Maine Home Garden News - February 2025 - Cooperative Extension: Garden and Yard - University of Maine Cooperative Extension

pink paper hearts speckled with seeds on wooden surface. — Plantable paper hearts. Photo by Kate Garland.

Maine Home Garden News – February 2025

January 27, 2025 Maine Home Garden News, News

In This Issue:

February Is the Month to . . .
Creating a Pollinator Garden for the New Year
UMaine Cooperative Extension’s “Ask an Expert” Portal
February Declared Browntail Awareness Month: Act Now
Backyard Bird of the Month
Maine Weather and Climate Overview (February 2025)
Featured Ask the Expert

February Is the Month to . . .

By Jonathan Foster, Horticulture Outreach Professional, Photos by Kate Garland

Inventory, replace, repair, and/or clean your tools.

Though it’s too soon to get out and garden, this is a great time to head out to the garage or shed to look over your tool supply. First, make sure you have the essentials, especially if you’re a new gardener. Then, remember that cleaning tools is the best way to prolong their useful life. Also, regular cleaning helps prevent spread of disease once the growing season is underway. If it’s been a while since you paid much attention to them, you may find rust or other corrosion. Renovating tools is often just a matter of combining household materials and elbow grease. Read our previous article on Combating the Ravages of Time: Renovating Hopeless Tools!

sedum plant

Spend some time with your houseplants!

Houseplants offer fantastic opportunities to indulge your love of greenery even in the depths of winter. You can scout for pests and disease, pay attention to irrigation (overwatering is one of the most common causes of houseplant death), propagate by taking cuttings, repot anything that has gotten crowded or root-bound, and fertilize as the days grow longer and the plants grow more vigorous. Tips for Growing Houseplants in Maine covers everything from basic care to propagation and everything in between.

Plan your garden.

Winter is a great time to break out the paper and pencil–or various computer programs–to sketch your plantings for this year. Crop rotation (read our article: Crop Rotation for Home Gardeners in MHGN July 2019) is a best practice to prevent accumulation of disease. Because pathogens tend to focus on plant families, try to select species from a different family for your garden bed placement each year. Tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant are in family Solanaceae; zucchini and squash are in Cucurbitaceae; beets and chard are in Amaranthaceae. So, for instance, you could plant your tomatoes where last year’s squash grew.

If you constructed a “sun map” last season, noting the amount of direct sun your beds receive throughout the day, now is when you can match up plants with light needs. If you haven’t already created such a map, consider drafting one this year at the start of the growing season. Then continue to track the light as it changes over the summer months. Depending on its orientation relative to trees and buildings, a spot that receives a full day of sun at one point in the season might change to part shade at another, and vice versa. packets of seeds

Buy seeds.

One of the highlights of my gardening year is the arrival of seed catalogs. They let me daydream about plants I might like to grow while the dark days and snowy ground mock me from outside. Seeds are widely available, but Maine-based suppliers like those listed here may offer more varieties that are best for our climate. Calculate how many you need with our handy planting chart. If interested in starting seeds indoors, take a look at our UMaine Cooperative Extension Bulletin #2751, “Starting Seeds at Home.” Several species of ornamentals, as well as spinach and onion, can be started at home later this month!

Cultivate patience!

You may be eager to begin, but don’t start seeds too soon (a common occurrence among enthusiastic, impatient gardeners tired of winter…) or they will grow leggy and weak by planting-out time. A good seed calendar like this one from MOFGA will keep you on schedule.

Call prospective soil and compost suppliers to inquire about jumping worms and ask what mitigation efforts they are employing. The best defense against infestation is to prevent the pests from entering your property, and many companies are now taking steps to protect against the worms. A little homework can save you a lot of headaches down the line.

Creating a Pollinator Garden for the New Year

By Lourdes Maria Engel, Oxford County Master Gardener Volunteer

The new year is a great time to think about resolutions that bring lasting positive change. I’ve decided to focus on improving and expanding my pollinator garden. With the thoughts of butterflies, bees, birds, and the lovely colors and scents of flowers, I wanted to share some ideas that may inspire your own resolutions for 2025.

Plant pollinator-friendly plants

Native plants in their original forms are ideal for pollinators. Such plants are adapted to Maine’s climate and soil, and they have evolved together with native insects in mutually beneficial ways. By contrast, newer hybrids and cultivars may have features that reduce the amount or accessibility of pollen. For example, although some hydrangeas are native to North America, many on the market have been bred for showy, sterile flowers that produce little pollen.

