The Gardens at Tidewater Farm: Summer 2025
Garden Update
It was a cool, wet, and busy spring which is why our first newsletter of 2025 is a post-Solstice one! Happy summer! Thank you to all who attended and made our 30th annual Master Gardener Volunteer Plant Sale a success over Memorial Day weekend. Every year it gets better, as the focus shifts more to a community and educational event along with raising money to support community-based horticulture projects across Cumberland County. The following week we were excited to host 90 pre-K students from New Gloucester for a hands-on field trip at the gardens. Their curiosity and enthusiasm was infectious, helping us appreciate the beauty of the gardens even in their early season state!
The weather began to shift and now we’ve had time to finally catch up and plant the gardens. There’s a good amount of ginger and turmeric in the High Tunnel soaking up the recent heat wave, and peppers, onions, herbs, greens, beans, winter squash, cabbage and annual flowers are growing by the day. All the spring rain seems to have contributed to extra lush and healthy perennials with dense vegetation and broader and bright blooms, more than we’ve seen in recent years.
We are excited to be piloting a collaboration with Vitalis Organic Seeds this season, growing a few trials in the Market Garden and in a newly established plot. We will be trialling varieties of carrots, beets, fennel and summer squash, all of which will be used to collect data on new or existing organic seed varieties while adding to the veggies that we can donate to food pantries. Vitalis Organic Seeds distributes their seeds to New England based companies, such as Johnny’s Selected Seeds and High Mowing Seeds.
Upcoming Events at Tidewater
Growing a Cut-Flower Garden
Thursday, September 11, 4:00 pm – 5:30 pm
Join us for a hands-on workshop and learn how to grow your own cut-flower garden! In this interactive session, you’ll learn how to choose the right flowers, start them from seed, planting and harvesting techniques, and garden maintenance. Each participant will leave with a beautiful, hand-picked bouquet of their own creation.
Register online here, program fee is offered on a sliding scale.
Featured Recipe – Berry Good Pops!
Summer is in full swing and so is berry season! Make these healthy and delicious berry popsicles to enjoy on a hot summer day.
Ingredients
- 1 cup berries (blueberries, strawberries, raspberries), fresh or frozen
- ⅔ cup 100% fruit juice or blend (cranberry, raspberry, etc.)
- 1 cup nonfat vanilla yogurt (regular, Greek, or non-dairy)
Instructions
- Clean the kitchen area and wash hands with soap and water.
- Place fresh berries in a colander and rinse under cold running water.
- Combine all ingredients and mix well.
- Pour the mixture into popsicle molds or 3-ounce paper cups.
- Cover the top of each cup with foil. Note: try to make sure foil doesn’t touch mixture because it will stick.
- Push a wooden Popsicle® stick down into the middle of each cup. The foil will hold the stick in place.
- Put the cups on a cookie sheet and freeze for 3 to 4 hours.
- When the popsicles are ready to eat, peel away the foil and the paper cups and enjoy!
- Leftovers can be frozen in a freezer-grade containers or bags and used within 3 to 4 months for best quality.
Wildlife Sightings: Common Garter Snake
Another creature of many that we happen upon at Tidewater Farm is the garter snake. Sometimes mistakenly called a “garden snake,” garter snakes most likely get their name from their resemblance to garters, used to hold up stockings and often had lines and patterns on them. They sport long, yellow stripes down the length of their green, brown, or black bodies. Sometimes, their stripes are not well defined and appear to be more checkered than a prominent line. I’ll often see one in the brush pile when dumping weeds, and the other week I startled one that was in our small shed, looking right at me when I opened the door! No need to worry, they tend to be shy and avoid people. These reptiles are cold-blooded and often bask in the sun to warm their bodies and can be found in meadows, gardens, forests, preferring areas near water. Garter snakes’ scales are made of keratin, which is what our fingernails are made of! Their scales cover the whole body, even the eyelids and as snakes grow, they shed their old skin, called molting.
They are carnivores, with earthworms accounting for 60–95% of this snake’s diet, although they also eat snails, leeches, small fish, grasshoppers, and other insects. Their excellent sense of smell assists their ability to hunt and avoid predators. The garter snake’s flicking tongue picks up scent chemicals of nearby predators and prey and transfers the chemicals to be “smelled” by the Jacobson’s (vomeronasal) organ in the top of its mouth. Garter snakes are one of the few types of snakes that have live births. Females usually give birth to 15-40 young! They are left on their own to hunt after being born.
Another interesting fact is that garter snakes hibernate in communities, sometimes with hundreds of snakes! They will hibernate from October to April and sometimes travel long distances to reach a communal den.
Sources: National Park Service, Massachusetts Audubon