by Willem Lange EAST MONTPELIER – What would you have done? I was committed to a Friday-Sunday weekend down by the seashore in Nahant, just north of Boston, and I had a fund-raiser commitment Thursday at a senior living community in Peterborough, sort of halfway there from Montpelier. It didn’t[Read More…]
Columns
Plan in Fall for a Spring Garden
by Deborah J. Benoit, Extension Master Gardener, University of Vermont NORTH ADAMS, Mass. – Every gardener has a fall to-do list to complete: pulling annuals, raking leaves and storing hoses and other garden tools. They aren’t the most exciting tasks, but planning for your spring garden now saves time next[Read More…]
Caterpillar Club Fungi are More Than Meets the Eye
by Rachel Sargent Mirus EAST CORINTH – “Look!” I exclaimed, bending to examine a pair of half-inch-tall, bright orange, club-shaped mushrooms. Kneeling in the leaf litter, with my 2-year-old son watching in puzzlement, I carefully scraped away at the base of the colorful clubs. Just beneath the soil was a[Read More…]
I’ve Been Lucky so Far
For all of your days be prepared, And meet them ever alike: When you are the anvil, bear – When you are the hammer, strike. Edwin Markham by Willem Lange EAST MONTPELIER – That seemed like a pleasant little nostrum when I was in high school,[Read More…]
It’s Time to Plant Spring Bulbs
by Henry Homeyer CORNISH FLAT, N.H. – I’ve been planting bulbs around my property for at least 40 years, and some of them are still flowering each spring. I even have daffodils I brought up from my childhood home in Connecticut that might be 70 years old or more. Others[Read More…]
Moose in Rut are Laser-focused
by Susan Shea RANDOLPH – On an October day years ago, my husband and I were canoeing on a pond in the Green Mountain National Forest. We heard crashing in the bushes along the shoreline just before a magnificent bull moose with large antlers appeared. He plunged into the water[Read More…]
Tips for Growing Great Garlic
CORNISH FLAT, N.H. – If you lean toward lazy (or have kids, dogs and a job), growing garlic may be just the ticket. It is the easiest of all vegetables to grow. Once planted and mulched, it requires little or no work until harvest. A good harvest is guaranteed if[Read More…]
Garden Throughout the Year with Four-season Container Gardening
by Pamm Powers, Extension Master Gardener Intern, University of Vermont SHAFTSBURY – With cooler temperatures upon us, we have to say goodbye to our beautiful summer annuals. However, with container plantings, you can continue to garden throughout the year. A four-season container allows you to move easily into the next[Read More…]
They’ve Been Places and Seen Things
by Willem Lange EAST MONTPELIER – It’s for years irritated me that my fellow countrymen know so little about their next-door neighbor to the north. When my friends and I in the Geriatric Adventure Society first began traveling to the Arctic for our biennial canoe trips on the so-called Barren[Read More…]
Managing Flooded Corn Silage at Harvest
by Dr. Heather Darby, Extension Agronomic and Soils Specialist, University of Vermont BURLINGTON – In July, cornfields throughout the state were flooded, and their fate was unclear. Some fields were pushed completely flat by the current of the raging water and died weeks later. Other fields were pushed near the ground[Read More…]
If a Tree Falls in the Woods, It Creates Opportunity
by Declan McCabe BURLINGTON – In May of this year, when a cottonwood measuring nearly 3 ½ feet in diameter and more than 100 feet tall fell across a trail in the Saint Michael’s College Natural Area, I saw the event less as a tragedy, and more as a circle[Read More…]
Putting the Garden to Bed
by Henry Homeyer CORNISH FLAT, N.H. – To me, this felt like the summer that never was. It was rarely hot and sunny. The rainy gray days felt more like those in Portland, Oregon, than in New England. Even so, the summer we had is largely over and it’s time[Read More…]