To serve the greatest variety of pollinators, design your garden with a range of plants that will sustain bloom over a long season. Maine’s growing season has three phases (with start and end times varying by your location). Each phase features many beautiful flowering natives. Here are just a few examples:

Early (April, May, and June)–Red Columbine, Jack-in-the-pulpit, Chives, Canada Violet, Golden Alexanders, Sundial Lupine
Midseason (July and August)–Bee Balm, Fleabane, Early Goldenrods, Milkweed
Late (September and October) – Helenium, Late Goldenrods, Aster, Blue Lobelia

Check out Providing Food for Pollinators for more plant recommendations and information on where to obtain native plants.

Avoid insecticides and herbicides

To avoid harming pollinators, avoid using broad spectrum insecticides, and never spray pesticides on plants where pollinators are feeding. Instead, you can pick or wash bugs off plants, pull weeds by hand, support predators such as lady beetle larvae (voracious aphid consumers) and perhaps even tolerate a little herbivory.

Here is more Integrated Pest Management (IPM) information you can dig into.

Plant in clumps

Planting in clumps (at least three of one type) helps pollinators find and use the plants more easily, without expending too much energy traveling between flowers.

Planting in multiples

If your budget doesn’t allow for purchasing multiple plants all at once, keep in mind that a well-rooted perennial can often be divided right out of the pot, giving you three plants for the price of one. Within a season or two, these smaller starts will quickly grow to full size to create the larger clumps that the pollinators love.

You can also create larger clumps by dividing existing, mature perennials every 3-5 years. Not only will this help you expand your own garden, you can share the divisions with neighbors and friends. Be sure to carefully wash all soil off roots before transferring plants from site to site to avoid inadvertently moving invasive species such as jumping worms.

Video: How to Divide Perennials (YouTube)

Create a compost pile or wild space in your yard

Composting reduces waste, recycles organic materials, and provides habitat for invertebrates. See this publication for a guide on how to compost at home. Your garden will thank you!

Even a small wild space like a brush pile or area of unraked leaves will give shelter to insects and other garden organisms. Dried foliage of ornamental grasses and hollow stems of perennials like Joe Pye Weed are also good winter habitat, so wait until late spring to cut those plants to the ground. Learn to enjoy their faded beauty and you will be rewarded with a livelier garden the next season.

Certify your pollinator-friendly garden

This may be the year where I resolve to apply for a pollinator garden certification. Once your pollinator-friendly plantings and procedures are in place, you might want to consider this too! To be certified, a garden must provide food, water, habitat and protection for pollinators. For information on the requirements and access to the application form, visit our website.

Volunteer

Volunteer with a local group that works on planting native habitat, removing invasive plants, or protecting wildlife. Check out the following:

Learn more

UMaine Cooperative Extension’s “Ask an Expert” Portal

By Jonathan Foster, UMaine Cooperative Extension Horticulture Outreach Professional

In this inaugural edition of the 2025 MHGN, we’d like to reintroduce “Ask an Expert” our popular online tool for answering your questions on vegetable and fruit gardening, ornamental gardening, plant identification, landscaping, soil and water conservation issues, and pest and disease questions. The Extension has offered this service for several years. We spent 2024 updating our software and streamlining the service behind the scenes, and we were very happy with the results, with a record number of questions fielded last year. The QR code here will take you directly to the portal. If we don’t know the answer to your question, we’ll find someone who does and typically get back to you within 3-5 days (but often much quicker, depending on seasonal volume).

In addition to providing a direct response, most of the replies will be posted on the UMaine Cooperative Extension archive, where you can peruse previous questions and answers. Your county horticulture personnel remain at your service for advice, as always, but the portal is a great alternative option if they’re unavailable or if your county has vacancies in those positions. It’s all part of our ongoing effort to strengthen, broaden, and simplify the Cooperative Extension’s capacity to help our fellow home gardeners!

Ask the Expert!

“I planted two varieties of butternut squash, Brulee and Honey Patch, in the same raised bed this summer. Both types of squash have started to rot prematurely from the outside in [in storage]. I had the same problem last year but in a different bed. The squash looked fine when I harvested them. They started to show the discoloration on the skin while I was curing them indoors at 75 deg.“

There are several pathogens that can cause butternut rot in storage, including ones that infect post-harvest and some that persist from previous undiagnosed disease in the field (i.e., they can be infected even if they look good at harvest), and I can’t tell you with certainty which it is without referring you to the plant pathology lab. The “good” news is that the treatment for most of the conditions is similar, so I can give you an idea of a few things you can try next season. For this season, I would recommend disposing of too far gone fruit and then processing as much of the squash as can be salvaged for storage by another method (e.g., cutting away bad portions then canning, freezing, etc) and eat as much fresh as you can. The crop probably won’t store well or long with rot underway.

