“We reuse our own large flower pots and hanging baskets each year, placing them on our large deck overlooking the harbor,” says LCN reporter Candy Congdon. (Candy Congdon photo)
While one is often tempted to venture out in search of information, it is often the case that one need look no further than right under one’s proverbial nose for answers to what one wants to know. This is certainly the case as far as my fellow employees here at The Lincoln County News go. In the following Q&A, they share some of their springtime home-and-garden tips:
Amber Clark, graphic and web designer:
Q. Do you have a spring ritual — house cleaning, preparing a garden space, planting seeds, interior decorating? Tell us about it…
A. My spring ritual involves opening the windows wide to let the fresh air in while I clean.
Q. What do you most look forward to about the change of season and the coming of warm weather?
A. I look forward to taking walks around downtown Damariscotta once there isn’t two feet of snow in the way!
Q. Is there something you would like to do this year to rejuvenate your home and/or garden that you have always wanted to do but have never done before?
A. I would really like to get my yard cleaned of brush and other random objects. We’ve needed to do the cleanup since we moved into the house in October 2017, but there was just too much indoor work to do first.
Q. If you could pick one home or garden project to turn into a party — in other words, invite friends and family over to help you do it and have fun at the same time — what would it be? Describe how you envision it going…
A. As an accomplished introvert and indoorsman, I can’t think of anything in particular I’d like to do now. When we moved into the house, the whole family came together to paint, put flooring down, and otherwise prepare the house for habitation. It was fun and a great bonding experience!
Q. What time-honored home-and-garden tip can you share with readers?
A. If you feel like you’re in a rut, rearrange your furniture! It sounds silly, but I’ve found that furniture rearrangement can completely change the vibe around your home.
Kathy Lizotte, administrative assistant:
Q. Do you have a spring ritual — house cleaning, preparing a garden space, planting seeds, interior decorating? Tell us about it…
A. Every spring I go through the house and throw things out or donate them. I also try to shampoo all the carpets. And I always open the windows, which is the best to have the fresh air in the house. And raking — I love when my lawn looks better, and it’s good exercise.
Q. What do you most look forward to about the change of season and the coming of warm weather?
A. Opening the windows – ha! Being outside. We spend a lot more time outside when it’s warmer.
Q. Is there something you would like to do this year to rejuvenate your home and/or garden that you have always wanted to do but have never done before?
A. I would actually like to repaint some rooms in my house. I haven’t changed the colors since I moved in in 2005.
Q. If you could pick one home or garden project to turn into a party — in other words, invite friends and family over to help you do it and have fun at the same time — what would it be? Describe how you envision it going…
A. I really like this idea! Paint my house! I would get some snacks and turn on the radio and hopefully not make a huge mess.
Q. What time-honored home-and-garden tip can you share with readers?
A. Hire a maid for cleaning and enjoy the outside.
Candy Congdon, reporter:
Q. Do you have a spring ritual — house cleaning, preparing a garden space, planting seeds, interior decorating? Tell us about it…
A: Our house, Herons Nest, sits 75 feet back from the edge of the harbor. We love just sitting out on our deck for part of every day once the snows end. Bringing up all the deck chairs and tables to the deck from where we store them in the basement of our unfinished garage is a challenging, but rewarding, exercise.
Q. What do you most look forward to about the change of season and the coming of warm weather?
A: Sitting out on our deck… with wine.
Q. What time-honored home-and-garden tip can you share with readers?
A: Rather than buy the expensive preplanted hanging baskets, we buy individual flowers in six- or eight-packs that have been started by the nursery, Moose Crossing Garden Center in Waldoboro. We reuse our own large flower pots and hanging baskets each year, placing them on our large deck overlooking the harbor. We also fill the whiskey barrels out in front of the house, plus a planter affixed to our front-door deck.
We plant the flowers in a special peat-based potting medium that the nursery carries. We keep a drawing of the planter locations and barrels and keep a record of which flowers we use that are successful in those locations.
