by Geoff | Jun 15, 2014 | Recipes
A few years ago, I planted a plumcot tree in my front yard. A plumcot is a cross between a plum and an apricot. Two years ago I had a moderate harvest, and last year nothing. But this year, I have an abundance of fruit that I have been eating, preserving, cooking, and giving away. So far, I’ve had minimal bird damage and almost no other pest damage, but I know from past experience that birds and possums can ruin the crop overnight. So I’ve been...
by Geoff | Jan 22, 2014 | CobraHead, Gardening
Last weekend, my dad, Noel, visited me in Austin, so I put him to work helping me in the garden. It was mid-January; that meant onion planting time. To start your own onion seedlings indoors, you should do so 8-10 weeks prior to planting. In Austin, that would have meant sowing them in October. Since I hadn’t done that we first went to the Natural Gardener, where I picked up Southern Belle red, Bermuda white, and Texas 1015 yellow seedlings. All three...
by Geoff | Jan 6, 2014 | CobraHead, Gardening
I’ve struggled to keep a corner of my garden free of Bermuda grass. The grass rhizomes keep sneaking under the drip irrigation tubes. They infiltrate the garden bed and reduce vegetable production. This year I decided to take that section of the garden bed out of production for the season and put it under a mulch to knock the grass back. I’ve also decided to divide my beds into 4′ x 4′ sections for planting and rotation purposes. Since...
by Geoff | Jul 26, 2012 | Gardening
I garden year round in Austin, so there is no point at which I “put the garden to bed”, as is often done in more Northern climates. I never get to start with a clean slate for the next year’s season. At any given time in my garden I’ll have recently planted sections that are often still months away from harvest, sections in peak production, sections that are still producing but well past their peak, and sections that need to be removed. During peak planting...
by Geoff | Mar 22, 2011 | CobraHead, Gardening
This year CobraHead again exhibited at the Philadelphia Flower Show. While Anneliese, Noel and I spent most of our time in our booth in the vendor section extolling the virtues of our wares to the passing public, in the evenings I would get a chance to take in the splendid display gardens. Several truly impressed me, but I tend to spend the most time going back to the ones that inspire me to do something in my own garden. This year The Chef’s Rooftop Garden...
