Posted:Today
Updated: 10:33 AM

New gardens nurture nature naturally

By Kelley Bouchard kbouchard@mainetoday.com
Staff Writer

PORTLAND – Wedged between the calm waters of Back Cove and the near-constant roar of Interstate 295, there’s an unexpected oasis of natural beauty and a learning opportunity for experienced and wanna-be gardeners alike.

Aurelia Scott of Portland weeds a section of the YardScaping Gardens at Back Cove containing Walker’s Low catnip in Portland on Friday. A grand opening with special events is set for noon to 2 p.m. Tuesday.

Derek Davis/Staff Photographer

Eric Handley of Portland places mulch in a section of garden containing native Maine plants.

Derek Davis/Staff Photographer

Additional Photos Below

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Learn more about earth-friendly gardening in Maine, visit www.yardscaping.org.

Established over the past two years, the YardScaping Gardens at Back Cove showcase nearly 2,000 trees, shrubs and perennials that can help Maine gardeners reduce water use and reliance on fertilizers and pesticides.

“With a garden like this, you don’t need to have those chemicals around your home or running into our waterways,” said Gary Fish, coordinator of the Maine YardScaping Partnership and manager of pesticide programs at the Maine Board of Pesticides Control.

On Tuesday, the partnership will celebrate the grand opening of the state’s first Earth-friendly demonstration gardens that are safe and beneficial to people, pets and wildlife.

Special events are planned from noon to 2 p.m., including free garden tours and instructional presentations. The partnership has more than 30 members, including state agencies, environmental groups and garden centers across the state.

Fish and several volunteer master gardeners were at the Back Cove gardens Friday, weeding, spreading mulch and otherwise getting them ready for Tuesday’s debut.

The gardens spread across 2.5 acres of city-owned land off Preble Street Extension, beside soccer fields and the Back Cove recreational trail. Walkers and joggers regularly pass through the gardens and note their enjoyment of the various plantings.

“It’s beautiful,” a woman called out as she jogged by Fish on Friday. “Everything looks great!”

Fish took the compliment in stride. “We hear it all the time,” he said.

The gardens feature a few permanent signs that explain the benefits of sustainable gardening and highlight several varieties of disease-, pest- and drought-resistant perennials, shrubs and trees. A more detailed list, map and growing tips are available on Maine’s sustainable gardening website, www.yardscaping.org.

There are native lowbush blueberries and pitch pines, wine-hued black lace elderberry shrubs that provide excellent shelter for wildlife, disease-resistant gold flame spirea, and spikey mounds of drought-tolerant blue fescue.

The gardens are designed for various landscapes, from urban to suburban to rural meadows. They also bloom spring through fall. Now, pink flowers are popping on bigroot geraniums, yellow petals dapple the buttercup potentilla and purple spires rise from Walker’s Low catnip. Purple coneflowers and black-eyed Susans will follow in summer, and autumn joy sedum will bloom red in early fall.

Even experienced gardeners may see something new. There’s a lovely cluster of young river birch trees — native to the Ohio River valley — which Fish recommends to Mainers seeking a heartier, insect- and disease-resistant alternative to white birch. There are lush black tupelo trees — native to but rare in Maine — which Fish recommends as strong, slow-growing and largely trouble-free.

The gardens were funded by a $34,000 federal environmental grant, a $10,000 grant from the Davis Conservation Foundation in Yarmouth and about $20,000 in donations from various garden clubs and businesses, Fish said. With the addition of free labor, donated plants and growing time, the gardens are worth as much as $500,000 today, he said.

The gardens were developed and are maintained by about a dozen volunteer master gardeners, most of them trained through the University of Maine Cooperative Extension in Falmouth.

Nicki Griffin, a semi-retired Portland resident, works in the gardens two or three days each week.

“People are so relaxed and get so much pleasure when they walk through the gardens,” Griffin said. “They stop and talk and ask questions, and I’m glad to share what I know.”

The gardens have already won awards from the Friends of Casco Bay and the International Society of Arboriculture. The goal is to develop a nonprofit organization to manage the gardens in the future.

Fish plans to produce an online video tour of the gardens, to be posted on the yardscaping website this fall, that visitors can download to their smartphones. He also hopes to develop similar demonstration gardens elsewhere in Maine.

