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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 MICKEY RATHBUN

Most of us humans assume that other creatures experience the world through their senses of sound, taste, smell and touch, the same way we do. But we couldn’t be more wrong, as science writer Ed Yong explains in his fascinating new book, “An Immense...

By PAT JAMES

After moving from the city into a rural home with land 25 years ago, I was excited that the property was mostly bare ground that I could bend to my will and create beautiful gardens over time. As a kid, I’d helped in the garden a lot, so how hard...

By MICKEY RATHBUN

As the calendar page flips to the short but cruel month of February, I suspect that many gardeners, like me, are getting tired of the somber palette of gray and brown.Just in time to rescue us from seasonal ennui, a wonderful documentary, “Painting...

By MICKEY RATHBUN

There’s not a lot going on in my garden, now blanketed under a foot of snow, to inspire this month’s column. So I took a break from dreaming over the spring promise of seed catalogs and went in search of a soul-satisfying poem about the garden in...

By MICKEY RATHBUN

A few years ago I was having coffee with my two sisters-in-law at a family gathering in North Carolina. Both of them had recently built new houses and were quizzing me about how to create gardens in the bare dirt surrounding their homes. The question...

By MICKEY RATHBUN

SHUTESBURY — Many of us find ourselves puzzling over what to do with a bare yard, or an outdoor space that doesn’t quite work, or even an established garden that has gone “meh.” We want to make a change, but we’re stuck. We might have too many ideas,...

By PRISCILLA TOUHEY

Q: My husband and I are “discussing” when we should rake up the leaves in our yard — after they are all down (him) or as soon as the lawn is covered (me). Help! Any thoughts on a solution? —C.J., NorthamptonA: We New Englanders love our vibrant red,...

By MICKEY RATHBUN

Crabapple trees are one of my favorite ornamental spring trees. A mainstay of the New England landscape, they offer three seasons of interest, plus a handsome branching habit that looks good all winter long, especially when decked with freshly fallen...

By MICKEY RATHBUN

I have a big patch of daylilies behind my house. They are a disorganized jumble of plants that were given to me along with others that I’ve bought at plant sales, nurseries and farmers markets. I have never paid much attention to this part of the...

By PRISCILLA TOUHEY

Q: I have a ton of vinca growing under my trees and would like to start replacing it this fall with native groundcovers. Any suggestions of good options? –R.M., Hatfield A: I am so glad you asked, R.M.! Vinca minor (Periwinkle) does fit the...

By MICKEY RATHBUN

Some garden sites are more challenging than others. But to say that Randy and Sue Frost’s property poses landscaping challenges is an understatement. They purchased their house, on Coles Meadow Road in Northampton, in 2001, while it was still under...

Most people don’t pay much attention to bees, wasps and other pollinating insects, other than to swat them when they come too close. But these insects are crucial to our food supply. Between 75 and 90 percent of all flowering plant species require...

By Maureen Gilmer

The color purple has evolved well beyond links to Barney the dinosaur to become a favorite color for politics, hair and flowers. It’s little understood as a hue because royal purple is not the only shade offered. In fact, purple has two faces. It...

By Norman Winter

The last time I reported on the Cora Cascade was in 2010; so much has changed with this trailing beauty, it’s now even better than we knew it then, so I thought I’d write an update. Cora Cascade vinca has been beating the brutal summers in...