Lynne Gobeil harvests cucumbers in her Kennebunk garden. She prefers letting the cucumber plants spread across the ground to having them climb a trellis. "It makes finding the cucumbers more of a treasure hunt," she says.
Cucumbers harvested by Lynne Gobeil sit in a basket near her garden.
Murch Murcheson, 88, of Saco, tends to his garden on August 9. Legally blind, Murch can see shadows but not much detail and he has to feel down the vine to see what the plants are producing. He also uses his sense of touch to determine when his tomatoes are ripe.
Late afternoon sunlight casts shadows over the front garden at Jessica Simpson's home in Cape Elizabeth. Simpson, who grew up in Brooklyn and never thought she would be able to create a beautiful garden, is now a member of the Cape Garden Club. She remembers when her father first visited her after she moved out of the city, and couldn't believe the gardens were hers.
Plants are reflected in a bird bath in Jessica Simpson's garden.
Jessica Simpson who moved to Maine in 2010, began removing her invasive plants last year, and started adding plants that are beneficial to pollinators.
A bee rests on an Echinacea flower in Jessica Simpson's garden.
Will Crosby of Peaks Island tends to his flower garden on an early August morning. "It's a really nice way to start day. It's contemplative," he said. "Later in the day it's a chore, but if I get to it early, it's the best."
Heliopsis blooms reach for the early morning light in Will Crosby's flower bed on Peaks Island.
Catherine Hewitt, a teacher and the garden coordinator at Wentworth School in Scarborough, harvests green beans at the school. Classes are sometimes held in the garden that grows vegetables, flowers and herbs. The school uses some of the vegetables and donates some to local pantries.
Catherine Hewitt shows freshly picked green beans.
A sunflower at the Wentworth School Community Garden in Scarborough.
Three years ago Louise Little planted marigolds along Sumner Court, next to her Munjoy Hill home in Portland. Her urban gardens also includes raised beds in the esplanade out in front of the house, elaborate plantings in the side and back yard, and a deck full of plants off the third floor.
Garlic hangs to dry at the top of the stairs in Louise Little's house on Munjoy Hill.
In 1998, Louise Little and her husband Dave Cowie moved into the Munjoy Hill triple decker where her in-laws lived. She and Annie Cowie, her mother-in-law, started gardening together, making plantings all over the side and back yard.
John Yanga harvests produce recently against a backdrop of African corn at Fresh Start Farms in Falmouth. He's been gardening here for three years and sells his vegetables and herbs at the Portland Farmers Market on Saturdays.
John Yanga grows mulukhiyah leaves. The leaves are a popular vegetable in Middle Eastern, East African and North African countries.
John with his wife Rebeka Tombe at their half-acre garden plot at Fresh Start Farms in Falmouth. John moved to Maine in 2000 from what is now South Sudan, and has gardened with Cultivating Community at many Maine locations.
Betty Johnson decided about 25 years ago that she didn't want to mow her South Portland yard anymore and has been working on making gardens on her property ever since. Her gardens include witch hazel, magnolia trees, lilacs, hydrangeas and hosts of hostas.
Daisies and coneflowers are in full bloom in Janeen Chin's Gorham backyard garden. Chin has been gardening for 30 years. "During the pandemic I have found peace and joy outside, particularly in my meadow garden where I also watch birds and pollinators and photograph them," she said.
A monarch caterpillar on some milkweed at Janeen Chin's home garden in Gorham.
Bob Raff in his Portland garden filled with ditch lilies.
An asiatic lily in the Portland garden of Bob Raff and Mary Delois.
Rosita Moore is partially hidden by her mid-season corn at her home in Pownal. She had to prop many of the stalks up again after they were blown over when the remnants of Tropical Storm Isaias blew through Maine earlier this month.
Phlox grows along a wooden fence at Rosita Moore's home in Pownal.
Pooro waits for his owner, Rosita Moore, outside her vegetable garden in Pownal. The dog isn't allowed in the garden, but is rewarded with a bean when Moore leaves.
Rosita Moore eats highbush blueberries in her garden in Pownal.
Rosita Moore tends to her vegetable garden to her house in Pownal.
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