New 4-H Garden/Farm Animal Project in Milo

4-H and Piscataquis County have some exciting things happening and they need help from the community.  A group of interested citizens from the Milo area are working on organizing a community garden as well as a community farm animal care station.  They are looking for additional help in getting these projects going.  If you would like to help out as a volunteer, please contact Brenda Mowdy at olibird1@abbasworkshop.com or call her at 327-2111. 
 
There is a meeting for individuals interested in getting involved in 4-H and this project scheduled for Saturday, January 8, 2011 at 4:00 pm at the University of Maine Cooperative Extension Office at 165 East Main Street in Dover-Foxcroft.  There is also a Volunteer Training scheduled for that same day and location from 1:00-4:00 pm.  If you would like to get involved with 4-H and would like to take this training, please contact Barb Baker at 1-800-287-1485 or email barbara.baker@maine.edu .

Living Christmas trees are a wonderful alternative to traditional cut or faux tree options.  They can be planted after the holidays and enjoyed for many years to come.  The chances of your tree surviving and thriving after its first indoor holiday are much greater with proper planning and these 10 easy steps:

1. Expect a small tree.  Unless you have the capacity to move a 200lb+ root ball into your home, potted trees are the most manageable way to go.  Most potted trees are sold at a height of 3' or less.  Even potted trees can be heavy.
2. Decide where it should be planted.  Know how tall the tree is expected to grow and choose a location with its final size in mind.  If you don't have a space in your own yard, consider donating it to a local park or school.
3. Dig the hole when the ground isn't frozen.  Some years this can be well into December, but it doesn't look like it will be easy digging this year.  The hole should be the same depth as the root-ball and twice as wide.  Store soil from the hole in a container that can be brought into a warm location to thaw out before planting. 

If it's too late to dig a hole, sometimes it is possible to overwinter the trees by covering the roots will a large amount of straw or other type of mulch.  This helps prevent the root-ball from repeatedly freezing and thawing (which is a major cause of decline in plants overwintered with their roots above ground).  Be sure to pile snow over the roots for further insulation, if this is your approach. 

4. A few days before moving the tree inside, leave it in a transition area that is an intermediate temperature between outside and your living area.  A garage or cool basement will work well.
5. Be sure to keep the roots moist (not wet) during the whole process.       
6. Plan to have the tree in your house for no more than a week.  Less is even better.  The trees will begin to break dormancy if left in warm temperatures for too long.  This will leave the tree even more sensitive to the cold when it is eventually brought outside. 
7. After the holiday, leave the tree in a transition location for a few days so that it can better acclimate to the colder temperatures. 
8. Plant.  Remove from the container and place the root mass in the center of the pre-dug hole.  If planting a tree with roots that are contained in burlap, remove ropes, wire, and as much burlap as possible after placing the root-ball in the hole.  Backfill around the roots using the original soil dug from the hole.  Water thoroughly and mulch with a light layer of straw.
9. If the tree is in a very windy location, wrap the tree in burlap during the first winter.
10. Water on a monthly basis for the first year. 

Some families enjoy living Christmas trees every year while some have them to celebrate a special occasion, such as the birth of a child or a move to a new home.  With proper planning, you can successfully add a living memory to your landscape!

For more information, contact Katherine.garland@maine.edu .

Hannah is Leaving Us :-(

Hannah Todd who has been our Home Horticulture Coordinator since November 2008 will be leaving us the end of the year to start a new chapter in her book of life. We wish her well and appreciate all the excellent programs and gardening information she has shared with gardeners in Piscataquis and Somerset Counties.

We will be hiring a new Home Horticulture Coordinator and if you or anyone you know is interested please direct them to this online site for more details about the position and application process when it is posted.

Master Gardener Volunteer Training

The Penobscot County Extension office is announcing the 2011 Master Gardener training program. The 2011 training will concentrate on ornamental crops (flowers, trees, shrubs and landscaping.)

Instruction will also include basic soils, botany, and pest management training. Master Gardeners receive reference materials, a lot of opportunity to interact with other gardeners, and opportunities to work on a variety of volunteer projects. Forty hours of volunteer time is required of each trainee as part of the overall program. 

The training begins on February 1, 2011. The application deadline is January 7, 2011. Training sessions will be held at the Extension office at 307 Maine Avenue, Bangor Application packets for the program may be obtained by calling the Penobscot County Extension Office at 942-7396 or 1-800-287-1485 or by emailing Theresa Tilton at theresa.tilton@maine.edu.

