Really, it’s November already? The older I get, each year seems to fly by faster than the previous one. I have just finished putting my garden to bed and am already starting to receive online garden catalogs for 2013. No wonder things seem to be moving along faster than we would like. I hope this newsletter finds you well and looking forward to spending time with friends and family as the holiday season approaches.

Things to do in the garden

• The garden season is almost over for 2012 even if the weather seems to encourage you to Plant Now! Stop and think before taking the chance on losing something you may really want for spring. There are some things that you can still plant and they should be okay. If you find a good deal on spring blooming bulbs or possibly your favorite garlic, those should be alright to set out (as long as your ground isn’t frozen), and you may possibly find a deal on some small trees and shrubs that you can put in now. The key to planting small trees and shrubs this late in the fall is not to stimulate a plant into sending out new growth! Most plants that have been outside in the nursery are already preparing themselves for the winter, so the key here is not to encourage new growth now that will surely die later when the real weather hits. Plant as usual, but do not fertilize, and be sure to water and mulch heavily. For information on planting trees and shrubs, see Bulletin #2366, Selecting, Planting, and Caring for Trees and Shrubs.

• Cut back any remaining dead plants in the perennial bed or dead blossoms off from shrubs such as hydrangea if you don’t care for the winter interest that they will bring when covered with frost or snow.

• Add any amendments to your soil as recommended in the soil test you sent in earlier in the year. By adding them now they will have time to work into your soil and be readily available to your plants in the spring.

• If you haven’t already done so now is the time to mulch and do whatever maintenance on your roses that you have been putting off.

• One last item that you can do now is mulch and put tree wrap on any young new trees that you planted this year, to protect them from rodent damage.

Upcoming Events

Longfellow’s Greenhouse 2012 Art & Artisan Show & Sale

• If you’re looking for another excuse to go and visit a nursery and greenhouse, this may be the event for you. Longfellow’s Greenhouse located on 81 Puddledock Road in Manchester, Maine, is holding their annual Art & Artisan Show & Sale on November 3 and 4. For information on this event, please visit Longfellow’s Greenhouse website or call them at (207) 622-5965.

Horse Health Education Conference being held in New Gloucester, ME

• Horse owners, caretakers, and pre-veterinary students will learn about the most serious infectious diseases that can affect their animals, and what can be done to improve bio-security and prevent disease outbreaks on the farm, at the Horse Health Education Conference on Saturday, November 17 at the Pineland Equestrian Center in New Gloucester. This program is for horse owners, prospective pre-veterinary students, 4-H and Pony Club leaders and older youth, boarding farm owners and operators, horse business owners, horse trainers, farriers, auction houses, fair superintendents, and others from New England who are interested in learning more about infectious diseases of horses.

Cost for the event is $15 for adults and $10 for students for early registrations received by November 9 (a limited number of scholarships are available; please contact us.) Late and walk-in registrations are $25 for adults and $20 for students.

To register, send check for registration (made out to UMaine Extension) and your name, address, phone, and e-mail to Melissa Libby, 134 Hitchner Hall, UMaine Extension, Orono, ME 04469-5735, 207-581-2788 or 1-800-287-7170 (in Maine) or or Melissa.Libby1@maine.edu. Or register online at umaine.edu/livestock/equine/horse-conf. Bring your own lunch or purchase a lunch ticket at registration desk.

For more information you can also visit the UMaine Events Calendar.

The Maine Harvest Festival

• Will be held on November 10 – 11 at the Bangor Auditorium and Civic Center in Bangor, Maine, from 10 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. on both days. General admission tickets are $5.00 each, with children 10 and under free. For more information, see the Maine Harvest Festival website.

Items of Interest

• Visit the University of  Maine website for information and tips on Food for Holiday Gift Giving: Safety Comes First!, Bulletin #4274. Or watch our Holiday Foods Safety Tips video.

• Wondering what you can do around the house to cut down on your energy cost? Check out the Energy Info for Homeowners & Renters, along with other great energy tips.

• One of the most popular holiday house plants at this time of year is the Poinsettia. This popular plant now comes in a wide range of colors and can be found in many different sizes. The University of Illinois has a great website with many interesting facts along with tips on how to care for Poinsettias.

• Have you ever wondered how to make your own holiday wreath? See Bulletin #7012, Making Balsam Fir Wreaths.

• Non-Timber Forest Products: Goods from the Maine Woods Balsam Fir, Bulletin #2541, by David Fuller, UMaine Extension Agriculture and Non-Timber Forest Products Professional, is an informative look at products past and present, made from the Balsam fir tree (Abies balsamea) here in Maine.

