by Noel | Jun 5, 2018 | CobraHead, Environmental Issues, Farming, Gardening, Vegetable Growing
Bumblebees love Russian comfrey. The plant is frequently recommended as a bumblebee magnet. I often find four or more different varieties of bumblebees in the comfrey along with many other pollinators who also like the plant. My son Geoff introduced me to Russian comfrey (Symphytum × uplandicum) over 20 years ago when he brought home a few roots from the farm where he was working. It likes it in my garden and I have to work to keep it from spreading too far. ...
by Noel | Apr 20, 2018 | CobraHead, Environmental Issues, Garden Tools, Gardening, Vegetable Growing
I first met Mark Highland quite a few years ago, maybe at the Philadelphia Flower Show or at a Garden Writers conference. He already knew Geoff and Anneliese. Mark had just launched his company, Organic Mechanics, to produce high-quality potting soil. Since then, Mark has made a success of Organic Mechanics, and his passion for growing organically has evolved into his becoming a spokesperson for the organic method. Mark is a degreed horticulturalist whose...
by Noel | Feb 26, 2018 | CobraHead, Environmental Issues, Gardening
Last week it rained heavily on top of solidly frozen ground. The result was a lot of localized flooding and ice ponds everywhere. The water had nowhere to escape. Our closest large drainage is Koshkonong Creek which runs more like a ditch under Highway 18 about three blocks west of here, then through downtown Cambridge and on its way to the Rock River and the Mississippi. Here’s an ice pond on my property. There are ice ponds everywhere in the area, and...
by Noel | Jun 30, 2017 | CobraHead, Environmental Issues, Gardening, Vegetable Growing
Intensive gardening in open raised beds practically demands working with a lot of trellises. The system of concentrated planting doesn’t lend itself to sprawl, and the solution is to grow vertically. I stake or trellis many plants to get maximum production in limited space and to keep the aisle spaces passable. I use T-posts as my main trellis component. They are cheap, strong, and last forever. And they lend themselves well to various designs. Most of my...
by Noel | Oct 29, 2016 | CobraHead, Environmental Issues, Gardening
About five years ago I bought a flat of marigolds at a garden show in Rockford, Illinois. The flat cost only five dollars. I presumed the marigolds were neither organic nor open pollinated, but they looked strong and there were a lot of plants for the money. I thought I would stick marigolds at the ends of the raised beds to add some easy and quick color. This was in June. The plants performed well and bloomed until hard freezes came. They put out seed heads with...
by Noel | Jun 24, 2016 | CobraHead, Environmental Issues, Gardening
National Pollinator Week is a USDA sponsored event with the main focus of improving the health of pollinators, primarily, honeybees. I appreciate their efforts, but if the USDA really wanted to improve pollinator health, they would get out of their agri-business practices that are most responsible for loss of pollinator friendly ecosystems. Anyway, celebrating pollinators is a good thing, so we’ll contribute by featuring some of our local pollinating...
