DAIGLE, Maine — Winterization is just as good for a garden as it is for a house, which is something Anna and Donald Raymond have learned during their 43 years of gardening at their home above Daigle Pond.
“We’ve got to take care of it,” she said while preparing to can beets and cucumbers, Thursday, Sept. 14, 2016.
That annual maintenance not only includes work outside in the flower beds and garden rows, but inside the kitchen. All the hard work that went into the garden is rewarded with fresh vegetables that need to be utilized or preserved.
But, the outside work is what the Raymonds enjoy. Being outside fishing, gardening, walking or riding the ATV are all part of the couple’s lifestyle. Their many flower beds and rows of carrots, tomatoes, raspberries, squash and many other crops give them ample reason to be outdoors.
“The fall is an important time to care for the garden,” Raymond said as she walked around the couple’s yard.
“We cut down all the dead (flower) stems each fall,” she said. “Sometimes we will put some compost or manure. Don usually tills it too.”
Raymond said she has found success with cleaning out the flower beds, including pulling any late weeds, each autumn. Her annuals then have an opportunity to get an early start once the snow is gone and the weather heats up.
“We don’t mind the weeds.” she said. “It’s part of having the garden.”
Raymond said the beauty of the flowers, such as autumn joys and petunias is her favorite part of gardening, and added that she has no least favorite part.
“It’s like the seasons,” she said. “We like all four of them.”
Other fall work at the Raymonds includes harvesting as many apples as they can from their small orchard.
The Raymonds not only preserve and share the edible fruits of their labor but also use and donate corn stalks for harvest decorations.
The work of preparing the garden extends into spring too, Raymond said.
“I spend a whole day cleaning out the raspberry patch each spring,” she said.
The Raymond’s blackberry patch is a bit trickier, as those stems have very large and tough thorns.
“You have to get dressed from head to toe,” she said with a chuckle.
Gardening advice found at the University of Maine Cooperative Extension: Garden & Yard website echos what the Raymonds recommend.
Cooperative Extension suggests removing plant debris and weeds to reduce the number of overwintering sites for unwanted insect and disease populations, and minimize the deposit of seeds into the soil.
The service also recommends getting a soil test in the fall, as September is a good time to apply those amendments.
Just like spring cleaning is an annual chore inside the home, “fall cleaning” their gardens and flowers is something the Raymonds do to get the most from their summer efforts.
More information may be found at https://extension.umaine.edu/gardening.
