Last Saturday was the Western Mass Master Gardeners Spring Symposium. I was honored to share the bill with Julie Moir Messervy who was the keynote speaker. I spoke about my worm farm and she spoke about garden design and her new book Home Outside. Julie had a lot of helpful things to say, but she struck the tone immediately for me in her talk and in her book when she said her aim is to help us create…
Julie Moir Messervy, the well-known landscape designer and author of books like The Inward Garden, Outside the Not So Big House, and most recently, Home Outside, is coming to town. Messervy will be the keynote speaker the Western Massachusetts Master Gardeners Spring Symposium, Feeding Soil, Self and Soul, on March 21.Messervy knows that our homes are probably the most important spaces in our lives. We celebrate at home and refresh ourselves at home. We can enjoy our family…
Julie Moir Messervy, the well-known landscape designer and author of books like The Inward Garden, Outside the Not So Big House, and most recently, Home Outside, is coming to town. Messervy will be the keynote speaker the Western Massachusetts Master Gardeners Spring Symposium, Feeding Soil, Self and Soul, on March 21. Messervy knows that our homes are probably the most important spaces in our lives. We celebrate at home and refresh ourselves at home. We…
Beverly Duncan is known to her Ashfield neighbors, and colleagues at Mohawk Trail Regional High School as a friend, as a helpful worker, as a gardener, and as an artist who sells cards and sketches of flowers and other plants at Elmer’s Store. Some know her as a freelance artist and illustrator for books and magazines, but many are not aware of her reputation as a fine botanical artist whose work has been exhibited at the Denver Botanic…
Garbage isn’t always garbage. Sometimes it is the beginning of an indoor garden. Who among us hasn’t taken an avocado pit, planted it in a pot and enjoyed a large lush houseplant? It would never bear fruit, but it was fun to see this large seed grow into a substantial plant. Growing seeds, roots and tubers from the kitchen is a great way to remind children of the different ways edible foods are propagated. This…
There are times when it is impossible to be out in the garden - when its pouring, snowing, sleeting, freezing or too damn hot. While I do read a lot of garden books, and own a LOT of garden books so that I am never at a loss, I always have a mystery novel going as well. My friend B.J. Roche, who teaches journalism at the University of Massachusetts and writes for various regional and national publications, decided that…
Going into a new year I have resolutions about making my gardens more beautiful, more productive, and greener. The term sustainability is a companion to organic in the gardening world these days. As usual, books, and now online sites, old and new will travel with me in my labors throughout the new year. My 1978 edition of Rodale’s Encyclopedia of Organic Gardening has been a loyal companion by my side ever since it was published. New…
Heath is famous for its winds. The Montreal Express comes racing down our hill creating wind ripples that are properly known as sastrugi. I learned this word last year when my husband gave me Home Ground: Language for an American Landscape edited by Barry Lopez for Christmas. "A snowfield covered with sastrugi can look like the top of a lemon meringue pie, or like a desert sandscape, sculpted by wind into curvaceous dunes. The word comes from the…
A gardening friend once told me that what he loved about gardening (besides playing in the dirt) was that it led you down the roads of history and literature and science. Gardening can lead you anywhere.One place it can lead is to a modest study of Latin. I was proud that I got through high school without studying Latin, but becoming a gardener made me mourn that lost opportunity. I have been making up for it ever since.Recently…
A few golden trees at the edge of the field are tossing in the rainy wind today, but in general, most of the autumn color is gone from my garden. I was happy that the asters and dahlias stayed in bloom for so long. I’m happy with the rich red of my sourwood, of the sweetspire, the burgundy cotinus and the now-bare blueberries. It struck me that I have a pretty good fall garden.However, upon spending a few…