by Noel | Nov 5, 2007 | CobraHead, Gardening
I grew corn and cucumbers in this bed. It is the worst bed in the south garden in terms soil workability. It is dense yellow clay. It becomes brick hard as it dries. While years of adding compost and rotating crops though the bed have made it softer than it once was, it’s still far from friable. The nasty soil doesn’t seem to have any negative effect on the vegetables I grow. This year the corn and cukes were superb and when I do break up the clay,...
by Noel | Nov 3, 2007 | Gardening
Cucumbers, like summer squash and zucchini, can get past you if you’re not diligent. I found this one yesterday in the debris along the edge of the bed where I had planted three cucumber plants on the east side of a bed of corn. The plants were bought at the Madison farmers market. They were labeled Burpless Bush Cucumbers with no brand name of any seed company. I think they were misnamed, since they set extremely vigorous trailing vines. The fruit was short...
by Noel | Oct 31, 2007 | CobraHead, Gardening
T-posts are everywhere in my garden. They are indispensable fixtures in the system I’ve developed. They hold up my tomato cages. I make a little corral with T-posts and jute to keep the corn from blowing over. In the north beds where I have a permanent planting of asparagus, a T-post corral keeps the fronds from falling into the paths. I trellis melons and peas with T-posts and fencing. For the last three years I’ve put a fence around the entire south...
by Noel | Oct 28, 2007 | CobraHead, Gardening
I got my garlic in yesterday. I’m happy when I get my garlic planted in October. Some years that doesn’t happen. I’ve planted garlic in April and still had a nice harvest, but the bulbs were smaller. One year I planted in December. I had to break through frosted ground to get the cloves in. They produced very well. But when I get them planted in October, the garlic starts sprouting over the winter and I almost always get a good harvest. I also...
by Noel | Oct 23, 2007 | CobraHead
“Hi Noel, Hope all is well. I saw you up in Eau Claire a couple weeks ago but didn’t get a chance to say ‘hi’. See enclosed photo (use it if you like) of our volunteer with a CobraHead. We used them to clear out old sand between our bluestone patios so we could replace with fresh stuff. Worked great! Take care! Sincerely, Mark Dwyer” We got the above photo and message this morning from Mark Dwyer, the Director of Horticulture at...
