by Anneliese | Nov 18, 2010 | CobraHead, Gardening
You may remember that last month we announced an essay contest in which participants were asked to write about a young gardener. Today we are pleased to announce the winning entry was written by Sharon Reed. Sharon chose to write about her nine-year-old grandson, Fisher. Here is her letter and a picture of one of Fisher’s favorite places in the garden. I am a Master Gardener and provide advice to many gardeners in the community, but the most important...
by Noel | Nov 16, 2010 | CobraHead, Gardening
I started playing with LED grow lights three years ago when I bought three small LED spotlights from a vendor I met at the Cincinnati Flower Show. My initial approach to using the lights was very haphazard. I mainly used the spots to augment natural light from the south facing glass wall in the sunroom for starting vegetable seedlings in the spring. The results for enhancing plant growth were noticeable and LEDs are way easier to work with than fluorescents and...
by Judy | Nov 16, 2010 | CobraHead, Recipes
After almost 25 years of living on our 4 acres of partially wooded property Noel ‘discovered’ a crabapple tree. Apparently we were never in that scruffy corner of the woods at the right time or maybe the seed just blew in one year when we weren’t looking and grew fast! Anyway, I was directed to the tree and asked to make crabapple jelly. I picked about 4 quarts of crabapples that ranged in size from a quarter to a golf ball. I washed them and Noel helped me...
by Noel | Nov 14, 2010 | Environmental Issues, Gardening
I was digging horseradish roots out of the compost area when I uncovered a little spotted salamander. They seem out of place here. I would expect them in much wetter areas, but I come across them frequently so I guess they like the garden surroundings. Judy was cleaning up our leek harvest nearby so I put the salamander in the wheelbarrow she was using while I fetched the camera. I took the picture and returned the little creature back to where I had found it. ...
by Noel | Nov 8, 2010 | CobraHead
Yesterday, two weeks past my target October 24th plant date, I got my garlic into the ground. That’s a lot better than being six months late, and with the very warm fall we are having, I’m sure the garlic will do just fine. Here in Wisconsin, garlic does best when it’s planted in the fall and covered to protect it from the hard winter freezes. The cloves start setting roots under the covering long before the snow is gone. The crop is larger...
