A good afternoon

I saw a lot more people at the Press Herald booth today than yesterday at the Portland Flower Show.Talking to readers is a lot of fun. It is heartening to know how much the paper means to its regular subscribers, and the connection we have with them. No one came and said they came specifically because of reading on this blog that I would be there, but one person said she read in the paper that I would be there, and was glad that it coincided with her plans for attending the show. I dropped by a group called Brunswick Park & Gardens. The group's goal is to get 250 acres at the about-to-close Brunswick Naval Air Station donated to them so they can create a public garden and park. A volunteer at the booth said that before the air station was built, the region was blueberry barrens and open to the public. It is an interesting idea, but will take an awful lot of work. But that is what people said about Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens 15 years ago, and look at where they are now. John Bunker gave a lot of details on growing fruit trees in Maine. I have been convinced that you cannot grow apples organically in a yard in Maine. But Bunker has some tricks. From November to May, wrap screening or something similar measuring 2 feet tall around the tree to protect from rodents -- voles, rabbits and mice. From May to November, you mix white latex paint and joint compound -- the stuff you put in the seams of Sheetrock or wallboard -- and paint the bottom of the tree to protect from apple borers. The apple borers excrete orange-colored stuff that looks like sawdust. The paint will prevent most borers from getting into the tree. With the ones it doesn't prevent, the orange stuff will be more visible, and you can dig the borers out with a knife or a stiff piece of wire. Most of the stuff Bunker spoke about is in the Fedco catalog. It is a fascinating read, so get one. Stephen Melchiskey is starting a hybrid-wine grape vineyard on a former chicken farm that you can see from the Maine Turnpike in West Falmouth. His secret is that he has hills with great southern exposure, which gives him enough heat to produce good wine grapes. He also prunes the vines extensively, so the grapes are not shaded out by the grape leaves, and fertilizes very little, because nitrogen promotes leaf growth and not grape growth. My favorite tip from Melchiskey was that if you have an old grape vine on your property -- you call it Concord, but it might not be -- and you want it somewhere else, just take some cuttings and grow new vines. As soon as you can get to the vine, cut off 1-year-old vines that have good color and are green in the middle when you cut them. Make sure you know which end is the growth end and which is the root end. It helps to cut the root end at an angle and the growth end flat. You cut them so you have two buds to put underground and two or three to put above ground. You keep them cool and moist until after any danger of frost. You prepare some rich, composted soil and put black plastic over it. Then in late May, you stick the the ground end through the plastic and leave them there until next May, when you can transplant them where you want. For the next two years, you cut the vines back to two or three buds every fall, and the third year, you let one great stem grow. That is just an example of the fancy knowledge you can get at this show. Come out this weekend, as the flower show continues Saturday and Sunday. It is at 58 Fore St. And it seems to be less crowded from about 2:30 p.m. until closing, so if you dislike crowds, that would be the ideal time. Have fun.