by Noel | Oct 26, 2020 | Gardening, Vegetable Growing
Fall Garden Cleanup Putting the garden to bed for the winter requires a little work. If things went perfectly all the beds would get cleaned of weeds and spent plants, compost would get worked in, the beds reworked and reshaped as necessary, and the whole garden covered with a thick layer of leaves. Most years I get most of that done. This year, I’m only a little behind, but trying to catch up. I’ll be planting garlic within a week, but I’m not...
by Noel | Sep 17, 2020 | CobraHead, Garden Tools, Gardening, Vegetable Growing
Potato Bed. Cold and soggy weather deterred gardening for nearly a week. It’s warmer now and drying up, a good time to finish digging up a potato bed that was already mostly harvested. Digging Potatoes. About a third of the bed was left to dig. Harvesting was not difficult, I used a broadfork to loosen all the edges, and then down on my hands and knees with my CobraHead Original to do all the digging. A Seam of Potatoes The potatoes had been planted in...
by Noel | Aug 22, 2020 | CobraHead, Gardening, Vegetable Growing
This small bed has 5 wire grate trellises. It’s planted with cucumbers, smaller squashes, small melons, and tomatillos. The wire mesh is a concrete reinforcing insert which is readily available and not expensive. Like the T-posts to which they are attached, they last indefinitely. Jute Connection Everything is tied together with jute twine which I much prefer over plastic twine or plastic wire ties. Jute twine is inexpensive and biodegradable so there is no...
by Noel | Jul 15, 2020 | CobraHead, Gardening, Vegetable Growing
Our vegetable garden is divided into south and north areas. The south area is geometric consisting of 18 open raised beds. The North garden is more fragmented and contains a large and no longer maintained asparagus bed, five smaller beds in production, plus several patches of Jerusalem Artichokes, weeds, and a compost area. Carrots and Beets, Tomatoes Here are a couple north beds. The closest bed gave us some greens, radishes, spinach and...
by Noel | May 18, 2020 | CobraHead, Garden Tools, Gardening, Vegetable Growing
I plant my potatoes in trenches which I make with my old five-tined cultivating hoe. I loosen the soil with the cultivator and scoop it out of the trench with a flat spade. Potato Trenches It doesn’t take long to make trenches about eight inches deep and eight inches wide. Planted Potato Seed I run a row of seed 12 inches apart on one side of the trench and a row on the opposite side, offset 6 inches. This year I planted five varieties, 2.5 pounds of each...
