How to be a Good Gardener/Farmer, Simplified “The poor farmer grows weeds, the mediorcre farmer grows crops, the good farmer grows soil.” How true, when I think of the good farmers and gardeners I’ve visited over the years. I aspire to be a good farmdener and spend a lot of time trying to grow […]
Easy to Grow, Hard to Harvest Of all commonly grown tree fruits, pears are the easiest, mostly because they succumb to fewer pest and weather problems than do other common tree fruits. Of all commonly grown tree fruits, pears are the most difficult to harvest. Timing is what makes pears so difficult to […]
Finish Squash “Zucchini bread is for people who don’t have compost piles.” That’s what I told Deb after she suggested, first ratatouille, and then zucchini bread, as vehicles for our excess zucchini. Most years I make an early, too large planting of zucchini (about 6 plants), and then, six to eight weeks later, […]
Upcoming Fall Fruit Workshop See web page https://leereich.com/workshops for details. The River Runs Green Crossing the bridge over the Wallkill River on my way home, I glance to my right to admire the river itself. What a beautiful color it has turned, a bright turquoise. Ponds I pass also have taken on this bright […]
Passionflower to the Rescue When I began, many years ago, to heat my home with wood, I struggled to get the driest possible wood, finally building a 60-foot long woodshed beneath which a double row of logs basked in the direct hit of sunlight from the south. I more recently learned that firewood can […]
Accusations, (Mostly) not True I’ve understandably been accused of being a “permie,” that is, of practicing permaculture. (In the words of permaculture founder, Bill Mollison, “Permaculture is about designing sustainable human settlements. It is a philosophy and an approach to land use which weaves together microclimate, annual and perennial plants, animals, soils, water management, and […]
I realize the laziness of humans, including myself, and dig lines for more convenient watering; gardens are already situated sufficiently close to save a few steps. And celeriac, what’s going on? Grow!
All is good: Mexican bean beetles cease to be a problem, corn soars higher than 10 feet, and, as usual, blueberry bushes bear awesome quantities of delectable berries.
Juicy plums just about ready to pick and then . . . yecchhh, brown rot srikes again. Shift gears, plants flowers. Will they help against brown rot?
I watch out for pests: thousand canker disease of black walnut, chipmunks (not a pest for me), and me (not a pest for strawberries, although it might appear so)
