Regulars (All)

Article - The Bay Gardener by Dr. Francis Gouin; by Dr. Francis Gouin - 3/10/11

The Best Fruit Grows on Pruned Branches

Now’s the time to prepare your fruit trees and berry bushes

Fruit quality and size are based not on the amount or kind of fertilizer you apply but on how well you prune the plants in the spring before they bloom. You should be pruning your apple, peach, nectarine, apricot, pear and cherry trees now, as well as your blueberry, raspberry and blackberry shrubs. To prune peaches and nectarines, first remove all branches growing above and below each main branch. Then remove all branches less than 12 inches long. Finally, prune all...

Article - Sky Watch by J. Alex Knoll; by J. Alex Knoll - 3/3/11

Escaping the Sun’s Grasp

Sometimes we can’t see the things right before our eyes

By week’s end, the moon is lost amid the glare of the sun, with new moon at 3:46 Friday afternoon. While you might say that the moon has disappeared behind the sun, it has in truth disappeared in front of the sun. As our natural satellite, the moon’s orbit around earth never carries it opposite the sun. Rather, the new moon is there before our eyes, as close as ever. But as it hovers in broad daylight directly between Earth and the sun, we are blind to it. By...

Article - The Bay Gardener by Dr. Francis Gouin; by Dr. Francis Gouin - 3/3/11

Tomato Alert!

Help needed in avoiding white core at tomato-ordering time

Have you ever sliced open a tomato and found one or two white spots, from the size of a pea to the size of a dime, in the flesh near the stem end of the fruit? Several Bay Weekly readers have brought the problem to my attention, and it seems it was quite common this past summer in many home gardens. One home gardener noticed that the white core problem was rampant even when the plants were irrigated and asked why I had not written about it. White core is...

Article - Sporting Life by Dennis Doyle; by Dennis Doyle - 3/3/11

New Year's Day

Finally, out of the cabin and onto the water

We had been fishing about two hours for yellow perch without a bite. Still, we were happy as clams. Mike E., poised in the front of my skiff, was not even upset the third time he fouled his spoon-rigged minnow in a tree over the opposite bank. I stowed my rod and moved our skiff toward his problem. Fish Are Biting ... The Susquehanna Flats is still producing great catches of yellow perch. The neds are also showing now on the Tuckahoe and are imminent at Wye Mills (if the...

Article - Sky Watch by J. Alex Knoll; by J. Alex Knoll - 2/24/11

Take Part, Lend an Eye

If not for science, then do it for the thrill of the hunt

By the time the sun sets around 5:55, Jupiter shines through the fading twilight low in the west. There should be no mistaking Jove’s brilliant glow, but the darker the sky grows, the closer to the horizon he settles, finally disappearing around 8pm. Through the night, the figure of the great hunter Orion strides through southern skies. With two of the brightest stars at opposite corners of his hourglass shape bisected by three parallel stars marking his belt, Orion is...

Article - Sporting Life by Dennis Doyle; by Dennis Doyle - 2/24/11

Commercial Fishing in Crisis

Outlaws are marauding on the Chesapeake

The term waterman, unique to Chesapeake Bay, refers to a commercial fisherman harvesting oysters, blue crabs and finfish or otherwise making a living from Bay waters. Maryland has a 300-year tradition of this noble endeavor. Fish Are Biting ... The yellow perch run is on in the mid-Bay. Anglers are catching good numbers of these beautiful and tasty devils as the males are running up into the tributaries in advance of the spawn. Although the smaller fish run earliest, you will...

Article - The Bay Gardener by Dr. Francis Gouin; by Dr. Francis Gouin - 2/24/11

Brew Compost into Tea?

I prefer mine straight

I have been asked by several gardeners to respond to the use of compost tea. I have spent nearly 40 years researching composting and the use of compost for growing plants. As a result of many successes, I cannot over-emphasize the benefits of using compost in gardening. Compost can do more toward improving the growth of plants than any fertilizer on the market. It makes physical improvements to the soil while improving its nutritional...

Article - Earth Journal by Gary Pendleton; by Gary Pendleton - 2/24/11

Winter Ducks Open a Window on the Past

Once upon a time with a duck called canvasback ...

From the North Beach boardwalk, where I take my morning walks, I have seen a small, mixed flock of Bay ducks, hanging close to the shore: mainly scaup, bufflehead, goldeneye and canvasback. This is a tiny remnant of the vast flocks that once wintered here. In December I called the Canada goose an icon of the Chesapeake. Canvasback ducks also deserve the label, though more for their historical place than present day. Until recent decades, the Chesapeake hosted more...

Article - Sky Watch by J. Alex Knoll; by J. Alex Knoll - 2/17/11

Celestial Signs of Rebirth

The cycle continues in the heavens and in distant galaxies

February’s full moon straddles Thursday and Friday, appearing equally large both nights. The actual moment of totality is at 4:36am Friday, when the moon is opposite the sun with earth smack-dab between the two. Despite some spring-like days, February often ushers in the heaviest snowfalls of the year, hence the names the Snow Moon and the Hunger Moon. But February also marks the stirrings of life, as names like the Sap Moon and the Worm Moon indicate. ...

Article - Sporting Life by Dennis Doyle; by Dennis Doyle - 2/17/11

Can’t Wait to Fish?

Link up with the chain pickerel

Fishing the Tidewater this early is an exercise in hope, humility and discomfort. These are times of unpleasant wind and bone-chilling temperatures. But for the determined angler, there can also be moments of heady triumph and the first real excitement of the season — not to mention a tasty fish dinner. Fish Are Biting ... Big yellow perch continue to be caught in the Northern Bay, near North East, when weather permits. Staging in deep water (40 to 50 feet)...