Built on a former landfill next to one of the state’s busiest highways, the YardScaping Gardens at Back Cove thrive as a testament to hard work, unconditional love and patience. It’s a powerful example for gardeners waging the endless battle against weeds, disease and insects.

“You just have to relax and lower the bar,” Fish said. “Don’t stress out over your yard too much. It’s OK to have a few weeds, and you don’t have to haul out pesticides the moment you see a bug.”

Staff Writer Kelley Bouchard can be contacted at 791-6328 or at:

kbouchard@pressherald.com

 

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Annuals

With all that spring lawn, tree, bush and perennial preparation completed, now is the time to go annual shopping. These long-lasting blooming plants will deliver months of colorful tones and textures to the garden and many are very low maintenance, another advantage to the novice or veteran gardener.

Flowers

For cool, shady areas, look for impatiens and hosta while most other annuals prefer hot, sunny locations with average soil moisture, such as marigolds. These sun-worshippers can be placed all over the yard, in containers/hanging pots and into the garden beds.

These plants may initially appear skimpy, but they will grow and spread throughout the summer, so keep that in mind when planting. Take a look at their tags and place smaller plants in the front and the large in the back, in the ground and for containers, the opposite, larger in the middle, the smaller varieties and climbers along the edge.

With this in mind, there will be unobstructed views of all the flowers and it will create an attractive border around the yard and beds.

Pruning

Yes, it is already time to start pruning those spring-flowering trees.

Dogwoods, azaleas, rhododendrons, forsythia and lilacs will cease flowering between now and the end of June, and it is crucial to prune these trees and bushes right after they finish flowering. Any later and trimming will result in cutting off next year’s buds.

Starting now and through the end of June, these bushes will stop flowering. Pruning at the right time this year and the landscape will be rewarded with a healthy plant that produces vigorous blooms each and every year!

Composting Bins

With all the lawn clippings and vegetables, now is also a good time to start a composting bin. This process is nature’s way of recycling its nutrients and over a little bit of time, this technique work its magic. This compost is better than any chemical treatment and will enrich the soil organically.

The art of gardening has many short term and long term rewards and there are so many components to the activity, there is virtually something for everyone. If there is not enough time in a weekend to produce the showcase landscape in the neighborhood, simply choose on a few and the personal gratification will be just as gratifying.

By Julie Mathiasen

A lot of people think of kale as a cool season crop but on our coastside we can grow kale year-round. We grow it year-round at Elkus Ranch, and I grow kale all year in El Granada where I live.

The beautiful leaves of the kale plant provide an earthy flavor and more nutritional value for fewer calories than almost any other food around. Kale has 36 calories per one cup serving.

Although it can be found in markets throughout the year, kale is in season from the middle of winter through the beginning of spring when it has a sweeter taste and is more widely available.

Kale is a leafy green vegetable that belongs to the Brassica family, a group of vegetables including cabbage, collards, broccoli and Brussels sprouts that have gained recent widespread attention due to their health promoting, sulfur-containing phyto nutrients.

It is very easy to grow. Kale grows to 30 inches tall with long, upright, curly, ruffled leaves used as “greens.” Kale grows very fast, because you’re not harvesting a flower or a fruit, you’re harvesting mere leaves. You can harvest it all through the growing season, taking leaves as needed, while letting the plant live to keep making more.

Kale does not form a head like cabbage. It grows almost everywhere and thrives in cool weather. The plant will continue to grow when the outer side leaves are picked off for cooking.

Kale is very high in vitamin K and vitamin A and is a great leafy vegetable that is said to help prevent cancer. Human population studies consistently show that diets high in cruciferous vegetables, such as kale, are associated with lower incidence of a variety of cancers, including lung, colon, breast and ovarian cancer.

Sulforaphane, the sulphur-containing phytonutrient that is formed when cruciferous vegetables such as kale are chopped or chewed, triggers the liver to produce enzymes that detoxify cancer-causing chemicals, inhibits chemically induced breast cancers, and induces colon cancer cells to cease.

Roasted kale leaves are a popular way to eat kale. To roast kale leaves, coat the leaves with olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt and sesame seed. Roast in oven at 250 degrees until crispy. Store in an airtight container to keep leaves crisp.