75 is a good temperature for curing, as long as the indoor location you used was well ventilated and dry, so unless the latter is the case you didn’t do anything procedurally incorrect. If you think the location might have been poorly ventilated, that would be something I would alter for next season, or try to cure them outside in the bed, if the weather permits. Rotating crops is a first line suggestion–it sounds like you have already done that (nice job!), but I would really focus on growing them somewhere new and as far away as possible next year, or let the bed sit for a couple of seasons (either fallow or growing something from an entirely different family), as you may very well have some fungal pathogen built up in the soil. Where you do plant them, slipping a physical barrier between fruit and soil is always good, as is leaving the stem intact when harvesting and handling the fruits very carefully to avoid physical injury. You can also wipe the fruits down with a mild bleach solution (1:9 bleach to water) before storing, which will kill many bacteria, viruses, and fungal spores.

I’m going to put a few resources below with some more reading. The first two are a little more user-friendly and have practical advice, the third more technical, with a discussion of different pathogens. If neither the links nor my advice improve things next year, or if you remain concerned about identifying the specific disease, you can always submit a sample to the UMaine Plant Disease Diagnostic Lab for testing. There is a fee for their service, but you would have lab confirmation of any pathogens present. I’m hopeful that you’ll have better luck next season, though, with these few tips.

Penn St Univ Extension “Prevent Rot of Winter Squash”

UMass Amherst Extension “Pumpkin and Winter Squash Harvest and Storage”

Oregon State Univ Extension “Winter Squash Storage Rots”

Happy gardening.

February Declared Browntail Awareness Month: Act Now

Courtesy of The Maine Forest Service, a division of the Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry

Browntail Moth caterpillars have been established in Maine for over 100 years, and their cyclical outbreaks cause tree defoliation and can cause irritating rashes in humans. All residents of Maine are encouraged to participate in Browntail Awareness Month by learning how to identify and remove the pests’ winter webs from trees on their properties.

Browntail moth winter web in February. Maine Forest Service — Photo by Maine Forest Service

Although browntail moth populations experienced a large decline statewide in 2024, populations remain elevated in some areas. Winter is a great time to manage browntail moth caterpillars because their winter webs are visible on leafless branches, the risk of exposure to the hairs from the caterpillars is low, and the timing allows people to assess the need for possible treatments in advance. This is why February has been designated as Browntail Awareness Month, a time when individuals are urged to take proactive measures against this invasive pest.

Recognize and Remove Winter Webs:

Learn to identify browntail winter webs, which are typically found at the tips of tree branches. They resemble palm-sized structures tied to the leaf stem with white silk. Focus your attention on tree species favored by the browntail, such as oak, apple, crabapple, cherry, birch, poplar, and other hardwoods. Use hand snips or an extendable pole pruner to safely remove webs within reach, taking necessary precautions to protect yourself from potential contact with the hairs from the caterpillars. Such precautions include long sleeves, gloves and eye protection. Then kill the caterpillars in the webs you have collected by soaking the webs in a container of soapy water for a few days or by burning them in a contained fire.

Professional Assistance:

If you can’t reach the webs you have identified, seek assistance from licensed arborists or FAA-certified drone operators specializing in browntail removal. Additionally, if pesticide treatments may be effective, it’s good to have a licensed pesticide applicator lined up in advance to ensure they are available to treat trees in April or early May.

Clipped browntail moth winter webs in a 5-gallon bucket ready for soapy water or burning to kill caterpillars inside. — Photo by Maine Forest Service

Community Collaboration:

Foster a sense of collective responsibility by contacting neighbors, local businesses, and community organizations. By working together, communities can effectively respond to browntail infestations, yielding better results for all.

To further bolster awareness and engagement, many organizations host educational events throughout February, including Browntail Moth Mitigation and Educational Clipping Events. These events provide valuable opportunities for hands-on learning and collaboration with experts in the field.

Additional Resources and Support

Educational materials, including videos, brochures, FAQs, and an interactive map, are available at the Maine Forest Service website to empower individuals and communities in their Browntail mitigation efforts.
Residents are encouraged to use #KnockOutBTM on social media to share their successes and inspire others to join the fight against Browntail Moths.

More information and updates on Browntail Awareness Month activities.

