The Gardener's Bed-Book: Short and Long Pieces to Be Read in Bed by Those Who Love Green Growing Things

Editor and writer Michael Pollen has added Richardson Wright's THE GARDENER'S BED BOOK (first published in 1929) to the Modern Library Garden Series. Although Wright included an entry for every day of the year plus a longer piece for each of the first 11 months, I read about ten pages a night and thus finished it in about a month. Wright was the editor-in-chief of House and Garden for thirty four years. He and his wife were upscale, maintaining homes in New York City and Connecticut. He had a hired gardener to help him mind his acreage and apparently room for pigs and chickens. Wright says he has not written a "how-to" gardening book. However, he offers mostly useful garden suggestions at the end of each entry (for those in growing zone 5 or 6 in Connecticut), as well as a few bits of wisdom. Wright also wrote a few comments some will find offensive. Vegetarians will find his interaction with two pigs named WEE-WEE and FANNIE a bit painful. (He raised and slaughtered them during the course of the year.) African Americans may object to either one or both of two entries in the latter part of the book. (i.e., Wright and his wife collected antiques and among other items he was searching for a "yard-boy.") Wright offers some sage advice, such as working off anger by destroying tent caterpillar nests and never giving up on a plant until you've tried it thrice. He also suggests the need for a club for men who have given up golf and taken up gardening which he views as a superior activity. He has some suggestions about tracking the weather using hard to find antiques such as a Dutch weather glass that may be more reliable than "modern" technology. (My bones are more reliable than modern technology!!) He says one should not attempt to garden on torrid days and suggests laying in the sun as long as you can in October. He laments the loss of burning autumn leaves, and fireplaces consuming cedar or apple wood. He and his wife both think of their "top" garden on days when things are tough in NYC. Wright provides insights into the life of a gentleman gardener living in a different era, but much of what he says remains salient.