the year before I made any decisions. I shouldn't have bothered. I still went ahead and planted whatever I thought was "pretty". I will either have the Garden of Eden in my yard next year or it will look like Mother Nature dropped some acid before visiting me.

Speaking of slugs. I found one the size of a small VW Bug under my deck. I asked my husband to remove it. He said he couldn't find it. He was obviously looking for something much smaller. When he finally did see it he turned green. He had to get gloves to pick it up. Very very bad. It was so nasty it turned and gave my husband the finger as he hurled it into the street. Yuck.

Funny thing though, the slugs did not touch my Hosta. I thought they loved the stuff.

Howdy,

From the name adirondackgardener, you would be right if you thought that I usually hang out in the Upstate NY forum, but a very unexpected job offer will be taking me to Maine in about a week or two and I expect to try to be be a mainegardener soon. Not sure from the map what zone I'll be in (maybe 5a?) I'll be working in South Paris in Oxford County and living somewhere in the area. In a few days I'll be over to start looking for a place to garden (and to live.)

My garden here in the Adirondacks followed the spirit of the bio-intensive method of organic, raised bed gardening and I expect my new garden will follow it also. I'm hoping for a bit milder climate in Maine than I have here in the mountains of NY, just below the Canadian border. I'm on the border of zone 4a/3b here. Checked the weather service this morning, minus 1 here when I got up, but a balmy 18 degrees in So. Paris. That gives me hope that my eggplants might get some size to them next year. Hope springs eternal...

Anyway, lots of threads in the Maine forum to keep me busy for a spell.

Wayne

Wayne,

Welcome to Maine! You shouldn't have too much culture shock by moving here, upstate NY isn't so very different.

I was through NY 2 weeks ago, Buffalo through Albany, and my niece was amazed at the difference of the state once you get away from NYC. Very rural and very green.

Order your seed catalogs now and spend the long winter planning your gardens.

Again, welcome.

Barbara, Biddeford, mostly zone 4, dreaming of 5.

Welcome Wayne,

You'll probably be a zone 4b or 5a in S. Paris. Good luck with your new place & job and post on this forum how your garden goes next spring!

Barbara, how are you zone 4 in Biddeford? I'm in Saco and 5b.

Thanks for the welcome, Barbara and Veilchen. I'm looking forward to the move and will post links to my projects when they get off the ground (or in the ground.) A lot of the area I was in last week reminded me of Northern NY and the people were friendly.

I found a zone map online with county lines and it does look like the border of 4B/5A. I definitely can live with that and so can my chickens.

Wayne

Hi Wayne,
welcome to Maine. I have been spending alot of time away this year from the forums.
Thanks for shaking this ole tree and bringing it up out of the archives!

MDI and Franklin here....

This week I am getting a new 48 foot green house in my back yard! Finally...sweet potatoes and red tomatoes to enjoy next year. I can start planting in March next year

Again welcome glad to meet you Wayne...

Hello Barbara,

Its alsways good to see your name too, Veilchen. How have you been? I ve been hanging out at IALBTC.

DO you compost, Wayne?

Hey, Veilchen,

Yeah, technically the maps show me as a zone 5b, but I have lost so many 'hardy to zone 5' plants I must have a little 4 microclimate going here. So when I look at a new prospect for the garden, I just go for the zone 3 or 4 to be on the safe side.

Barbara

My sympathies about the microclimate, Barbara! As if it isn't hard enough to grow things in zone 5.

About 3 years ago the USDA actually rezoned us along the coast to zone 6. But there is no way my yard is warmer than a 5b.

Hi lilyroseviolet. Good luck with your greenhouse. I lost my link to the IALBTC after they changed sites a few times.

Hello all! Welcome Wayne. :)
Lilyroseviolet! I've missed seeing your posts, and congratulations on your new greenhouse!! I have two up now and hopefully will be able to heat them come February or March. I love to start seeds early. We must keep in touch so that we can do seed/plant exchanges. I know we live close by , and I work at school so we must cross paths every once in awhile. Oh, and to answer your question from before, I'm not the follyfarms lady ( I had the name first believe it or not! ) but she's doing quite a business over there huh? What is IALBTC ??

Hi maine-lily ,checking in- Usually on the daylily forum more often then this forum-At the moment I have 5 beautiful pointsettias all very bright red and really healthy looking staring at me amongst a pile of furniture from another room. coming to carpet a very large room tomorrow,thank goodness - posponed several times. Getting a wee bit nervous, to near the holiday now. Trying to keep my sanity!!! Have a nice holiday,all of you
Bev

Hi-- I'm not into gardening, but I AM from Maine, and came across this thread while doing a search on another topic! I'm usually found over in "That Home Site" helping people in the kitches, bathrooms, and flooring forums (I'm a ceramic tile contractor). I came across this thread, though, and thought I'd check it out, and there are so many places mentioned here that I've done work-- from MDI to Vinalhaven and Rockland, To Ogonquit and Wells-- I feel like my "cyber life" and real life just clashed head on!! :-) I used to live up about 1/2 way between Ellsworth and Deer Isle in a little town called Brooklin, but for the last 8 years, I've lived in the Lakes region, presently in Bridgton.

Well, Bill, welcome to our happy little forum.

MM

I'm new to the site. I'm a professional gardener on MDI. I'm the head gardener on a ten acre site and there's not much we don't go all out on or at least dabble in. At the height of the summer, I'll have an outdoor staff of 13+/-.

Please feel free to ask questions. I may not answer right away and, most likely, not at all from April - September but, then again, I might just suprise you.

In the mean time, enjoy the catalogs!

Karl

Hi all, I'm Doreen in Old Orchard Beach, new to Maine and new to the forums, so I will read and learn what I can from you all. Looking forward to longer daylight in summer than what I had in Delaware... so far I've noticed that dusk lingers longer here, up North.

Hey Karl,

Where on MDI are you? I'm from Southwest Harbor but now live down in New Gloucester. My brother still lives up there in Bar Harbor.