Gardening 2025 recap : Rockport, Maine
The leaves are falling from the trees and the gardens are starting to look bare, such a bitter/sweet time for a gardener. As some of you may or may not know, I landscape garden on an island off the coast of Maine-Islesboro, ME. I have a lot of personal and meaningful memories on that island, a nice long lineage of family that has been living and growing on Islesboro and we also purchased a piece of property over there in 2021. I garden with a crew of 6 people, and we garden/landscape everything from large estate properties next to the ocean to small home gardens. We grow everything from vegetables, picking flower beds, perennial gardens and we install small tree’s/ shrubs and dabble a little in landscaping. I’m finishing up my 5th summer of landscape gardening and my first official summer of micro-flower farming in my back yard. I grow flowers organically for local co-ops and hopefully, wholesale in 2026. As my two boys grow older, I find myself needing to be a bit closer to home and as much as I love gardening on Islesboro, that ferry commute can be quite the inconvenience. Especially when it comes to sports, meetings with teachers, and tending to my children’s needs. My goal is to transition to more solo independent gardening on the mainland (Mid-Coast Maine) area. I have availability for 2026 season! Belfast, Maine area-Port Clyde, Maine area-Hope, Maine area. And all the towns in between.
I’ll be the first to admit, 2025 was by far, the most difficult gardening season. Between the consistent 80-90 degree humid heat from mid-Jude to mid-August, absolutely no rain, and battling chronic pests/powdery mildew/fungus-it was a perfect recipe for a disastrous gardening season. I ended this season, with my second year of dahlia crop failure. 100% the heat/drought issue. What a disappointment. Gardening in Maine is beginning to feel like next level difficult. Although we had the most perfect winter and spring, our summer didn’t pull through, like I had anticipated.
I plan to blog from October-April, during our down time from gardening. I usually spend my winters as a full time stay at home mom to a toddler and a middle school basketball kid. They keep me busy. I strength train (power lifting) at the gym-maintaining my physical health for the gardening season ahead. I also start planning my gardens for the following year. This leaves me a bit more time to blog the previous garden season! I ended up journaling my gardening happens this past season, that way I can pull notes out for my future blogs. I hope to blog my success. My epic failures and how I plan to learn and eradicate those failures in the future. What flowers had a smoke show moment and how mother nature aided in their sweet moment. My education goals for this winter season. Pests (I study my pests very closely- I would say I have quite the intimate relationship with them! haha) My future gardening/farming goals. And everything else in between! My garden experiences are mostly targeted to Mid-Coast Maine area’s-zone 6A. Along the coast.
More to come soon!