About Maine Forest Service

The Maine Forest Service, a division of the Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry, is responsible for the sustainable management and protection of Maine’s forest resources. They provide leadership, expertise, and assistance to various stakeholders to promote the ecological, economic, and social benefits of the state’s forests.

Backyard Bird of the Month

By Maine Audubon Staff Naturalist Doug Hitchcox

dozens of black birds dotting the sky at dusk along a tree line. — Crow roost in Lewiston.
Photo by Doug Hitchcox

One of the most ubiquitous birds around, the American Crow is often seen from your yard but not often thought of as a “backyard bird,” since they rarely come to feeders. Crows are very opportunistic, being both omnivores and scavengers, so they are just as likely to steal a big chunk of suet from your feeders as they are to tear apart a trash bag before it’s picked up. At this time of year, be on the lookout for the spectacle of mass movements of crows going to roost. In the evening, crows will travel from miles around to join a central roosting site where they will sleep for the night, often near developed areas where there are fewer predators.

Besides safety in numbers, these roosts provide warmth, and some theorize that there is also information sharing going on between the birds. Even if you don’t live near the roost, in the last hour of daylight you can often spot American Crows flying high overhead, all heading in the same direction, where they’ll join other resident crows, also joined by migrants, to form groups by the thousands. These large roosts are only seen in the nonbreeding season, when birds aren’t territorial, and will start to dwindle by March.

Maine Weather and Climate Overview (February 2025)

Dr. Sean Birkel, Assistant Extension Professor, Maine State Climatologist, Climate Change Institute, Cooperative Extension University of Maine

Calendar year 2024 closed with statewide annual temperature and precipitation ranking 1st warmest and 60th wettest (normal), respectively, based on data from NOAA beginning 1895. The 2024 mean temperature was 45.1°F, which is 0.5°F above the 44.6°F recorded for the previous warmest year, 2010. As for this climatological winter, NOAA statewide summaries show December 2024 as 28th warmest (top 1/3) and 28th wettest (top 1/3), and, based on station data through the 27th from Bangor, Caribou, and Portland, January 2025 temperature is ranking near to slightly above the long-term mean with below normal precipitation. Much of Maine continues to register either abnormal dryness or moderate drought owing to signal carry-over from drought conditions that developed September–November, producing the driest fall on record. The Northeast Drought Early Warning System Dashboard shows that observed streamflows in the western half of the state are within normal range, but below normal in the east. Groundwater levels vary considerably across the state, ranging from normal to much below normal for this time of year. Likewise, snow analysis maps from the National Weather Service show below normal snowpack for late January across Maine compared to the past several years. For additional drought information and resources, refer to Maine Emergency Management Agency Drought Task Force webpage.

In the latest 10-day weather forecast (evening January 28), seasonably cold temperatures persist, along with signs of an active weather pattern that could bring more snow our way. This is consistent with the 6–10 and 8–14 day probabilistic outlooks from the NOAA Climate Prediction Center, shown below. As always, visit weather.gov for the latest weather forecast for your area. Detailed winter weather guidance is available from the National Weather Service Gray and Caribou forecast office webpages. For questions about climate and weather, please contact the Maine Climate Office.

**NOAA Climate Prediction Center Outlooks**
Product	Temperature	Precipitation
Days 6-10: Feb 2–6 (issued Jan 27)	Below Normal	Near Normal
Weeks 8-14: Feb 4–10 (issued Jan 27)	Near Normal	Lean Above Normal
Monthly, February (issued Jan 16)	Equal Chances	Lean Above Normal
Seasonal: Feb–Mar–Apr (issued Jan 16)	Above Normal	Lean Above Normal

6-10 temperature outlook — The NOAA Climate Prediction Center reports that La Niña conditions have developed and are expected to persist through the February – April period. La Niña does not always produce consistent winter temperature and precipitation outcomes in Maine, but there is a tendency towards colder temperatures and increased precipitation. For additional information, including historical temperature and precipitation data and weather forecast maps, visit the Maine Climate Office.

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Maine Home Garden News was created in response to a continued increase in requests for information on gardening and includes timely and seasonal tips, as well as research-based articles on all aspects of gardening. Articles are written by UMaine Extension specialists, educators, and horticulture professionals, as well as Master Gardener Volunteers from around Maine. The following staff and volunteer team take great care editing content, designing the web and email platforms, maintaining email lists, and getting hard copies mailed to those who don’t have access to the internet: Abby Zelz*, Annika Schmidt*, Barbara Harrity*, Kate Garland, Mary Michaud, Michelle Snowden, Naomi Jacobs*, Phoebe Call*, and Wendy Robertson.

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