by Noel | Jan 31, 2025 | CobraHead
Here’s a picture of our main garden. There’s nothing going on. That’s okay with me, as winter provides a vacation from most gardening chores. I don’t maintain a greenhouse, so things are pretty easy in December and January. But February brings on the work for the new season. Note the total lack of snow cover. We’ve had almost no snow this winter. In the old weather normal, we could often count on a good snow cover from December through March. And though it...
by Noel | Nov 19, 2024 | CobraHead, Environmental Issues, Gardening, Leaf covef for garden
Years ago we could expect a heavy blanket of snow to cover the garden from December until March. Snow cover is a good thing, but we can no longer count on it. Until this week, November temperatures in southern Wisconsin have been way above historic normals. It’s cooling off, but the meteorologists are predicting little snow cover for this year. Snow or not, I try to cover as much of my garden as possible with leaves. Leaves act as a weed suppressant, they insulate...
by Noel | Sep 30, 2024 | CobraHead, Gardening
As we move into fall, we’re still getting lots of good stuff from the garden. The tomato plants are succumbing to late blight, but it doesn’t matter anymore because we have already harvested all we need and there is still plenty of fruit ripening on the vines. Eggplants and peppers are still producing We have to pick green beans daily. We have a good lettuce crop; the cilantro patch is loaded, and Judy is pleased with the nice sage. Our basil is still nice and...
by Noel | Aug 23, 2024 | CobraHead
We’ve had some spectacularly beautiful weather here. For the past several weeks it’s been mostly highs in the upper 70’s with cool nights. Unlike the few parts of the country where the weather is mostly always pleasant, we celebrate and appreciate these really nice days. The great weather makes gardening easier. I’m doing a pretty good job of keeping up with the weeding since the heat isn’t pervasive and draining. The open raised beds I grow in utilize paths that...
by Noel | May 31, 2024 | CobraHead, Gardening, Vegetable Growing
I let a lot of plants bolt in the garden. Plants bolt when they are ready to produce seeds. They will develop a flowering stem and if left alone will often develop viable seeds. Gardeners often try to discourage bolting. We want leafy greens, not seeds. Bolting stems are often cut away. Plants are planted in cooler temperatures to reduce bolting and bolted plants are often removed. However, there are many instances when allowing bolting is a good thing. Free seed,...
