Gardens in the Watershed of Maine

Our good friends rented a house in Tenants Harbor, Maine for the month of July. They graciously invited us to visit them for a week during their stay. Aside from cooking every type of fresh seafood the area had to offer and the quest for the best lobster roll in town, we toured a few gardens. Kitty and I wrote the following article for the Key West Citizen.

Fortunately for us the Georges River Land Trust (GRLT) was sponsoring the 24^th annual ‘Gardens in the Watershed Tour' during our stay on the Central Maine Coastline. 

Winter Stash ~ Summer Corn

Summer corn is in! The only thing better than eating fresh corn in August is eating it in January.

I'm secretly partial to bi-colored corn. I'll admit that it might be all in my mind but they seem to taste sweeter. Every summer I spend a good part of one day prepping, blanching and putting up fresh Colorado corn for the winter. Now I'm ready to add summer sunshine to a pot of winter chowder on a moments notice.

Summertime

As it is for everyone, the month of July always seems to be a busy month. Vacation plans, summer gardening and big ideas for all kinds of home projects. If even a fraction of the plans come to fruition I'll call it good. Today I was thinking of the phrase 'summer tomatoes'. My tomatoes weren't able to get into the ground until late May, so this year I'm dreaming of fall tomatoes.

Quinoa Salad with Hazelnuts, Apple and Dried Cranberries

This quinoa salad has been a favorite of mine for a couple of years. It's a great side dish that goes well with just about anything that comes off the grill. First domesticated somewhere between 3,000-4,000 years ago, the tiny seed contains essential amino acids making it a complete protein, one of the few on the list of super foods.

Gourd Birdhouses

Aside from being a fun plant to grow, birdhouse gourds make great homes for cavity dwelling birds. 

What appears to be a small wren is taking up residency in the front yard, building a nest in the gourd hanging from our Mountain Ash.

Soil Blocking

Our Colorado rain is tapering off so I have been planting seeds and my vegetable starts in the garden.

This past winter while planning the garden we came upon an article about DIY potting soil and soil blocking mixes. Always eager to make a change for the better and have more control over the soil we grow in, we looked into this hand-held 4 cube soil block maker.

March Snow, April Flowers & May Showers

April showers bring May flowers... well that wasn't the case for Colorado this year. March snow brought us April flowers. May was the rainiest month I've seen in 16 years with something like 29 days of rain. Mostly it was good, the main setback being a late start for those that plant vegetable gardens. The wet month had a few snow days thrown in as well which nipped the fruit trees that had started to bud, so there will be no back yard fruit for the squirrels, birds and myself to fight over this year. 

Late April tulips, grape hyacinths and basket of gold were a promising sight for winter eyes.