We are able to make up more than 20 baskets plus the five whiskey barrels much less expensively.
We automatically water everything using two built-in Orbit irrigation systems with drippers operating on timers that lead to each pot and planter. I diligently fertilize all the planters every one to two weeks with a Miracle-Gro type of product.
Jen Touchette, bookkeeper:
Q. Do you have a spring ritual — house cleaning, preparing a garden space, planting seeds, interior decorating? Tell us about it…
A. In my house, the only ritual I have is listing to my husband all of the things I plan on getting done this year in the spring and summer that can’t be done in winter. It usually revolves around promising to finish staining the house (it’s a project three years in the making — I figure by the time we reach the front of the house again it will be time to start over!) or saying that I really am going to unearth the perennials that the previous owners of my house so lovingly planted.
Last year, my father and mother brought over some tiger lilies that they had growing in their yard. We painstakingly replanted them in front of my house in hopes to bring some life and curb appeal to our little home. Tiger lilies remind me of my childhood and my second mom; there was a huge patch of them in front of her house, and on the way from my house to hers. I can’t wait for them to pop up this year. Unfortunately, that is the only thing that I got done last year, so I’ve got my work cut out for me!
Q. What do you most look forward to about the change of season and the coming of warm weather?
A. My favorite thing about the change in seasons is when you first start to feel the spring sun on your skin. It has a much different feeling from winter or fall sun; it brings to me a sense of peace and warmth. It reminds me that we made it though the dark times of the year and are ready for the new life and energy that spring gives us. I love bringing out my lawn chairs and soaking up all of that early sun.
Q. Is there something you would like to do this year to rejuvenate your home and/or garden that you have always wanted to do but have never done before?
A. The first year in our home, I made sure that my husband, Brandon, built me a garden box so we could have fresh veggies. That lasted one season. It currently holds weeds and an old bicycle that needs to go to the dump.
The kids have asked me if we could plant in the box again this year, and I have enthusiastically said, “Of course, we can!” Guess it’s about time for me to head to Louis Doe’s or Damariscotta Hardware to get some soil and seeds to start, so we have an easy transition to the garden.
We have an amazing slip-and-slide hill at our house that we have had many gatherings at, enjoying friends and fun. This year, my goal is to really, really get my grass back there nice and full and soft so we can have a great stress-free time again.
Plus, it’s so much nicer to have everyone you like come to you than to have to schlep all three kids off to somewhere else!
Q. If you could pick one home or garden project to turn into a party — in other words, invite friends and family over to help you do it and have fun at the same time — what would it be? Describe how you envision it going…
A. My birthday is Cinco de Mayo, May 5. One year, after a particularly bad winter for my tree branches, I decided that we were going to have a yard cleanup party for my birthday. I provided the sticks and the margaritas and my friends provided the labor and laughs. It was honestly one of the best days I have had in recent memory, enjoying the people in my life, doing something so trivial as cleaning up sticks in my yard.
Truth be told, not much yard cleanup happened, but I know for me a lot of soul boosting was done.
Q. What time-honored home-and-garden tip can you share with readers?
A. My tried-and-true home-and-garden tip is to enjoy what you have and who you have it with. No matter the situation, no matter where, just enjoy what life has given you. Get outside and see the beauty in what’s around you, and remember there is a larger world outside of your small purview of the universe.
Jessica Clifford, reporter:
Q. Do you have a spring ritual — house cleaning, preparing a garden space, planting seeds, interior decorating? Tell us about it…
A. When I was little, every spring, my mom and I would shop for flowers at a slew of stores, like our local grocery store, Home Depot, and Lowe’s. Whenever a nice bunch of flowers was being sold, my mom was on it, ready to purchase them and plant them surrounding our house, in baskets and in the ground.
I would help her with planting the flowers as well as plopping seeds into our vegetable garden. Though we never had much luck with our vegetables, and I was scared of the creepy-crawlies digging in the dirt, I would still try to help out in any way I could.