• Want to learn how to grow balsam fir trees to cut for your own continuous supply of balsam tips? See Bulletin #7089, Growing a Continuous Supply of Balsam Fir Wreath Brush.

Thank you!

To Mark Whitney, who worked on cleaning up the raised beds here at the University of Maine Cooperative Extension office in Skowhegan. Also thank you to Sheryl Ruman and Cheryl Perkins for cleaning up the flagpole bed. The raised beds are ready for the 2013 gardening season and the flagpole bed looks the best it has since spring and is ready for an upgrade in the spring of 2013.

Well, a chill is in the air and the colors of autumn are all around us. Most of the garden chores are done, with the possible exception of planting some garlic for harvest next July. Also, if you haven’t done so already you may want to plant a cover crop in the garden area to protect the soil for next season. Those of us with flower gardens might be putting in a selection of flower bulbs for early color next spring.

Gardening in October

• With the beginning of October usually comes a brief stint of warm weather, instilling in us the urge to Plant Something! If you haven’t already done so, check for some great buys at the local stores and garden centers that are looking to clear their shelves of fall bulbs to get ready for that other season that’s just around the corner. Remember, fall bulbs bring spring color! Don’t be caught looking for tulips and daffodils in April at your local merchants.

• Dig up tender bulbs, corms, tubers, and roots (canna lilies, dahlias, and gladiolas) after their foliage has died back or has been killed by frost. Let them dry in a well ventilated room, with temperatures between 60º – 70°, and out of direct sun. Most tender plants will take 1-3 days to cure; gladiolas can take much longer — up to 3 weeks. To store the cured materials, place them in a ventilated container and layer them with peat moss, sand, and shredded newspaper or sawdust. Store them in an area with temperatures ranging around 35 to 45º. For more information, check out University of Minnesota Cooperative Extension’s  Storing Tender Bulbs and Bulblike Structures.

• If you love garlic and have noticed the prices in the stores going up for whole garlic bulbs, then you might want to try your hand at growing your own. It’s still not too late to get it in the ground, but time is running out. For more information on planting garlic, watch our video How Do I Grow Garlic in Maine?

• If your wondering about taking advantage of some of the great buys on trees and shrubs at your local nursery or garden center, but aren’t really sure if it’s a good time to plant, check out UMaine Extension’s Bulletin #2366, Selecting, Planting, and Caring for Trees and Shrubs in the Maine Landscape.

• One more gardening note of interest to all of you who love strawberries and planted your own for the first time this year but are not quite sure how to renovate an old bed, or provide winter protection for them: David Handley, small fruit & vegetable specialist at the University of Maine Cooperative Extension’s Highmoor Farm, has produced a videos on those topics. See How To Grow Strawberries: Renovating an Old Strawberry Bed and Getting Strawberry Plants Ready for Winter.

Items of Interest

• Now is a great time to get outside and enjoy our beautiful state in all its color. Time spent out on your favorite hiking trail is always a rewarding experience. For information on trails in Maine or places of interest to leaf peepers, visit Maine’s Official Foliage Website.

• If you have ever had this question asked to you by someone just wondering how and why the trees in our landscape change colors, Maine’s Official Foliage Website has a some very easy to understand information for people of all ages. View their fun animated video Maine’s Autumn Magic: How Leaves Reveal Their Fall Colors.

• Forest &  Shade Tree Report: The Insect & Disease Conditions Report for September 25, 2012 is now available from the Maine Forest Service. This will be the last report of the 2012 season and it’s packed with great information for our forest and shade trees health.

• Diane Blazek at National Garden Bureau writes:

We at National Garden Bureau have of  late become more curious as to what inspires a person to become a gardener. Was there a special person in your childhood who showed you the joy of planting a small seed and watching it turn into a stunning sunflower or delicious tomato? Was it your own inspiration after you bought your first home and wanted to beautify the landscape in order to “keep up with the Joneses?” Or maybe it was the local movement and food safety issues that prompted you to grow your own produce? We are asking you, our loyal reader, to give us a minute of your time to help us explore this topic. We’d really like to know which childhood, young adult or adult experiences, if any, helped inspire you to become a gardener. Even if you have not had any experience in or inspirations to garden, we would still like to hear from you! Please share your experiences by taking this short survey.

Also, if you have an interesting story on how or who introduced you to gardening that you would like to share in our Master Gardener Newsletter, we would love to hear from you. Please contact Tom Goodspeed at thomas.gooodspeed@maine.edu or Kathy Hopkins at kathy.hopkins@maine.edu.

