Fall Cleanup
We‘ve had a great garden this year. It’s not quite over. Lettuce, carrots, leeks, Brussels sprouts, and kale are still out there, but all the other crops have been harvested. Now we have to clean up the mess left behind and start prepping the beds for next spring....
September Garden
Most of my garden time this month was spent harvesting. September is when most of the heavy lifting of the harvest occurs. I’m always amazed at how much food can be grown by one person on a small piece of land. This year’s harvest has been exceptional. Here are sweet...
Growing Rosemary
Two and a half years ago, I bought a big, beautiful rosemary plant in a gallon-size pot at the Madison Garden Expo. I faithfully watered it once a week by soaking it in the laundry tub and letting it drain. This worked for almost two years, then the plant started...
BOTANAS
Botanas translated from Spanish means snack. It’s more than a snack for us – it’s a main course. This botanas recipe is similar to nachos. I first made it in the early 1970’s. It came from the local newspaper in Wyandotte, MI. Ingredients Base 1 12 oz or 16 oz bag...
Got Lots of Tomatoes
How many different tomato trellises and other growing systems are there? The answer is lots and lots. As we like indeterminate heirlooms, trellising is imperative. I tried something different this year. I did almost no pruning. Mostly, I pruned leaves that could make...
More Fossil Finds with CobraHead!
We're always delighted to receive emails from happy CobraHead users, but sometimes these notes really stand out with their uniqueness. A couple of weeks back, we received this message in our inbox: Hello there, My name is Mike Stoller, I am the Excavations &...
Roasted Garlic Appetizer
July is garlic month here at the CobraHead test kitchen and garden. For the past 30-plus years, Noel has planted 100 cloves of garlic at the end of October, and the nice fat bulbs are ready to harvest in mid-July the following year. After harvesting the garlic and...
July Garden
July was hot here, but it’s ending on a cool note. That’s good, because I’m way behind on weeding. The cooler days ahead will give me a chance to get some work done in more pleasant conditions. The heat and more than adequate rainfall are giving us wonderful...
Growing Citrus in Containers: A Smart and Flexible Way to Garden
Not everyone has space for an orchard — and that's okay! Growing citrus in containers is a great way to enjoy fresh fruit right from your patio, balcony, or backyard. Whether you're short on space or just want a little more flexibility, container citrus offers all the...
CobraHead Awarded with GardenComm Seal of Approval
We're thrilled to announce that our Original CobraHead Weeder & Cultivator has officially earned the GardenComm Member Approved seal of approval! A selection of GardenComm members (comprised of professional gardeners, garden communicators, and horticulturists)...
June Garden
Greetings from Cambridge, Wisconsin. We’re pretty far up north, so we normally don’t get as much heat as most of the country, but this year has started out quite warm, and I think it will be a scorcher. So far, the garden is happy because of abundant and well-timed...
Cashew Peapod Stir Fry
Our peas are doing quite well this year. Two of the four types of peas we are growing are edible-podded peas which include snow peas and sugar snap peas. The third one is a shelling pea. It’s picked when it plumps out. You can then remove the shell and eat the peas...
May Garden Tour
I work harder in the garden in May than in any other month. As usual at this time of the year, I’m way behind, but I’m still happy with what’s done so far. The south beds are neatly fenced in to protect the peas and other delicious delicacies from the marauding deer...
Anise Hyssop Herb Salad
Anise Hyssop is a perennial herb, an excellent pollinator, and it tastes like licorice. It's one of my favorite additions to a salad. Adding 4 or 5 licorice-flavored leaves (slivered) to a salad enhances its flavor significantly. While I was ‘foraging’ in our own...
Pea Planting and T-post Trellises
The peas were planted three weeks ago on April 12th. Spring peas are an important and reliable crop in our garden. I try to plant them early, when the chance of another killer freeze is minimal. I make ten trellises using T-posts and landscape fence. The trellises are...
Ramps and Other Spring Edibles
Spring is always a fun time of the year after a dreary cold winter. Snowdrops start the season off followed by the crocuses. The blue scilla are everywhere in the lawn and the tulips are budding out. But my favorite part is looking for the edibles such as ramps,...
Dahlia Growing 101 Guide
We've posted a lot about vegetable growing here, but in recent years, we've added more and more ornamental plants to our growing repertoire. Our latest interest is Dahlias! If you'd like to try them, too, we have a few handy tips, courtesy of our friends at Russells...
Indoor Sweet Potato Greenhouse
About 30 years ago I accidentally left some sweet potatoes in the basement well past their one year maximum shelf life. The potatoes were wrapped in newspaper in a relative dry environment. As I unwrapped the potatoes I found they were dehydrating and all the potatoes...
Growing Good Food is Easy
I’ve grown food for a long time. I learned a lot about home gardening from my mother who gardened because she had to, as we had little money. I also learned a lot from the neighbor next to us who was a vegetable gardener extraordinaire. Mrs. Martin came from her house...
Sweet Potato Pie
Here it is the end of March and we’re still working our way through our 2024 sweet potato harvest. It’s an amazing root vegetable and a nutritional powerhouse. We have been growing our own starts from saved plants for over 25 years. The variety is Jewel. It’s large,...