Q. What do you most look forward to about the change of season and the coming of warm weather?
A. When spring rolls around, I look forward to the change in the air — it smells newer, fresher. I also love being able to crack out that cute dress in my closet that seems to mock me during the winter months.
Q. Is there something you would like to do this year to rejuvenate your home and/or garden that you have always wanted to do but have never done before?
A. I haven’t thought about this before!
Q. What time-honored home-and-garden tip can you share with readers?
A. I’m 23. I don’t have a time-honored home-and-garden tip.
Alexander Violo, reporter:
Q. Do you have a spring ritual — house cleaning, preparing a garden space, planting seeds, interior decorating? Tell us about it…
A. When I was younger, I assisted (though not always voluntarily) my parents as they prepped various garden spaces around the family home, raking different areas so they were ready for flowers and vegetables, which we always planted after Memorial Day in order to avoid frost-related issues. Though I didn’t enjoy this work much, I did like mowing the lawn once the grass had dried out sufficiently to handle my landscaping techniques — I was very big on patterns.
Another annual event was cleaning the screens on the house’s windows, which was kind of fun since it was a pretty messy chore.
Q. What do you most look forward to about the change of season and the coming of warm weather?
A. Shorts and flip-flops. I also like sitting outside and watching the sunset on warm evenings.
Charlotte Boynton, reporter:
Q. Do you have a spring ritual — house cleaning, preparing a garden space, planting seeds, interior decorating? Tell us about it…
A. My spring ritual is to get my windows open and have fresh air through my house. Also, I do my spring housecleaning early in the spring, so we are ready to do some flower planting.
Q. What do you most look forward to about the change of season and the coming of warm weather?
A. I look forward to the tulips coming up.
Q. If you could pick one home or garden project to turn into a party — in other words, invite friends and family over to help you do it and have fun at the same time — what would it be? Describe how you envision it going…
A. In years gone by, on Mother’s Day, my children, their spouses, and my grandchildren would come over and spend Saturday and Sunday doing a complete facelift to the exterior of my house and grounds. They painted and built the deck, painted the trim on the garage, planted flowers, and would do any needed repairs.
I would cook their favorite dishes, food that I knew they enjoyed eating when they were children, the comfort foods you feed your family when you are stretching your dollars and feeding a family of eight. It was a fun time.
I would listen to them reminisce about their earlier years, things they thought they had gotten away with. Sometimes, it was news to me and they had gotten away with it; other times, I did know about it but didn’t say anything, so I guess you could say they got away with it anyway.
The memory of those spring days will forever live in my mind. They gave me a Mother’s Day gift that was priceless.
As I look around my home and property today, I hope they notice we need another weekend like that — and Mother’s Day is just around the corner!
Maia Zewert, marketing and engagement coordinator:
Q. Do you have a spring ritual — house cleaning, preparing a garden space, planting seeds, interior decorating? Tell us about it…
A. I find myself cleaning out closets in the spring. There are amazing consignment shops in the area, so I usually end up replacing what I just brought in!
Q. What do you most look forward to about the change of season and the coming of warm weather?
A. I love when it gets warm enough to sit on the deck and read in the sun. Summer bonfires are another favorite tradition.
Q. Is there something you would like to do this year to rejuvenate your home and/or garden that you have always wanted to do but have never done before?
A. I might be trying to grow some vegetables this year. We’ll see if that actually happens, or if I spend another summer happily accepting gifts from friends with green thumbs.
Q. If you could pick one home or garden project to turn into a party — in other words, invite friends and family over to help you do it and have fun at the same time — what would it be? Describe how you envision it going…
A. Yard work! I absolutely hate the post-winter yard cleanup (raking the final leaves, picking up falling branches), so if there was any way to turn that into a party, I’m all ears.
Q. What time-honored home-and-garden tip can you share with readers?
A. Always ask an expert.
