July/August 2025 Master Gardener Volunteer Newsletter

In this issue…

From the President

As the fragrance of lilacs and the blooms on fruit trees are but distant memories, our gardens are all enjoying the great weather of the growing season. June brought to my vegetable garden cool, windy but overall comfortable conditions and, inspired by the early growth, I’m bursting with optimism for this season! As of late June, I have quantities of garlic scapes, cauliflower, lettuce, broccoli, spinach, potato blossoms, peas and sunflowers reaching for the sky. The house planters, done differently from my past arrangements, are also bursting with an array of new colors.

Certainly, the beauty and growing conditions we are experiencing this early Summer assure us of a wonderful season! 

While every month of the Maine growing season is a busy month for gardeners, I’d like to repeat my suggestions for things you might enjoy:

  • Firstly, visit a neighbor’s/friend’s garden. No matter how big or small their garden is, there will be joy shared. Admire their array of choices, gardening skills, and seek to gain gardening wisdom and insights. The world looks like a much nicer place when we are in a backyard garden without emails, cell phones, political talk and the evening news.
    I recently visited an adult living community with a large number of raised beds for residents. I was amazed at the variety of plantings and the zeal for life and interest the residents displayed. Their appreciation for “life”, growing as well as remembering highlights of their past gardening experience, was truly inspiring.
  • Secondly, express your appreciation for all those businesses and restaurants that have beautified our experiences with incredible floral displays. Those that use native grown produce deserve our appreciation. This also gets you out to some great Maine summer dining and shopping experiences. Just as the tourists arrive to enjoy, so can we.

Finally, please save the date for the following two events: 

Tuesday, August 12th 5-8pm A Garden Gala at Tidewater for MG’s and their +1’s. Food, Fun, and Flowers coming your way! Stay tuned for details.

Thursday, October 9th 5-7:30pm Annual Harvest Celebration for MG’s at Audubon in Falmouth. Potluck supper. Stay tuned for signups!

Enjoy the growing season. May it yield us not only a beautiful and bountiful harvest, but as importantly, tranquility.

Gary Hoyt
CCMGA President

MGV Plant Sale Update

On Saturday, May 24, 2025, more than 425 enthusiastic gardeners and community members gathered for the Master Gardener Volunteers’ annual plant sale—and not even the threat of rain could dampen their spirits. Despite looming clouds and unpredictable weather, the event was a resounding success, raising over $11,000 in support of Extension service programs.

The energy throughout the day was upbeat and inspiring, with attendees braving the elements to browse a wide selection of annual flowers, vegetables, herbs, perennials, and native plants. Volunteers kept the atmosphere welcoming and lively, helping guests find the perfect plants and offering expert gardening advice with smiles and muddy boots alike. Children and their parents enjoyed making newspaper plant pots at the 4-H-sponsored station, leaving with both a fun keepsake and a better understanding of soil health and sustainable gardening practices. Thanks to Wicked Sharp’s presence, shoppers had the opportunity to get their garden tools in top shape while perusing the sale – and enjoying the raffle, the popular “gently used” tent, educational demonstrations, and Maine Maple Creemees ice cream.

All proceeds from the sale will go toward Extension sponsored community-based horticulture projects – initiatives that continue to make a meaningful impact across the region.

The Master Gardener volunteers extend their deepest thanks to everyone who attended, donated, and helped create such a joyful and successful day. Your support helps grow gardens—and community resilience – one plant at a time.

Roots – Meet MGV Annika Schmidt

A photo of Master Gardener Volunteer Annika Schmidt in front of a blooming bush full of pink flowers.

Originally from Cambridge, Massachusetts, Annika Schmidt made stops in Sweden (she’s fluent in Swedish!), Providence (where she studied Furniture Design & Textiles at RISD), Brooklyn, and Portland, before settling in South Portland. 

Annika grew up in a house that came with all kinds of things growing in the yard: raspberries, blackberries, rhubarb, apples, cherries, nettles, and more. “My mom harvested and made use of all these things in the kitchen but we never grew annuals. I mostly just remember doing yard work with my mom, but found gardening again on my own while living in NY. I began volunteering with an organization called BK Farmyards that relied on unused backyards to create neighborhood CSAs and grow food to donate.”

Annika has worked in numerous fields, drawing on her design background for problem solving, implementing organization and efficiency, and thinking about the experience of the end user. “I’m passionate about local and sustainable systems and practices, resilient communities, and regenerative practices in gardening and agriculture.” 

Today, as the Municipal Programs Manager at Garbage to Garden, she spends a lot of time talking about compost and supporting municipal composting programs. In her spare time – in addition to volunteering at Tidewater Farm – she enjoys baking and tackling home projects, and getting out to explore Maine with her husband and their cattle dog.