Upcoming Events

• Living History Days: The Maine Forest & Logging Museum at Leonard’s Mills on Route 178 in Bradley, Maine, is a great place to spend the day and enjoy the foliage, along with experiencing a 1790s logging and saw-milling village! Enjoy the bateau and wagon rides, and fresh-pressed apple cider. Watch a water-powered sawmill and more! Living History Days at the Maine Forest & Logging Museum takes place October 6-7, 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. For more information, visit the Leonard Mills website.

• 2nd Annual Avalon Acres Harvest Festival — October 8, 2012: Bring the kids and learn about life on an apple orchard. The orchard will be open for apple picking, the farm store will also be open, and there will be many apple and harvest related demonstrations throughout the day. Money raised from this event goes to a charitable cause. Last year’s proceeds benefited the St. Albans’ Grange, Lions Club, Masonic Lodge, and St. Albans’ Parent Teacher Organization. For more information visit Avalon Acres & Farm.

• Great Maine Apple Day: Interested in apples and apple trees? Then the MOFGA (Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association) fairgrounds are where you want to head on October 21 for rare and heirloom apple displays, educational talks, and apples and apple products for sale. For more information, visit the Great Maine Apple Day on MOFGA’s website.

• The Fryeburg Fair: With the fair season drawing to a close in Maine, many will be heading to the largest fair in our state. The Fryeburg Fair is slated to begin on Sunday September 30 and run until October 7. You can get more information and directions to the fair at the Fryeburg Fair web page.

Condolences

To Ted Weber and family on the passing of Nancy Weber, fellow Master Gardener and friend of Extension. Nancy’s dedication to her family and friends, and her lifetime spent teaching and sharing, was a model for us all.

Thank you!

Somerset County Master Gardener Volunteers

To date the Master Gardener Volunteers in Somerset County have

1. volunteered over 1,040 hours in their communities;
2. reached over 480 people through volunteering; and
3. donated over 370 pounds to local food banks & neighbors.

This is just what we have to date (9/19/12), with more coming in each day!

Thank you and keep up the great work in your community and county. Please remember to send us your hours and produce donations to be counted as soon as you can.

At the present time I am glad to announce that we have been able to send out Master Gardener Volunteer Certificates to five people in our 2012 class and four re-certification certificates to previous Master Gardener Volunteers.

Well, hopefully your garden is producing well and you have lots of room in the root cellar, or wherever you store your bountiful harvest. It’s time to stock up on canning jars and freezer bags to fill up with good things to eat for the next few months and more. If you would like information on preserving your harvest, the University of Maine Cooperative Extension has lots of information to help you. It’s also time for the Agricultural Fairs in the area to begin. The Fairs are one of Maine’s great traditions that also just happen to mark the beginning of the end to an all too short summer! Be sure and visit as many of our state’s great agricultural fairs this season that you can. They all have something entertaining and interesting to offer to adults and kids of all ages! While you’re at the fair, don’t forget to stop by and support your local 4-H clubs’ displays and exhibits!

Gardening Items to Do in August

• Now is a good time to take a soil test if you forgot to do it earlier on. Now is also a great time to get your garden ready for next season by amending the soil this fall as you put the garden to bed. Let the University of Maine Cooperative Extension help you by testing your soil and making useful recommendations for spring of 2013.

• Plant a fall cover crop in those spaces no longer producing vegetables. Cover crops are a great way to protect your soil from our unpredictable winters here in Maine and restore valuable nutrients that may have been depleted during the growing season. You may also want to put in a second crop of things like spinach, beans, lettuce or beets. For information on cover crops, see Improve Your Soil with Cover Crops form Cornell University.

• Continuing with garden maintenance, scouting for insects and disease is an ongoing project in every garden this month. One insect to be on the lookout for in August is the Tomato Hornworm. For more information or to ask a gardening question, please check out UMaine Extension’s gardening website.

Disease & Pest Alert!

• The Spotted Wing Drosophila has been found in Maine! The first spotted wing drosophila of the 2012 season was found in a trap in Limington on Friday, July 13. Three male flies were caught in a trap in the woods adjacent to a raspberry planting. We haven’t caught flies in other locations yet, but growers should be on alert for indications of fruit flies in their plantings and premature fruit decay. For information on identifying spotted wing drosophila and making your own monitoring traps, visit the Michigan State University’s Spotted Wing Drosophila website.