ELONGATE HEMLOCK SCALE ALERT
The elongate hemlock scale, Fiorinia externa, a serious insect pest of eastern hemlock, has been detected in the forest in Kittery, Maine.  This is the first detection of this pest in a natural forest stand in Maine.  Previous detections have been on outplanted nursery stock in Cape Elizabeth (2010), Kennebunk (2009) and Kennebunkport (2009). 
 
Elongate hemlock scale will feed on a broad range of conifers.  There is conflicting information on this pest but primary hosts appear to be hemlock, fir and spruce.  Damage causes needle discoloration and loss.  This weakens the tree and makes it vulnerable to pests such as hemlock borer, Melanophila fulvoguttata or Armillaria root rot. 
 
Elongate hemlock scale is likely to hasten hemlock decline in the same places that hemlock woolly adelgid (HWA) is anticipated to be a problem (within about 20 miles of the coast).  Its impact on native fir is less clear, but it is likely to exacerbate the problems with fir in coastal and southern Maine. Forest health personnel in Connecticut and Massachusetts and New Hampshire have commented at recent meetings that it is now causing significant decline to hemlocks in their states.   
  
Detection of low populations is difficult.  The find in Kittery may have been overlooked for several more years if surveys had been confined to lower branches.  Pay special attention to hemlocks that are not of native origin and were brought into the state prior to 2001; fir that originated from south or west of the state; and natural forest stands in and adjacent to known areas of HWA infestation. 
 
In addition to being a serious forest pest, elongate hemlock scale eventually may become a significant problem for Christmas tree growers in Maine.  Growers in Pennsylvania have singled it out as a concern needing further research.  Additionally, with Cryptomeria scale it is one of the leading concerns for Christmas tree growers in Connecticut. As with ornamental trees, there are chemicals that can be used in Christmas tree plantations for control of this pest. 
 
More Information can be found on-line at:
http://www.maine.gov/doc/mfs/EH_Scale.htm  Or by contacting MFS office (207) 287-2431 or E-mail. allison.m.kanoti@maine.gov

Source: Allison Kanoti, Maine Forest Service-Forest Entomologist, Forest Health and Monitoring.

By Deb Armstrong

Two "seasoned' Master Gardeners, Deb Armstrong and Mary Beth Connolly set out to test the hypothesis that a family of four could eat wholesome, organically grown vegetables for a year that would not only be healthy for the family themselves, but the pocketbook as well.  With the help of newcomers; Carolyn  Adams, Corey Baughman, Bill Osmer and Jared Greene we succeeded with a total of 1,070 lbs of fresh vegetables with an estimated value of $2,738.00!

Now mind you, we were a little heavy on the tomatoes with over 400 lbs harvested and our fictitious family will need to buy some onions, broccoli and carrots to get them through to next season, but with a bit more planning and succession planting we hope to come a bit closer to our family's needs with the 2011 garden. 

If a family is going to grow a garden to help reduce their grocery bills and to eat more locally they need to start thinking about the garden well in advance.  They need to get a soil test of the garden spot, lay out the garden and spread out black plastic to kill the existing lawn and weeds.  It is a good idea to track what your family likes to eat so that you will know about how much you need to plant of each vegetable to get you through the winter into the next growing season.  Follow the soil test recommendations if you need to amend your soil to improve nutrients for your plants. 

During the fall prior to planting the family can make a garden plan utilizing: raised beds, vertical planting, succession planting and many other creative space ideas including planters.  In the late fall, early winter the family can determine which vegetables they would like to grow, and whether they will buy seedlings in the spring or start the seedlings themselves.  They will also need to determine what seeds they will sow right into the garden.  This is the time to pull out all the seed catalogs, make a list and send in the seed order .  Purchase quality seeds appropriate to your weather zone. It also helps to have a predetermined budget in mind when garden planning.

We'll keep track of what our Fictitious Family of Four is doing and give seasonal updates on their progress in 2011.

Our Fictitious Family wishes your Real Life Family a Happy Holiday Season and a very Happy New Year! And the REAL Master Gardeners wish you the same!