Annika’s advice for fellow gardeners: “Experiment! I like to grow enough seedlings that I can try different approaches, potting up or planting out at different times. I’ve found I was much too cautious in the early years, and get better results now.”

Garlic and potatoes are always some of her favorites to grow – but this year she’s particularly excited about her Japanese husk-less corn!

Is there a Master Gardener Volunteer or Project Leader you’d like to see featured here? Nominate them by emailing Heather Wiggins Berger. 

Volunteer Spotlight:  Smiling Hill Farm Kinder Garden

[Contributed by Rachel Riendeau Caughey, Cumberland County MGV Class of ‘23]

A baby in a car seat near a prolific vining plant at the Kinder Garden.One of the only educational gardens geared toward children – Smiling Hill Farm (SHF) Kinder Garden – offers a feast for all: for the eyes and mind, for curious nibbling for local and out-of-town visitors of all ages, for customers of local food pantries, for the wild critters, and for the domestic residents of the SHF Barnyard.

Sharon Blakeslee has been a project lead at SHF since she became a MGV back in 2010. She shares the even deeper history of MG volunteering at SHF. A trio of seasoned women MGVs
started and ran the Kinder Garden in the 1990s. Their goal was interacting with visiting children to inspire new gardeners. The project went on hiatus for almost a decade when the threat of foot and mouth disease, a highly contagious virus that harms animals and people, forced SHF to shutter its public-facing programs. Former barn manager and current SHF president Hillary Knight remembers watching the women gardening as a child from the apartment over the barn. Nostalgic, she was eager to restart the project when it was safe to reopen in 2010. Pamela Hargest’s predecessor, Amy, knew Sharon well as an animal lover and neighbor to the farm, so she suggested that the then-novice MGV lead the revitalization. Before they retired, Sharon remembers how the project founders guided her in re-establishing the MGV site with their “crystallized knowledge”- vast accumulated expertise from years of hands-on Kinder Garden-ing.

Even as the massive original rhubarb, now at least 30 years old, and the quintessentially-Maine blueberry bushes remain, the project has evolved. A pizza garden expanded into a full tasting garden of herbs and edible perennials. Raised beds of various veggies, sunflowers lining fences, and now a native and pollinator plant garden entice visitors to stroll the wood-chipped paths sandwiched between the cow pasture, barn, and SHF ice cream shop and cafe. Curious children can reach into a mailbox for free coloring sheets about gardening and recipes for what the garden grows. Signs and volunteers also encourage visitors to sample the fresh fruits, veggies, and herbs when ripe. MGVs enjoy challenging visitors to try new foods like rhubarb or edible flowers, help pick beans (under close supervision), and share about how their real or dream gardens compare. Families and camp programs come through to explore during the summer.

In addition to on-site service to the public, the SHF Kinder Garden works with food pantries in Westbrook, Windham, Gorham, and Portland. Their recommendations to grow less commonly donated vegetables, like swiss chard and eggplant, respond to their customers’ preferences. This helps guide planning each year. The Kinder Garden has donated regularly for the Harvest for Hunger since the program was founded, averaging a modest but mighty 250 pounds a year. Last year Sharon applied for and received the Kinder Garden’s first MG Seed Grant, while this year the team received donations through UMaine Cooperative Extension from Pine Tree Seeds. This dedicated leader confesses that she previously paid for seeds and seedlings for many years as a donation during the annual field trips to Broadway Gardens and Merserves. The team has also sourced perennials from their own gardens to entice more pollinators. This has worked, and volunteers have met swallowtail caterpillars, hummingbird moths, and other tiny friends to the flowers throughout the garden.

Since it reopened in 2010, a steady stream of 3-4 MGVs contribute annually to the project, many bringing their experience at SHF to help establish other education gardens at schools in their own towns. Project duties range from planning, planting, and clean-up on a few seasonal group work days to regular watering, maintenance, harvesting, and donating the harvest. MGVs also grow seedlings at home; champion MGV Sarah Alison, after many years of helping to plan and maintain the gardens, has recently taken on the bulk of seed-starting to kickstart and lengthen SHF’s season. Gardening education about gardening happens by chance, depending on MGVs’ flexible hours on their chosen work day, when visitors wander in, or when SHF participates in outreach like Open Farms Day.

The project’s variety in duties and perks also benefit from the expertise of a non-MG volunteer: local gardener, Cornell-trained botanist, Sharon’s former coworker, and all around pal to the animals, Margaret Busby. Her knowledge and advocacy means, with the Barnyard team’s guidance and approval, weeds SHF volunteers pull become snacks for the Barnyard pigs and
other SHF animals. This task allows MGVs to pass through the staff gate into the Barnyard to visit Mr. Pickles, the miniature donkey, and other animals.