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PRESS RELEASE
On Wednesday, June 20, at 1:30pm, Extension Master Gardener Volunteers of Buncombe County will present a program on growing tomatoes by Extension Master Gardener Volunteer, John Hew at the Extension Office Classroom, 94 Coxe Ave. The talk, “Tomatoes III” is the final program of a series and will focus on mature plants thru season end, including staking, cages, pruning. This talk will be repeated on Saturday, June 23, 9:05am at Manna Demonstration Garden, 627 Swannanoa River Rd, opposite the Municipal Golf Course.

Parking is free in the Extension Office parking lot located directly across from the Extension Office on the corner of Coxe and Hillard Avenues. Workshops at the Manna Demonstration Garden are held outside with no seating or shade available, rain or shine.

In addition, a free presentation on “Container Gardening”, by Extension Master Gardener, Laurie Bell will be held on Wednesday, June 20, 10:00am at the Extension Office Classroom. This talk is part on the Extension Master Gardeners ongoing series, “Gardening in the Mountains”.

For more information, call the Extension Office, (828) 255-5522.

The Mission of the Extension Master Gardener Volunteers of Buncombe County is to provide education and current research-based urban horticultural information through North Carolina Cooperative Extension programs and activities, while striving to improve and preserve our natural environment.

Special events

Today

• Friends of the Jensen Botanical Garden work day. Bring work gloves, hand pruners and a drink. Lunch will be provided. 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Jensen Garden, 8520 Fair Oaks Blvd., Carmichael. (916) 485-5322, ext. 23.

Sunday

• Enchanting Sweet Peas flower farm open house with over 50 varieties of sweet peas in full bloom. Talks and tips on how to grow sweet peas will be given by farm owner Glenys Johnson. 10:30 a.m.-4 p.m. 900 Gravenstein Highway North, Sebastopol. Free. (800) 371-0233.

Friday-July 14

• The 18th annual Sculpture in the Garden juried art exhibit featuring sculptures by artists from all over the West Coast. Preview party with music and refreshments 5:30-8 p.m. Friday ($75), 10 a.m.-4 p.m. daily. The Ruth Bancroft Garden, 1552 Bancroft Road, Walnut Creek. $10 general, $7 seniors and students, free for members and children younger than 12. (925) 944-9352.

Next Saturday

• Open garden at the horticulture center with UC master gardeners demonstrating summer fruit tree pruning and T-bud grafting. Learn how to use herbs as a lawn alternative and how to care for grape vines in the summer. 8:30-11:30 a.m. Horticulture Center, 11549 Fair Oaks Blvd., Fair Oaks. Free. (916) 875-6913.

• Soroptimist International of Quincy 12th annual garden tour, featuring home gardens with mountain blooms and an instructional vegetable garden. 9 a.m.-1 p.m. $10. For locations to pick up a map and buy tickets call (530) 283-0957.

Classes and workshops

Today

• Learn how to plant in containers with Master Gardener Kristen Rankin in the El Dorado County Master Gardener class, “Hanging Baskets.” 9 a.m.-noon. Veterans Memorial Building, 130 Placerville Drive, Placerville. Free. (530) 621-5502.

Wednesday

• See the demonstration flower gardens in bloom during a lunchtime stroll in the UC Davis Arboretum with arboretum superintendent emeritus Warren Roberts. Noon. Meet at the arboretum gazebo on Garrod Drive, UC Davis campus. Parking is $7 in Visitor Lot 55. (530) 752-4880.

Next Saturday

• Learn the basics of container gardening and discovery a variety of plants that do well in containers during a workshop titled, “Contain Your Enthusiasm: Container Gardening.” 9 a.m.-noon. NID Business Center Grounds, 1036 W. Main St., Grass Valley. Free. (530) 273-0919.

Meetings

Thursday

• Sacramento Rose Society celebrates the reopening of the McKinley Park memorial rose garden with a garden tour and ice cream social. Public welcome. 7:30 p.m. Shepard Garden and Arts Center, 3330 McKinley Blvd., Sacramento. Free. (916) 799-6199.

© Copyright The Sacramento Bee. All rights reserved.

Written by Jane · Filed Under FEATURE TOP STORY, FRONT FEATURE, Features 

A New York Times Home Garden story this morning had the co-hosts of Morning Joe debating its worthiness of the paper’s motto on: “all the news that’s fit to print.”