By: Kate Garland, Horticulturist, Penobscot County Extension

We have been very busy this fall! Thanks to the support of several individuals and local businesses, 27 raised beds have been constructed and are waiting on-site to be filled. A generous donation of compost has been delivered as well. We are now looking for donations to purchase loam. If you are interested in signing up for a plot, donating materials or funds, attending free gardening clinics, or you just want to keep posted on how things are going with the project, please fill out the following survey: http://conta.cc/bvoXIX or call Kate Garland at 207 942 7396. Again thank you for all of your support and interest so far. We are already off to a great start! Contact Kate Garland at 207 942 7396 or Katherine.garland@maine.edu

LED Alternatives Offer Efficient Holiday Lighting
As this year's holiday celebrants dig out the same old holiday lights they've been using for years please consider that there are many new LED lighting options available to both reflect the holiday spirit and reduce electric bills in the process.
New LED (light-emitting diode) lights can offer just as much twinkle and enjoyment at a fraction of the cost of older decorative lights. LED lights can reduce the cost of electricity for holiday decorations by as much as 98 percent.
Consider that the cost of using a 500-foot string of older C7-type holiday lights for six hours a day for 40 days (240 hours) is $134. C7 lights are the old large light strings that get hot. People who have switched to mini-lights or twinkle lights, spend about $35 per season. Newer LED holiday lights, on the other hand, cost even less to run: less than $3 for the whole season -- or 2 percent of the cost of the old C7 lights.
In addition, LED lights are virtually indestructible, last longer than standard holiday lights, reduce the risk of fire and stay lit if a single light goes out. With no filament or glass bulb in LED lights, they convert electricity directly to light without the heat.
For more ideas on home energy conservation, visit the University of Maine Cooperative Extension Energy Web site at
http://extension.umaine.edu/energy/

Items of Interest

UMaine's Continuing and Distance Education Division is pleased to offer courses and programs designed to meet the diverse needs of lifelong learners.  Courses are offered on-campus, at selected off-campus sites and online through UMaineOnline. 

For more information about courses and services including registration and academic and student assistance, go to: dll.umaine.edu/cd or call 207-581-3143 or email cedss@umit.maine.edu 

Project Orange Thumb Grant Opportunity. Since Fiskars started Project Orange Thumb in 2002, community garden groups in the U.S. and Canada have been able to apply for grants ($5,000) to help them reach their goals for neighborhood beautification and creation of a healthy, sustainable food source. Community groups are encouraged to submit grant applications for consideration by Fiskars' Project Orange Thumb team, and selected groups receive tools and other gardening materials to help them reach their goals. They encourage schools, youth groups, community centers, camps, clubs, treatment facilities and other civic organizations to apply each year. Application deadline is December 31, 2010. For more information go to Project Orange Thumb. 

International Young Eco-Hero Awards Action For Nature invites applications for the International Young Eco-Hero Awards, to recognize the individual accomplishments of young people, ages 8 to 16, for their outstanding accomplishments in environmental advocacy, environmental health, research, or protection of the natural world.  Winners will receive public recognition, cash prizes, and certificates for their outstanding efforts to help protect and preserve the environment.  Responses due 2/28/11.  For more info, go to: http://www.actionfornature.org/. 

Ask Kate and Hannah Your Garden Question

Kate Garland and Hannah Todd share current garden questions they have received in the Penobscot and Piscataquis County Extension Offices.

• Shrubs and other plants bent down by heavy loads of snow or ice should be straightened carefully, staked and tied. Do not remove the ice since you would break off a lot of buds in the process.
• Don't forget to decorate your outdoor evergreens with snacks for the birds. Here is a Peanut Butter-Suet Mix that can be formed into blocks for a basket feeder or packed into a pine cone or into holes drilled into a small piece of wood. 1 c. melted suet, 1 c. peanut butter (smooth or crunchy), 1 c. flour, 4 c. yellow corn meal.  Mix the suet and peanut butter then add the flour and corn meal. You can adjust the cornmeal if the mixture is too sticky or too dry. For variety try adding one or more of these: 1 c. sunflower chips, 1 c. currents or 1 c. chopped peanuts.  
• This winter instead of using straight salt consider mixing with sand to reduce damage to plants and provide traction. Above 10 degrees consider using urea to melt ice, it's not as damaging to plants as salt when used sparingly.   
• Cover the compost pile with a tarp to reduce the amount of nutrients leached by rain and snow.
• Be on the lookout for the first garden catalogs of the season (I got two already!) Companies will be sending bulk mailings of their color catalogs to gardeners.  The snowy months of winter are a good time to make plans for your spring planting.



Upcoming Events   

SURFACE MAIL RECIPIENTS CAN CONTACT THEIR COUNTY EXTENSION OFFICE FOR FURTHER INFORMATION WHEN WEB LINKS ARE INCLUDED IN AN ARTICLE.

Piscataquis County Office 207-564-3301 or 800-287-1491

165 East Main Street Dover-Foxcroft, ME 04426