Four Master Gardener Volunteers smiling after having worked at the Kinder Garden.There are a plethora of other perks for volunteers at SHF’s Kinder Garden. Sharon’s favorite part of the work is meeting gardeners from near and far. In this way, she has deepened her
friendship with community gardeners like Margaret and other MGVs, and swapped tips and delight with tourist visitors from around the country. Animals like the barn cats and starlings also befriend volunteers. Leashed dogs (outside the Barnyard) and friends of all ages are also welcome to join volunteers to absorb the atmosphere and gardening inspiration. A bounty of free wood chips for mulching from next door Hillside Lumber and manure for fertilizing from the working cows of SHF help keep the project well-maintained at a low cost. The manure also perks up volunteers’ gardens willing to haul a bucket back home. Other perks of volunteering at the SHF Kinder Garden include non-human friendships with the Barnyard buddies, flexible schedules, easy access to ice cream and snacks next door at the cafe after sometimes-sweaty shifts on the sunny and windy hill, and fostering informal apprenticeships and naps for the young, old, and in-between.

Next season, project lead Sharon hopes for no diseases or bugs. In 2024, the team battled striped flea beetles on the spinach and blossom end rot on the squash.The barn cats seemed
successfully deterred from using the eggplant bed for a litter box after plastic forks were planted throughout, so that will be one less obstacle. The returning project team also hopes for new friends and more volunteers. There are few limits to what expansion could look like with more people-power, from regular educational programming for the SHF summer campers to increased harvests. The Smiling Hill Farm Kinder Garden would love more MGVs to become part of the diverse ecosystem of plants, pollinators, barn animals, and humans of all ages.
Consider joining us!

Please contact Sharon Blakeslee or Rachel Riendeau Caughey if you’re interested in getting involved. The season planning meeting usually occurs in late April, but all are welcome to join anytime.

We’re looking for volunteer projects to feature in our Master Gardener Volunteer Newsletter. If you are interested in having your project featured – or if there is a project you would like to learn more about – please reach out to Kerri Frazier. 

Ask an MGV: Tips & Tricks for your Best Garden Yet

Q: I’ve lost my pumpkins to squash bugs the past 3 years. How can I keep them away from my plants this year? I’m determined to have homegrown jack-o-lanterns this year! 

Squash bugs, specifically Anasa tristis, are a common pest in Maine gardens, affecting cucurbit crops like squash, pumpkins, and melons. Both adults and nymphs feed on plant sap, causing wilting, speckled leaves, and potential plant death. Management strategies include cultural practices like sanitation and trapping, as well as the use of insecticides when necessary.

Identification:

  • Adult squash bugs are flattened, gray to black, and approximately 1/2 to 3/4 inch long with orange and brown stripes on the abdomen. 
  • Nymphs are smaller, ranging from 1/16 to 1/2 inch, with the first instar being green and subsequent instars becoming grayish-white with dark appendages. 
  • They can be found on the underside of leaves, near the plant’s crown, or under debris. 

Damage:

  • Squash bugs suck sap from leaves, stems, and sometimes fruit, injecting a toxic substance that causes wilting and eventual blackening and crisping of the plant material.
  • Heavy infestations can kill small plants and severely damage larger ones.
  • Squash bugs are also vectors of Yellow Vine Decline, a disease that can further harm cucurbit crops. 

Management:

  • Cultural Practices:
    • Sanitation: Remove plant debris and cucurbit plants after harvest to reduce overwintering sites. 
    • Trapping: Use boards or newspaper to trap squash bugs, which can then be collected and destroyed in the morning. 
    • Companion Planting: Some gardeners believe that planting nasturtiums, marigolds, dill, lemon balm, peppermint, and parsley around squash plants can help repel the bugs.
  • Natural Enemies:
    • Beneficial insects like tachinid flies and some egg parasitoids can help control squash bug populations. 
    • Attracting beneficial insects to your garden with flowers and other nectar-rich plants can help establish a natural balance.

For insecticide options, please visit one of the following websites:

We want to help you with your gardening issues. To get help from your fellow MGVs, submit your questions to Heather Wiggins Berger.

Upcoming Events

University of Maine Extension Events

Community Events

MGV Updates

Upcoming MGV Training

Help recruit the next generation of MGVs by spreading the word about the 2025/2026 Master Gardener Volunteer Training. A survey of program participants showed that the #1 way people found out about our program was through word-of-mouth.

  • Applications open: July 21, 2025, at noon
  • Deadline: August 15, 2025, at 4:30 PM
  • Open to all Maine counties (space/project availability may vary)

Hours 

Please report your hours and impact in our MGV Dashboard!

Past Editions: Missed a previous newsletter? View them all HERE  (password: ladybug)

About this Newsletter: The Cumberland County Master Gardener Volunteer Newsletter is edited by Clarissa Brown, Kerri Frazier, and Heather Wiggins Berger. If you would like to submit an event, article,or help with any aspect of the Newsletter, please contact Heather Wiggins Berger, the newsletter coordinator.