Entries by Lee Reich

LAST WEEK OF 2021 PLANT SALE

Lee Reich’s 13TH (?) ANNUAL PLANT SALE (of mostly lesser grown but delectable fruits) Because of covid, the sale is now online, with scheduled pickups here at the farmden in New Paltz, NY. Limited quantities of plants are still available (September Sun female kiwiberry, various varieties of fig, Blue Sunset lowbush blueberry, and Pineapple Crush […]

GARDENING “HANDWORK”

To Haul or Not to Haul Hauling manure hardly seems to make sense these days, considering that lugging 500 pounds of horse manure gives plants about the same amount of food as a 50 pound bag of 10-10-10. And the latter for only about ten bucks! But whereas 10-10-10 supplies only food (and only three […]

PLANT SALE NOW LIVE

Lee Reich’s 13TH (?) ANNUAL PLANT SALE (of mostly lesser grown but delectable fruits) Because of covid, the sale is now online, with scheduled pickups here at the farmden in New Paltz, NY. Note that there are limited quantities of al plants, each available to the first taker. So order soon. To see plant list, […]

MICHELANGELIC ASPIRATIONS

I Start with the Easiest I spent an hour or so today working on my sculptures. Yes, they were out in the garden. No, they were not stone renderings of fish spouting water into a pond or of ethereal females sprinkling the ground with flower petals. These sculptures are quite large and, as you might […]

CALLING ALL VOLUNTEERS

A Returning Beauty I have some of the nicest volunteers in my garden. Some of them have been people, many of them are plants, and one of my favorites – among the plants, that is – is columbine. Years ago, I planted some native columbines, those dainty plants whose orange and yellow flowers hover on […]

MARKING SPRING’S ONWARD MARCH

It’s spring, a time when a man’s thoughts turn to . . . flowers, of course. (At least this man’s thoughts, some of them, do.) Sure, I’ve been reveling in the colorful progression of blossoms beginning, this year, with cornelian cherry and hellebore on about the first day of spring, and moving on to forsythia, […]

MY MENAGERIE EXPANDS (and a free webinar)

A Little Bit of the Mediterranean The UPS guy arrived yesterday with a long, narrow cardboard box containing the latest addition to my menagerie, a menagerie of mostly Mediterranean plants. “Mostly” because not all of them have roots in the Mediterranean. But all of them thrive and are grown in Mediterranean climates of mild winters […]

FRUITFUL FUTURES

Making the Best of It Eek! Mice (or rabbits)! Not the animals but the damage they have wrought. The bark on virtually all my pear grafts of last year has been nibbled off enough to kill the grafts. Once I calmed down, I realized that all was not lost. All the chewing was above ground […]

TRANSPLANT GROWING, A BETTER WAY

Snicker if You Will I don’t know about your propagation space, but mine is getting overcrowded. Yes, now with a greenhouse, I’ve got more room than in the the past when I grew seedlings in windowsills or in my basement under lights. But my greenhouse is small, and with greenhouse beds home to fig trees […]

SOUTHERN FRANCE, IN SCENT AND SIGHT

Heaven Scent Flower I trace the origin of my present obsession with growing carnations – big, fat, fragrant carnations (Dianthus caryophyllus) – to the movie, Jean de Florette, that I saw back in 1986. Not that I aspire to labor under the weight of hauling water long distances to care for my plants, as did […]