The Gardens at Tidewater Farm: Fall 2026
Garden Update
The arrival of school buses on the road is a sure sign that the seasons are shifting, and a reminder that this is a beautiful time of year to visit Tidewater Farm! Golden hour, colorful blooms, and plenty of activity fill the gardens!
Since our last update, the garlic has been harvested and will be used as seed for Master Gardener Volunteer Projects, while storage onions have been harvested and are curing.
Thanks to our hardworking volunteers, the gardens have also received more consistent care. Master Gardener Volunteers from across Cumberland County gathered at Tidewater Farm for their annual summer celebration, and several rounds of crops have been sown or transplanted into the former garlic and onion beds.
A special thank you to Bumbleroot Organic Farm for donating extra vegetable seedlings, allowing us to expand our vegetable donations this year.
Our busy spring has set us up for a beautiful fall. Many of our annual flowers aren’t transplanted until June, and now the majority of our cut flowers are tucked among the perennial gardens and putting on a show.
More than 70 bouquets have been donated to patients of Northern Light Home Care and Hospice and families at Ronald McDonald House, with donations continuing through October.
Like other farms, we’re also in peak harvest season, with root vegetables joining peppers and tomatoes in the harvest baskets. So far, nearly 2,000 pounds of produce have been donated to our food security partners with much more to come.Some of the organizations we work with have moved record amounts of produce this year, as the need for food assistance has unfortunately increased.
This year, the vegetable crop plan was tailored to a new partnership with Youth and Family Outreach and Head Start, providing their kitchens and programs with fresh produce each week. Both organizations provide essential early care and education for local families, serving children from six weeks to five years old.
Kelly Donohoe from Head Start has shared updates from the kitchen about how they’ve been using and preserving the produce, including peaches this season!
Pounds of tomatoes have been processed into freezer sauce, carrots have been made into baby food, and plenty of zucchini muffins have been baked. We are grateful to contribute to the kitchens and plates of Portland’s youngest community members!
Upcoming Events at Tidewater
Soil Health
Tuesday, September 15
5-6:30 p.m.
Cost: $15 register online
Join UMaine Extension Horticulture Staff, Rebecca Long, for an engaging workshop on the foundation of a successful garden: healthy soil. Soil is a living system, and understanding how its physical, chemical, and biological properties work together can help you grow healthier, more productive plants.
In this workshop, you’ll explore the role of soil organic matter and the soil food web, learn how to assess the health of your garden soil, and discover how to use soil test results to guide management decisions. We’ll also discuss practical techniques for building and protecting soil health, from improving soil structure and organic matter to supporting the organisms that help your soil function.
Participants will gain practical knowledge and strategies to better understand, manage, and improve the soil in their own gardens. This workshop will take place at the UMaine Gardens at Tidewater Farm, 200 Presumpscot Point Rd, Falmouth, ME 04105.
Registration is required and the program fee is $15 per person.
The Natural Dye Garden
Saturday, September 19
2-4 p.m.
Cost: $50 register online
Join fiber farmer, fiber artist, and natural dye grower, Eileen Flanagan, for a hands-on workshop exploring the colorful world of dye gardening. Growing plants for natural dyes is a rewarding way to combine gardening, creativity, and traditional craft while discovering the surprising range of colors that can be produced from your own backyard.
In this interactive class, you’ll learn about popular dye plants, their growing requirements, and how to create a diverse natural color palette using flowers, leaves, and other plant materials. We’ll also explore the basics of the natural dyeing process, along with a touch of the history and creative possibilities of botanical dyes.
Participants will gain practical knowledge and hands-on experience creating a botanically printed silk scarf using fresh dye plants and flowers from Eileen’s garden in Vassalboro. Everyone will leave with a unique hand-printed scarf and the inspiration to start growing their own dye garden. This workshop will take place at the UMaine Gardens at Tidewater Farm, 200 Presumpscot Point Rd, Falmouth, ME 04105.
Registration is required and the program fee is $50 per person.
Nature Journaling
Thursday, October 1
10 a.m. – 12 p.m.