The article didn’t offer gardening tips or summer cottage decorating ideas, of course. It outlined the grievances that Mitt and Ann Romney’s neighbors in the well-to-do San Diego enclave of La Jolla hold against the ongoing renovations to the Romney’s $12 million home (remember the car elevator?), as well as some of their politics, particularly when it comes to gay marriage.

Neighbors, it seems, grumble that the Secret Service takes over their crowded block when the Romneys are in town, while others worry the renovations will block their ocean views. Apparently Romney doesn’t care for the pot-smoking ways of some of the more laid-back California residents in his ‘hood and has taken to reporting them on occasion. 

A few choice passages from the Times piece:

So now, after overcoming the distrust of social conservatives and evangelical voters to clinch the Republican nomination, Mr. Romney must win over another constituency, one that his campaign team never anticipated, polled or targeted: disaffected neighbors…

Three houses away from Mr. Romney is Mark Quint, a Democrat who said that he is tired of watching neighboring homeowners bulldoze small beach houses to make way for McMansions, fearing a “nightmare of construction.” He sees a discrepancy in Mr. Romney’s ambitious renovation plan.

“The only thing he wants small is government and taxes,” Mr. Quint said. “He likes big houses, big families and big religion.”

 

---

Morning Joe host Joe Scarborough felt the article wasn’t worthy of the Times‘ high-quality journalism standards, while co-host Mika Brzezinski argued the Romney house was fair game.

 

 

It certainly reads as more of a Vanity Fair piece than The New York Times and the ending quote from a Secret Service agent bothers me as a sort of third-hand cheap shot at Mrs. Romney (“You’ll be fourth in line behind Mrs. Romney,” he retorted playfully. “She’s always asking, ‘When will you do my car?’ ”).

But, Americans want to know who they’re electing to the White House, including what their character is, their habits, and how they live their lives and interact with others. The Romney’s building of a $12-million house in La Jolla is certainly fair game, as is their interaction with gay neighbors.

Starting a Food Garden, or Thinking About It? An Easton Expert Offers Tips

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Category: Home and Garden

Published on Tuesday, 05 June 2012 20:00

Written by Adrienne Jane Burke

Local gardening guru Shira Friedman, who writes the blog In My Garden (Country Edition) and also contributes to Easton’s HamletHub, is too busy gardening to write during peak growing season. So this week, HamletHub asked her for some last minute advice for beginners who are just getting started or even still thinking about planting a vegetable garden this summer. She says it’s not too late!

To learn more from Shira, catch her this Thursday, June 7, at the Westport Farmers Market for a Grow Your Own Food QA. She’ll be at the education booth from 10:00 am–2:00 pm in the Imperial Avenue lot.

I’ve heard a lot lately about “square foot gardening” and raised beds. What method of gardening do you prefer?

I recommend creating straight raised beds to have total control over the soil. If you’re at an old property and you don’t know what’s in the soil, or if there are chemicals in it, or if you put down chemicals yourself, raised beds are best. You can start from scratch and customize your mix. You can make it lighter and fluffier with compost with good microorganisms. Raised beds ideally won’t have as many weeds and they’re easier on your back when you’re down on your hands and knees.

If you just clear turf to create your garden, you’ll be fighting the grass all season. Grass will win in a survival-of-the-fittest fight with your tomato plants. There’s only so much nitrogen in the soil. Grass and weeds are competing with your vegetables for water and nutrients.

Raised beds also make it easier to keep things tidy. My total enclosure is about 400 square feet and I have gravel pathways between the raised beds to keep it orderly since it’s in the middle of my backyard. It’s utilitarian, but I want it to look beautiful. I plant a lot of edible flowers like nasturtium, calendula, Johnny jump ups, and borage.

What do you do to keep animals at bay?

There isn’t a one-size-fits-all answer. It really depends on your situation. A four-foot fence won’t keep deer out if they’re hungry enough. In Easton you really need a high fence.

I have 12-foot-high fencing, so the bigger problem here for me are the smaller animals—moles, voles, rabbits, chipmunks, bunny rabbits, and groundhogs.

Around the lower two-foot portion of my vegetable garden fence, I buried chicken wire at least a foot under the soil to prevent them from burrowing under it. It does a good job at keeping out all but a few chipmunks who dig lower than a foot. Those chipmunks are so annoying! They don’t just eat your tomatoes. They knock them on the ground, take one bite, and run away. They’re just destructive.

