Entries by Lee Reich

CLEAN UP, THEN SHAVE

 Out with the Old (Plants)    Ostensibly, I’m clearing away old plant debris from the vegetable and flower gardens to spare next year’s garden a full onslaught of overwintering disease and insect pests, and so that, come spring, the soil is ready and waiting for seeds and transplants. I’ll admit it, though: I like the […]

Luxuriating in my Greenhouse

How Cool is That (Greenhouse)?     Having a greenhouse is a much-appreciated luxury. To avoid being profligate, I eke all that I can from its every square inch in every season.    For starters, it’s a cool greenhouse — temperature-wise “cool,” not “ain’t this a cool greenhouse” cool. Winter temperatures are permitted inside drop to 35°F. […]

SLOW SEED

 Appreciated but not Touched    “Flower in the crannied wall, I pluck you out of the crannies, I hold you here, root and all, in my hand, Little flower . . . “ Whoa! Hold on there Lord Tennyson! Relax, little flower. I’m not doing any plucking.    I had hardly a hand in some of […]

SUCCESSES, EDIBLE AND OTHERWISE

 Stand Up Straight!    I am particularly proud of my Brussels sprouts this year — and I haven’t even tasted them yet. How odd that I should be proud of this vegetable that I spurned in the past, often quoting a friend who referred to them as “little green balls of death.” Then I put […]

VEGETABLE GARDEN FRUITS

End of Summer But I Still Need some Watermelon     Given sun, heat, and reasonably moist, fertile soil, watermelons are easy to grow. The greater challenge is in harvesting them at their peak of perfection. Even professionals sometimes fall short, as witnessed by not-quite-ripe watermelons I “harvested” awhile ago from a supermarket shelf and, a […]

ON TRIAL

And the Best Cherry Tomato Is . . .  Take your picks from the descriptor grab bag: Honey, Gold, Drop, Sun, Bunch, etc. Now put a couple of them together and you might end up with a luscious-sounding name for a tomato variety. People have done this, and reeled me right in. This year I […]

I WAS WRONG

 Hog Peanuts, Groundnuts, Whatever    I was wrong. A few weeks ago I wrongly dissed groundnut (Apios americana) for invading my flower garden. Yes, I planted it; that was 30 years ago, and it’s resisted my attempts at eradication for the past 28 years.    The worse culprit, this year at least, is related to groundnut. […]

GOLDEN REWARDS, NOW & FUTURE

 Why Grow Sweet Corn?    With all the supersweet, tender ears of corn readily available at farms, farmers’ markets, even supermarkets these days, why do I bother to grow my own sweet corn? Because it tastes better, much better. Corn can be too sweet, and too tender for many of us maizophiles.    I grow the […]

MAYPOP & ASPARAGUS, BEAUTIFUL & EDIBLE

 Awesome, Made More So    You would think — or I, at least, would think — that a purple and white passionflower would be more passion-inducing than one that was merely white. Not so. The white one displays a passionate juxtaposition between a pure, lily-whiteness and a wildness from the the squiggly, threadlxike rays of […]