Question: When does “days to maturity” start? Some of my flower farmer friends say it’s when you start the plant inside before transplanting them outside. Others have told me it’s when you transplant it outside. Answer: Jonathan Foster, Home Horticulture Outreach Professional The answer is… it’s a little complicated. 🙂 The broad, mostly followed rule […]
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Question: When should central Maine Zone 4 start winter sowing? Answer: Jonathan Foster, Home Horticulture Outreach Professional The answer ultimately depends on what you’re sowing, but realistically you can do most of it now. As it happens, I just wrote an article for the Maine Home Garden News on winter sowing, so I’ll include the relevant portion […]
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Question: I am a new gardener. I started all my garden plants indoors this year, from seed (about 3-400) and recently, a silvery white fungus or mold is appearing on the soil and spreading to the soil of all my starts. At times it looks like silver threads and other times just a lite silver […]
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Question: I have a question about how to care for seedlings while waiting for the weather to get warmer so I can plant outside. I have some butternut squash seedlings that aren’t ready to plant outside yet because of weather, but are showing their true leaves and are 6-8” tall. I have some smaller Moonflower […]
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Question: I am a first time gardener starting tomato seedlings inside. My seedlings are three weeks old as of Apr 20th. About a week ago they started drooping, leaves curling and some undersides of leaves have turned purple. I have spent a ton of time researching online and received every answer under the sun. Soil […]
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Question: How long should it take for true leaves to appear on tomato seedlings? Can I rescue these seedlings? I planted tomato and pepper seeds on 3/1 using an organic seed-starting mix & following the instructions of your excellent seed starting video. I placed them on a heat mat. Within 4 days, the tomato seeds […]
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Question: My questions is about transplanting suckers from a Summer Sweet Clethra shrub. I have a source of suckers from an established shrub that needs to be pruned in the spring because it is taking over the bed. It does not leaf out until June. I wonder if I could separate and dig up some […]
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Question: Can I plant Forget-Me-Not seeds now for next year’s blooms? Will they survive the winter? Answer: Jonathan Foster, Special Projects Assistant Forget-me-not (Myosotis sylvatica) is technically a winter hardy biennial, but is often grown as an annual. However, because it is such a prodigious self-sower, once planted it often continues on in successive generations […]
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Question: I have planted beets multiple times this season, with very little success. What happens is this: I plant the seed (Detroit Red) and a week or so later the little sprouts poke through the soil. I keep them watered, but over the next week or two, almost all of them disappear. I have a […]
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Question: How late can I plant peas for a fall crop and expect to harvest any? Answer: Jonathan Foster, Special Projects Assistant The planting calendar from MOFGA (Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners) recommends August 1 for a planting date for fall crop peas. Keep an eye on them toward the end to protect against early frost. […]
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