You can also make or buy products to repel animals that are safe for vegetable crops. I started using an organic repellent that smells horrible. You can also make your own. When I was in grad school we used to make our own with rotten eggs and hot sauce and pepper and vegetable oil to make it stick. The more it reeks the more it keeps the pests away.

There are also some repellents made from all-natural products that you can buy at gardening centers or hardware stores. You have to reapply them and you have to change it up because the animals get used to it. If you have a lot of deer browsing issues, I  recommend buying three different kinds of deer repellents at the beginning of the season and spraying a different one each month.

An old farmers’ trick was to use coyote urine to repel deer, but around here you risk attracting coyotes who are looking for a mate.

If you have slugs eating your lettuce, you can bait them. Beer is a fabulous slug bait, though not ideal if your dog has access to the area. You can use a container the size of a tuna fish can and pour stale beer into it. The slugs climb in and don’t climb out.

Caterpillars are bad this year. Those you just have to pick off with your fingers.

I saw a lovely trellis at Terrain for $78, but that seems exhorbitant compared to the value of the tomatoes I hope to harvest. Can you recommend some creative ways to stake climbing plants?

Using your existing fencing is a great way to go. My raised beds go around the entire perimeter of the garden along the fence, and then I have a huge bed in the middle. So I use the fencing to trellis my peas and cucumbers. I use it for vining the flowers too.

People use all kinds of reclaimed things like old window frames, old lawn chairs. I have willow trellises that I reuse over and over. You can get very inexpensive bamboo stakes and tie them together like a teepee with twine for your cucumbers and peas.

If you’re growing indeterminate tomatoes—where all your fruit doesn’t come at once—you can use sticks and run string between them for the vines to climb on. You don’t need to spend a lot. You can have a great garden for very little money!

So, would you say that it is not too late to start a garden from seed right now and have produce this summer?

It’s not too late. I just re-seeded leaf lettuces and arugula. You can direct sow spinach, beets, carrots now before it gets too hot. And if you can find tomato and zucchini transplants your harvest might come later, but it’s not too late to put them in now.

And then in August you can start with fall sowings. For our area, come the middle to the end of August you can re-sow root crops like carrots and beets and all the greens and lettuces. You could harvest through November depending on how the night temperatures are.

If it’s your first vegetable garden, just start small. And if you wind up with more vegetables than you can handle, you can donate your surplus to Operation Hope in Fairfield. I donated 60 pounds of cucumbers there last year!

 

Shira Friedman is an Easton resident who teaches organic gardening classes locally and writes the blog In My Garden (Country Edition). Gardening questions? Send them to Shira at
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• Next

Spring has been in the air for nearly a month now, and the Southern Cayuga Garden Club is prepared to show off just what the season has to offer.

On Sunday, June 17, the club will host the Lakeside Views Garden Tour across six privately owned gardens in Southern Cayuga, Cayuga, Union Springs and Auburn. Balloons and numbered markers will help identify the gardens as people follow a map from plot to plot. Club members will be at each garden to direct people for parking and viewing, and to stamp tickets.

This will mark the 25th year the club will host such an event, and coordinator and soon-to-be-retired President Joan Parsnick couldn’t be more thrilled.

“There are about 50 people in the club, with the assistance of fellow coordinators Romayne Labaron and George Fearon. The tour takes approximately one year to plan. We stand as a club committed to the beautification of our community,” Parsnick said.

This year, Parsnick explained, a new element will be added to the tour. A wine tasting will take place at The Apple Station, a recently opened and family-operated apple orchard, farm and winery located in Cayuga. Owners Bob and Kathy Wintamute, along with their daughters Randi and Corey, will provide apple wine tasting.

“Today, The Apple Station features a new store with the same ‘old store’ theme; I believe people will just fall in love with the antiques and collectibles!” Parsnick said. “Equally as exciting will be the array of animals, such as an alpaca, goats, a variety of chickens, sheep and peacocks for people to admire.

The garden club expects between 100 and 150 people to participate in this year’s tour.

“It is a wonderful way to explore, share gardening tips and ideas, and just a breathtaking way to spend a day,” Parsnick said.

