Ask a Master Gardener: New Year’s resolutions

As we head into winter, you may find yourself thinking about the warmth of summer and getting back into the garden again. This daydreaming is a good opportunity to reflect on the past growing season and set goals for next year’s garden by making some New Year’s resolutions. Here are 10 gardening resolutions to inspire you to create your own list. 1: Spend time reflecting on the gardening season that has just passed, and take notes on what went well, what didn’t work and what you’d like to do differently goi … (read more)

What about the garden in winter, as it sleeps under a blanket snow? This can be equally beautiful. It’s all about the contrast of the seasons — something that I relish about living in the Green Mountain State.

While rosemary is not a perennial in Vermont, you can still grow and enjoy fresh rosemary all year. Just plant it in a container. Bring it outside in warmer weather and inside before the first frost. Why rosemary? It is attractive, resembling a small pine … (read more)

Whether you receive a new plant as a gift or purchase it, it’s always a good idea to familiarize yourself with the plant’s needs and any safety concerns it might present.

Mushroom grow kits can be found online and in the gardening section in many stores. Available varieties include oyster, lion’s mane and shitake, along with familiar varieties such as white button and portabella.

The historic Pulp Mill Bridge spanning Otter Creek between Middlebury and Weybridge has been a major tourist stop for many years.

Judges from the Middlebury Garden Club traveled many roads looking for gardens expressing great pleasure and happiness. Four earned the club’s Roadside Awards.

Zora, a cashmere goat accompanied by her four goat workers, brings gentleness and peacefulness to the typically clamorous task of removing vines, shrubs and all else that resolve to grow where you envisioned a meticulously maintained lawn.

Fall is here — that magnificent but fleeting season when the forests array themselves in their most splendid finery as they bid a final adieu to summer.

The leaves are turning to their autumn glory and it’s nearly time to put the garden to bed. But wait.

Noted landscape consultant Dan Jaffe Wilder will present a virtual four-hour workshop on Oct. 16 on building resilient home landscapes with native plants.

Here in Vermont, garlic is best planted in fall because of its need for a dormant period of two months below 40 Fahrenheit degrees.

Fall is a great time to observe sunflower plantings in your community, to enjoy their beauty and think about how you might like to grow them next season.

Whether grown for aesthetics or food, this hardy perennial can be a long-lived addition to the gardening landscape.

Sometime in August, as I was beginning to concede defeat, I noticed that a second, unofficial garden had sprung up without my noticing: This one was sprouting out of our compost bin.