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By MICKEY RATHBUN

The 2025 UMass Garden Calendar comes out every fall, just as we are putting our gardens to bed for the winter. As always, the calendar is a must-have for gardeners. It gives daily tips on indoor and outdoor gardening and other related subjects,...

By EVELINE MACDOUGALL

Leverett resident Ben Goldberg is well-known for displaying worm bins and fielding questions about vermiculture, also known as composting with worms. At the recent Garlic & Arts Festival, Goldberg’s booth also featured toilets, because he’s also an...

By EVELINE MACDOUGALL

Ryan Nestor comes from determined people: his grandfather emigrated by himself at age 11 from Greece, found work in restaurants, and became a citizen, homeowner, and family man. Like his grandfather, Nestor is passionate about gardening, and now...

By EVELINE MACDOUGALL

Olivia and Wil Cather embody a wonderful aspect of Franklin County: the likelihood of stumbling upon tableaux where regular folks create mini-Edens. One can spot such scenes while driving, but traveling by foot or bicycle increases the chances of...

By MICKEY RATHBUN

Late summer isn’t a pretty time in the garden, at least not in my garden. The recent mini-drought has bleached out what passes for lawn, several large hydrangeas are drooping as they beg me for water, the daylily borders are shriveled and brown....

By EVELINE MACDOUGALL

The Pleasant Street Community Garden in Greenfield broke ground 25 years ago when local farmer Rich Pascale volunteered to till some land at the corner of School and Pleasant Streets, making it possible for locals to create a community garden on the...

By EVELINE MACDOUGALL

(Editor’s note: Last week’s column focused on the Colrain home of Jon Lagrèze and Judith Roberts; this week we learn about their garden.)Jonathan “Jon” Lagrèze built his first farm structure before losing any baby teeth. At age 5 – after “borrowing”...

By MICKEY RATHBUN

It’s August and in my household that means one thing: local tomatoes. For much of the year, our grocery stores offer tomatoes tough enough to endure machine picking followed by days or weeks in cold storage. Even the more expensive, so-called...

By MICKEY RATHBUN

Anyone with a passing knowledge of art history is familiar with the acanthus plant, whether they know it or not. The acanthus leaf, broad and serrated, is the decorative motif on the capital of the classical Corinthian column, more ornate than the...

By ADA DENENFELD KELLY

GREENFIELD — After several years of dormancy, the Blooming Greenfield program is back beautifying Main Street this summer.Through Blooming Greenfield, businesses can sponsor a whiskey barrel that is then placed outside of their location and tended to...

By ADA DENENFELD KELLY

COLRAIN — As members of the Colrain Historical Society set their sights on projects to improve building insulation and create a fully accessible restroom for visitors, the need for a fundraiser became clear.Enter the Historical Society’s first-ever...

By EVELINE MACDOUGALL

A Franklin Street neighborhood in Greenfield has become even more welcoming for passersby of many species, thanks to the efforts of Dawn Kennedy and Margo Townley, who’ve transformed their property into a bountiful haven on less than one-fifth of an...

By TINKY WEISBLAT

My favorite season of the year is here. Asparagus and rhubarb tend to ripen in New England at about the same time, and they have arrived. I’ll talk more about asparagus soon. Meanwhile, I’m savoring rhubarb as much as I can.I try to learn something...

By MICKEY RATHBUN

After long weeks of yearning for gardening weather, we’re suddenly inundated by spring. Endless outdoor chores beg for our attention — composting, mulching, edging, scrubbing birdbaths and, at least in my garden beds, pulling out multitudes of maple...

By EVELINE MACDOUGALL

Steve McConley credits his wife, Doreen, for his interest in growing plants. Doreen brought solid gardening skills to their union, and Steve appreciates her encouragement. The McConleys have a garden at their Bernardston home, and now Steve shares...

By HENRY HOMEYER

Despite late snowstorms that dumped deep snow over much of New England, spring is finally here. Let’s take a look at some keys to a successful year in the vegetable garden.Don’t bite off more than you can chew. Yes, I grow about 40 tomato plants each...

By DOMENIC POLI

NEW SALEM — A Connecticut nonprofit will send representatives to town on Saturday to demonstrate how something that is often associated with tragedy can be converted into an instrument furthering new growth.Swords to Plowshares Northeast members will...

By JACOB NELSON

“Compost is not soil, but it makes your soil better,” says Mike Mahar, owner of Bear Path Compost in Whately. “It adds life to it. If you’re going to take something out of the soil by harvesting, you should put something back in, and compost is...

By ANTHONY CAMMALLERI

GREENFIELD — Residents are working to bring a small patch of almost barren land surrounding the 20 Sanderson St. building back to life with the creation of a pocket park this summer. Using a $7,500 grant from the Licensed Site Professionals...

By EVELINE MACDOUGALL

The benefits of gardening are widely known, but there’s one aspect readers may not have considered: gardening can offer a path to sobriety, especially when undertaken with friends. Some members of the Greenfield-based Recover Project are spending time...

By EVELINE MACDOUGALL

We celebrate today’s Spring Equinox with Colrain resident Jocelyn Demuth, who designs curricula to encourage Massachusetts children to improve environmental health.Through her “Five hundred Yard Field Trip” website, Demuth provides teachers with free...