Cost: $15 register online
Join artist and Master Gardener Volunteer, Deena Ball, for a creative, hands-on workshop exploring the art of nature journaling. Nature journaling is a practice of slowing down and observing the natural world more closely through writing, drawing, and other creative techniques. The goal isn’t perfection, it’s to notice something you might otherwise have missed.
In this workshop, you’ll be gently guided through drawing plants at the UMaine Gardens at Tidewater Farm, composing an attractive and informative journal page, and working with watercolors and colored pencils. You’ll learn how to combine simple materials and shapes you already know to capture what you see, create pages that trigger memories, and develop your own creative approach to nature journaling.
Participants will leave with practical techniques for creating a nature journal while cultivating creativity, observation skills, and a deeper appreciation for the natural world. This workshop will take place at the UMaine Gardens at Tidewater Farm, 200 Presumpscot Point Rd, Falmouth, ME 04105.
Participants are encouraged to bring: A hardcover journal with mixed media paper, drawing implements (pencils, colored pencils, water colors, etc), and camp chair.
Registration is required and the program fee is $15 per person.
Native Plants for Pollinators: Planting and Maintenance Workshop
Saturday, October 17
10-11:30 a.m.
Cost: $20 register online
Join UMaine Cooperative Extension and Wild Seed Project for a hands-on workshop focused on planting and maintaining native plants to support pollinators and other beneficial insects in your vegetable garden.
You’ll learn how to incorporate native plants into your garden and use maintenance practices that support bees, butterflies, moths, solitary wasps, ground beetles, and other beneficial insects. These native insects play an important role in healthy garden ecosystems, helping support wildlife like birds while reducing pests, increasing pollination, and improving produce production and quality.
In this workshop, you’ll put these techniques into practice as you help expand a pollinator-friendly garden at the UMaine Gardens at Tidewater Farm.
This workshop will take place outdoors at the UMaine Gardens at Tidewater Farm, 200 Presumpscot Point Rd, Falmouth, ME 04105. Please bring sunscreen, water, and weather-appropriate clothing.
Registration is required and the program fee is $20 per person.
Recipe
We are growing hundreds of pounds of delicious carrots for our Early Childhood Education Center partnerships and trialing two beds of leeks for Vitalis Seeds this season. With the temperature starting to dip, this soup looks tasty!
Wildlife Sightings
Monarch Butterfly
September is when we see the most caterpillars feeding on common milkweed, along with adult butterflies circling and feeding on annual and perennial flowers. Monarchs truly are a wonder, with their striking beauty, miraculous life cycle, and remarkable annual migration.
Monarch butterflies undergo a mind-boggling, multi-generational migration. Approximately four generations of monarchs emerge over the course of a year. The first three generations live for just two to six weeks. During that time, they reproduce, lay eggs on milkweed, and continue the journey north in a kind of “relay race” from Mexico into the United States and Canada.
The generation we see in September is the final, or “super”, generation. Unlike the previous generations, these monarchs can live for up to eight or nine months and migrate as far as 3,000 miles, eventually returning to their overwintering grounds in Mexico.
This overwintering generation enters a state called reproductive diapause. Environmental cues, including changing day length and temperatures, prevent the butterflies from becoming sexually mature after they emerge. By delaying reproduction, and with cooler temperatures slowing their metabolism, these monarchs conserve energy and live much longer than earlier generations.
In the mountains of Mexico, they overwinter in oyamel fir trees, clustering by the tens of thousands on individual trees. In spring, environmental cues signal that it is time to head north. The monarchs leave Mexico and begin moving into the southern United States in search of milkweed, the only plant on which monarch caterpillars can feed and where females lay their eggs. There is no milkweed at their overwintering sites.
The super generation lays eggs in the southern U.S., then die off while their offspring continue the journey north. Several generations later, the monarchs reach their northern breeding grounds, completing the cycle.
Super indeed! Scientists still do not fully understand how monarchs navigate such extraordinary distances, including how they find their way to the same overwintering regions year after years.
Habitat is vital to monarch survival. Milkweed provides essential food and breeding habitat, while flowering plants provide the nectar adult monarchs need for energy. Creating and protecting habitat in summer breeding areas and along migration routes can help support monarchs throughout their incredible journey.
Sources: Monarch Butterfly Fact Sheet and US Fish and Wildlife Service