by Geoff | Dec 31, 2014 | CobraHead, Gardening
Last week I was in Mexico City visiting family and saw an abundance of new living walls. Here are some photos of two of them.
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 28, 2013 | CobraHead, Environmental Issues, Gardening
Today I finally built some nesting logs for native bees. I got inspired by the frequent postings of Gail Eichelberger about native plants and native polinators on her blog Clay and Limestone. I then used some instructions from the Xerces Society (PDF), grabbed some old oak logs and got to work. Most native bees build solitary nests. Some nest in the ground and others nest in holes in wood or other cavities. According to the Xerces Society, holes for wood...