The annual tour also serves as a fundraiser for the club’s scholarships, which are awarded to graduating seniors in southern Cayuga County pursuing a degree in horticulture, agriculture or related areas

“The club awarded three scholarships this year,” Parsnick said. “One to a graduating Southern Cayuga High School student and two to graduating Union Springs High School students.

Because the club covers a large area, it often changes the stops on its annual tour. The club waits a few years to bring a garden back to the tour, during which time it may have changed — sometimes drastically.

This year, the roster is very diverse, Parsnick said.

“These are definitely not your average gardens; some have waterfalls, ponds with koi and goldfish, a plethora of rock gardens, gorgeous trees such as spruce and evergreens, an English boxwood framed garden and flowers ranging from poppies and roses to exquisite orchids and irises,” Parsnick said. “One very unique garden even has cactus and uses fossils, bones and rocks decoratively.”

Parsnick said the tour would not have been possible without the help of the following sponsors Cayuga Lake Bank, The Be Happy Café, The Gardner Agency, Copperesque Picture Framing and Gifts, The Apple Station, The Produce Place, Legends Tavern, Cavi’s Pies, Seneca Falls Savings Bank and Dill’s Run Winery and BB.

Ever wondered how to attract wildlife to your backyard?
 

Whether you’re after birds, frogs, butterflies, bees or other
backyard critters you can get all the tips at this year’s
Queensland Garden Expo at the Nambour Showgrounds from July
6-8.

The Living Backyard feature was a new addition to the Expo last
year and received a fantastic response from the over 30,000
visitors flocking to the event, so the feature will be even
bigger this year supported by a number of speaker sessions and
kids activities.

Michael Gilles, Nature Conservation Officer at the Sunshine Coast
Council who co-ordinates the feature area said visitors can get
tips on how to bring their garden to life and create their own
living backyard from the experts who are passionate about
preserving and enhancing the native flora and fauna within our
community.

“There is nothing better than walking into a garden that’s alive
with native fauna, whether it be beautiful butterflies, singing
frogs, buzzing bees or curious possums,” said Michael.

“We’re aiming to be Australia’s most sustainable region and part
of this is to encourage people to create natural habitats in
their backyard by providing food, protection and nesting
sites.  This display will provide inspiration and answer
lots of questions for those wondering where to start.  It’s
a great project and we encourage the whole family to get
involved.”

Marion Beazley, Expo Event Manager said the display proved one of
the most popular last year and this year’s expanded program will
include interactive displays, daily lectures and how-to
workshops, great visual displays and a range of exhibitors who
have a wealth of knowledge about backyard nature
conservation.

“There are a number of kids activities including Bug Education
where kids can see an amazing display of mounted insects, spiders
and scorpions from around the world and live Australian insects,
some of which can be handled,” said Marion.

“There are talks on building nestboxes, creating a frog-friendly
garden, backyard bushtucker and attracting native birds and bees
giving visitors lots of simple ideas to bring their garden to
life.”  

The line-up of speakers and topics include Ray Seddon, local
driving force behind preserving the Richmond Birdwing Butterfly
and Graham White from Witjuti Grub Bushfood Nursery who will
share which bushfood and native plants you can nurture and enjoy
from your garden.

Geckoes Wildlife will be on hand to show kids local Sunshine
Coast critters which can be found in backyards and Rob Raabe from
Native Bee Rescue will be speaking about how you can safely have
bees in your garden and the benefits they bring.

The Queensland Garden Expo is a three-day celebration of all
things gardening, featuring the largest range of plants in one
place, nearly 55 nurseries with over 40,000 plants on sale every
day as well as a huge range of gardening products.  Not only
for the most ardent of gardeners, the Expo is a fun day out for
the whole family.

For more information on what’s on at this year’s Queensland
Garden Expo, please visit www.qldgardenexpo.com.au.

Five simple tips to bring wildlife to your garden

1. It doesn’t matter what type of garden you have, we can all
contribute to the survival and wellbeing of our local
wildlife.
2. Select a range of plants that will provide a variety of
different food types throughout the year – pollen, seeds, fruit
and leaves.
3. Provide a range of habitats by ensuring your plants grow at
different heights.
4. Install some nesting boxes.
5. Build a frog pond.

Permanent Link: Bringing your garden to life

Publish Date: 07 Jun 12

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