It’s beginning to look like business as usual with the Chesapeake’s most treasured natural resource, the blue crab. Maryland is on course to resume the destructive harvest of female crabs, sooks, with its first official act upon the arrival of news that the crab population has at last begun to rebound. At the brink of species collapse two years ago, our crab population has shown a 60 percent increase in only two seasons after the first significant reduction of female harvest....

The waning moon rises after 10pm at week’s end, then crests the horizon 20-plus minutes later each night, so that by Tuesday, the last-quarter moon rises after midnight. Friday’s gibbous moon rises with glowing Jupiter only six degrees to the south, and the two remain tight through the wee hours before dawn, appearing high in the south with sunrise Saturday at 6:06. The sun sets this week around 8:15, and each day it leaves us more than a minute earlier. As the sky darkens, a bright...

  I am frequently asked if I am an organic gardener, based on my reputation for having been heavily involved in composting and compost utilization research since 1972. My answer is yes and no. The importance of organic matter in soils and the use of compost to improve and maintain soil productivity is not thoroughly appreciated. In my gardening practices, I use a combination of compost and chemical fertilizers and minimize restricted-use pesticides as much as I can. Based on my many years...

  The waning moon rises after 10pm at week’s end, then crests the horizon 20-plus minutes later each night, so that by Tuesday, the last-quarter moon rises after midnight. Friday’s gibbous moon rises with glowing Jupiter only six degrees to the south, and the two remain tight through the wee hours before dawn, appearing high in the south with sunrise Saturday at 6:06.  The sun sets this week around 8:15, and each day it leaves us more than a minute earlier. As the sky...