Forty-nine years ago Wisconsin senator Gaylord Nelson, looked at the disastrous 1969 oil spill in Santa Barbara, and thought that more attention needed to be paid to environmental problems. Thus he planned an Earth Day ‘national teach-in on the environment. He chose Pete McCloskey, a Republican Congressman, and Denis Hayes from Harvard to work with him creating this event. To make use of the energy of the young the date of April 22, during college vacations, was chosen.…

In 1997 Eveline Macdougall visited the Great Falls Community Garden in Turners Falls. She looked at that garden, and thought of all the gardens her family had grown. She thought about her own frustrations trying to ‘squeeze plants into tiny outdoor spaces while longing for a real garden.’ Then inspired by the Great Falls garden she turned to her friend Suzette Snow-Cobb who helped start the Great Falls garden for advice. Macdougall then began creating a community garden…

Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743-July 4, 1826) was a man of many parts. We all know he had a plantation, but I never knew he inherited it from his father along with a lot of debts. He graduated from the College of William and Mary, but I didn’t know he practiced law. Briefly. He represented his county in the Virginia House of Burgesses, but I didn’t know he served as the second Governor of Virginia from 1779-1781. I…

Many of us gardeners eventually come to embrace shrubs because we need a low maintenance garden. I believe that in my new town garden, I have gotten a shrub garden that requires less work, and works with the limitations of my soil and space. I have concentrated on water loving shrubs like button bush, elderberry, and willow, but the shrub list is long. The earliest shrub to bloom in our neighborhood is Hammamelis or witch hazel. My neighbor’s…

A culinary herb garden is almost a necessity for gardeners, because so many of us enjoy cooking. Even if cooking is not our first love, it is hard to make meals without some basic herb for almost every dinner. It can be expensive if we have to buy our parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme, but a small culinary herb garden, preferably not too far from the kitchen door is a thrifty answer. Fortunately for me the area by…

There may be snow on the ground, but the Western Massachusetts Master Gardener’s Association knows it is time to get ready to garden. The WMMGA Garden Symposium at Frontier Regional High School is scheduled for Saturday, March 23, from 8:45 a.m. to 2:15 p.m. with a lunch available at noon. The symposium title this year is Healthy Gardens, Healthy Gardeners. If you want to learn about healthy soil, trees for the garden, butterfly gardening, ergonomics and injury prevention,…