• Late Blight has been found in two locations in coastal and central Maine. Be alert and on the lookout for this disease in your area. For information on preventive measures and what to do if you find the symptoms in your garden, visit your local UMaine Extension office.

• Be on the lookout for Giant Hogweed (Heracleum mantegassianum), an invasive perennial and a public health hazard. Contact with sap followed by sun exposure can cause painful blistering. Giant Hogweed grows in moist soil, especially in ditches and ravines in both sun and shade. For more information, see Giant Hogweed.

Items of interest

• The Maine Board of Pesticide Control has tentatively scheduled fall of 2012 for their next collection of old unusable pesticides. Visit their website for a registration form or more information or contact your local UMaine Extension office.

• The USDA has launched new updates to its website: Know Your Farmer Know Your Food. View and take advantage of the new updates.

• Are you looking for information or directions to a farmers market in your area? The Get Real, Get Maine website has a listing of Farmers Markets by county, along with much more that’s going on in the area.

• As the month of August gets into full swing, so do the many agricultural fairs around our state. This is a time of year that comes with mixed feelings. For many, it signals the beginning of the end to our gardening season and we all know what follows after that. To others it’s getting ready to go back to school, and along with those two less than pleasant thoughts come the elation of Fair Time! For a complete listing of Agricultural fairs in the state, visit Get Real, Get Maine website.

• Are you interested in more information on invasive pests? The USDA’s Animal Plant Health and Inspection Service (APHIS) developed outreach materials for Extension Educators on USDA’s Hungry Pests National Initiative. The program helps the public understand — in an engaging way — about the threat of invasive pests and how to prevent their introduction and spread. To see this information visit their Hungry Pests website.

Upcoming Events

• Be sure and check out the UMaine Extension Calendar of Events for upcoming programs and events in your area.

• The 2012 Annual Maine Farm Days will be held at Misty Meadows Farm on the Hill Road in Clinton, Maine this year, on Wednesday, August 22 and Thursday, August 23. More information.

• View upcoming events on the Maine Organic Farmers Association Calendar.

Volunteer Opportunities

• If you are looking for a project to work on, we have plenty to do right here at the office close to home. Whether you work on your own or in a group, we can use your help. Call Tom or Kathy for more information on this. Phone 1-800-287-1495 (in Maine) or e-mail thomas.goodspeed@maine.edu.

• Just a reminder to everyone: please send in your Master Gardener Volunteer reporting hours!

• For those of you thinking about root cellars and wanting to know more about them, the following short piece by one of our Master Gardeners will be of interest to you.

 Root Cellars

By Wallace Seavey

The root cellar is a way to preserve your harvest of fresh, raw, whole vegetables and fruits for several months. The root cellar would need to be a cold, rather moist environment that does not allow the food to freeze. Traditionally, root cellars were underground in a cool, damp cellar with dirt floors and brick or stone walls. However, today’s homes usually have finished basements. But with a little research and understanding almost any space can be adapted for storage.

The two essential requirements are temperature and humidity. The optimum storage temperature for many vegetables is between 32 and 40 degrees F. The temperature can be maintained by using insulation on walls and ceilings. A 100 watt bulb placed near the floor may be an adequate heat source. Thermometers can be placed around the cellar to monitor temperatures.

High humidity keeps vegetables from drying out. The exception is pumpkins, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, and winter squash, which store best at about 50 degrees F and 70 t0 75 % humidity. The easiest way to keep moisture high is to have a dirt floor which most of us today do not have. If your floor is concrete or wood, place several pans of water on the floor to help maintain moisture. Vegetables are 90% water. The more you put in the root-cellar, the higher the humidity. A small, full root cellar will work better than a larger one.

Ventilation is used to help control temperature and humidity. Excess moisture that encourages mold can be exhausted and the room can be aired out when not in use. Be sure the ventilation system (window) is screened to keep rodents out.

A root cellar should be cold, dark, humid, and in a convenient location. The most convenient location may be a walled off part of a basement or garage with a window for ventilation. Water drainage is important for keeping out surface water in spring and summer.

Keep only fresh and sound produce in your root cellar. Produce should be free of cuts, cracks, bruises, insects, and any other damage. The old adage, “one rotten apple will spoil the whole barrel” is true. Visit and check your root cellar frequently.

Resources to help you construct a root-cellar are Stocking Up from Rodale Press; Vegetable Storage in Root Cellars from University of Alaska at Fairbanks Cooperative Extension; Root Cellars: Safe and Secure from the Corporate Food Train from the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association; and Storing Vegetables at Home by the University of Wisconsin.