by Noel | Oct 17, 2017 | CobraHead, Gardening
We harvested 89 pounds of sweet potatoes yesterday. That’s not a record, but it’s well above our normal yield, and we’re happy with the results. Our average sweet potato yield is about 80 pounds per bed. We grow a variety named Jewel (sometimes spelled Jewell). We’ve been growing Jewel from our own starts for over 10 years and we find it excellent for both yield and long-term storage, and they taste great, too! The potatoes were grown in...
by Noel | Jun 30, 2017 | CobraHead, Environmental Issues, Gardening, Vegetable Growing
Intensive gardening in open raised beds practically demands working with a lot of trellises. The system of concentrated planting doesn’t lend itself to sprawl, and the solution is to grow vertically. I stake or trellis many plants to get maximum production in limited space and to keep the aisle spaces passable. I use T-posts as my main trellis component. They are cheap, strong, and last forever. And they lend themselves well to various designs. Most of my...
by Noel | Feb 7, 2017 | CobraHead, Gardening
This old flat dates back to about 1990. I started making my own flats from some cheap fence wood I had acquired. I’m not sure where I got the design, probably a garden magazine or garden book, but it has proven to be long-lasting and very useful. The flats are built using 3″ x 12″ x 5/8″ wood for the ends and 3″ x 18″ x 5/8″ wood for the sides. Thus they are 3 inches deep. The construction is very rough, especially the...
by Noel | Jan 28, 2017 | CobraHead, Gardening
It’s the end of January. We still have a lot of potatoes stored in the barn. Barn temperatures are often well below freezing but the potatoes are in good shape. Last fall, before I put the potatoes in storage, I modified my straw bale walls and replaced the bales on top with insulating foam panels. It was a good move. It’s way easier sliding off panels than wrestling straw bales when you need some potatoes. The barn stays cleaner and the potatoes seem to be...
by Noel | Jan 24, 2017 | CobraHead, Garden Tools, Gardening
I started CobraHead to sell a tool I designed. I was quite sure my tool would be a help to a lot of gardeners. Since then, sales have proven what I knew when I started, the tool was a good one. Supposedly it was Emerson who said, “Build a better mousetrap and the world will beat a path to your door.” I can assure you Ralph got it wrong. You can have a great product, but you have to sell it and sell it hard before anyone will even know it’s out there. ...
