Regulars (All)

Article - Sky Watch by J. Alex Knoll; by J. Alex Knoll - 9/23/10

The Night’s Bright Lights

The sun’s lost ground is the skywatcher’s gain

As if to hammer another nail into summer’s coffin, the sun this week sets before 7:00. The darkening sky reveals Venus tight above the southwest horizon, and while the evening star is brilliant at magnitude –4, it, too, is fleeting and sets shortly after the sun.

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Article - The Bay Gardener by Dr. Francis Gouin; by Dr. Francis Gouin - 9/23/10

From Humble Origins

Following a few simple rules, you can grow a mighty oak from a tiny acorn

A master gardener recently asked me how to germinate acorns because she had repeated failures. To be successful, collect the acorns soon after they have fallen from the tree. Never collect acorns that have caps still attached because those acorns are most likely empty. Only solid, firm acorns that have fallen from the tree without caps should be collected. A healthy, well-developed acorn is one that has separated from its cap while still attached to the tree.

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Article - Sky Watch by J. Alex Knoll; by J. Alex Knoll - 9/16/10

The Twitch of the Socks

With the autumnal equinox, that footwear comes to life

Labor Day has come and gone, but the celestial clock still reads summer. While our days are still longer than our nights, we have lost two hours 45 minutes of sunlight over the past three months. After this week, the hours of darkness each day will trump those of light.

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Article - Sporting Life by Dennis Doyle; by Dennis Doyle - 9/16/10

Catching the Fall Bite

In the shift to shallow water, tackle makes the difference

Live-lining small Norfolk spot remains the surest bet for a limit of striped bass on the Chesapeake. But light-tackle lure fishing grows more exciting as our waters cools with September’s chillier weather, when striped bass behavior changes.

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Article - The Bay Gardener by Dr. Francis Gouin; by Dr. Francis Gouin - 9/16/10

Not Sour Enough to Kill Weeds

There’s a big difference between household vinegar and horticultural vinegar

A few years ago, I wrote about using horticultural vinegar to kill weeds. At a recent Deale Farmers’ Market, a customer who bought peaches from me insisted that my recommendation to use vinegar does not kill weeds.

She even went to the trouble of boiling the vinegar, thinking she would be concentrating it. What she did not realize is that boiling vinegar dilutes the acetic acid, which is why vinegar gives off a strong odor when heated.

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Article - Bay Reflections; by Leo Newberg - 9/16/10

A Pirate’s Protest

These beautiful days can set you free

I have spent my life much like the proverbial pirate looking at 40, wondering why I never quite fit into today’s society, when the truth of the matter has always been that I am far healthier and happier because I never bothered to change. Too often I find that there is a sad disconnect between people’s daily lives and the world in which they live.

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Article - Sky Watch by J. Alex Knoll; by J. Alex Knoll - 9/9/10

Gazing into the Cat’s Eyes

There’s more to Shaula and Lesath than appears at first glance

Soon after sunset on September 10th and 11th, the nascent crescent moon joins Venus low in the west. These two are the first two lights to appear after sunset, around 7:20 Saturday, when Venus shines six degrees to the right of the moon.

Sunday, the moon and Venus form a loose triangle with the dim star Zubenelgenubi in the constellation Libra.

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Article - Osprey Saga by M.C. Koblos; by M.C. Koblos - 9/9/10

The Final Chapter in the Osprey Saga

Week 26: The End … and the Beginning

I finally I saw Junior bring a fish of his own, grasped in his claws, to the nest site. He didn’t eat it in little beak-sized pieces like his mom fed to him, but rather tore at it voraciously, ripping it into pieces too big to swallow that he then had to step on with his foot to rip into pieces small enough to get into his beak and down his throat.

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Article - Sky Watch by J. Alex Knoll; by J. Alex Knoll - 9/2/10

Summer’s Waning Lights

Less daytime and a waning moon leave plenty to see

With summer on the wane, the sun sets around 7:30 at week’s end, shedding more than a minute of evening sunlight each night. In the morning it’s more of the same, as the sun rises at 6:37 Saturday and almost a minute later each morning.

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Article - The Bay Gardener by Dr. Francis Gouin; by Dr. Francis Gouin - 9/2/10

Keep Your Roses Blooming

Bet you didn’t know these tricks

If you examine a rose plant carefully, you will notice that it has compound leaves, meaning that there are either three or five leaflets to each leaf. The three-leaflet leaves appear near the top and bottom of each stem, and the five-leaflet leaves appear in the middle of the stems....

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