PORTLAND (WGME) – Memorial Day weekend is here and many folks around the state use this weekend to start their gardening.
It’s the most wonderful time of the year to be a gardener.
With summer approaching, there’s a few things to keep in mind, especially if you are gardening for the first time.
“If you are doing a raised bed, it’s good to get a little bit of loam in there,” Skillin’s Greenhouses Vice President Chad Skillin said. “As well as compost, because if you just do compost, it just shrinks down too much. You need loam for the soil structure.”
If you’re using a raised bed for vegetables, be sure to put it in the sunniest spot in your yard, and Skillin warns new gardeners not to overplant.
“Focus on what you’re going to eat, don’t try to overdo it your first year, because you’d be shocked at how much food actually comes out of a small garden,” Skillin said.
Don’t forget to protect your hard work, especially if you live in the woods or somewhere that is populated with wildlife.
Gardener Barbara Trentacosta says this is an exciting time of the year.
“You don’t even have to garden, you just stick your hands in the dirt, it works,” Trentacosta said. “You don’t have to do anything fancy and prune, I just have to stick my hands in the dirt. Especially after a winter in Maine, when we didn’t have any dirt for three months, four months.”
This time of the year, freezing temperatures are still possible, especially if you’re away from the coastline.
So if you’re starting your planting soon, you want to be on the lookout for the late-season frost.