by Noel | Jul 29, 2021 | CobraHead, Garden Tools, Gardening
On July 14th a thunderstorm flattened our two beds of sweet corn. It was déjà vu all over again. I wrote this post in July of 2009: https://blog.cobrahead.com/2009/07/11/corn-corrals/ I usually prepare for events like this by corralling my corn ahead of time using T-posts and jute twine. If I do this while the corn is still relatively small, the stalks will stand up to even very heavy winds. This year, I didn’t get around to it and paid the...
by Noel | Jun 30, 2021 | CobraHead, Gardening, Vegetable Growing
I used to fence the garden regularly, but for the past several years I tried to get away from doing it. I had purchased some electric deer repellers, but they were only moderately effective. Deer Damage This year I decided to go back to my old fence setup. I put up a four foot fence and I thought I’d be okay, but the day after the fence went up, deer jumped over and dined on my young peas, so I added another two-foot section atop the four-foot one. Set...
by Judy | Jun 30, 2021 | CobraHead, Recipes
The basil and parsley are growing quite nicely this year. It’s not tall yet but there are numerous plants with big leaves in our garden so I had plenty to harvest for a batch of pesto. The ‘traditional’ pesto is made with basil and pine nuts. But there are as many different pesto recipes as there are cooks. You can mix or match all kinds of greens, including but not limited to, basil, parsley, mint, spinach, arugula, garlic...
by Noel | May 25, 2021 | CobraHead, Gardening, Vegetable Growing
May is the month of plants and my busiest month in the garden. I have beds to prepare for seeding and planting, and I’m trying to get as many live plants and seeds into the ground as I can. Like every year, I’m way behind where I would like to be at this time, but I always end up with a decent garden so I just keep plugging along and hoping for the best. Here are a few things I’ve been working on. Pea Trellis Peas and Lettuce The peas are looking very...
by Judy | May 25, 2021 | CobraHead, Recipes
The rhubarb plants are big and strong this year. I have already made our favorite rhubarb crisp, but this time Noel wanted a pie. I don’t usually bother with pies because they’re too fussy, though I suppose if I bought the crust it would be a lot easier. But then I don’t think I would have received 5-star ratings from all of my usual tasters! Here’s my recipe: Crust 2 cups unbleached flour (I used 1/2 cup soft whole pastry...
by Judy | Apr 29, 2021 | CobraHead, Recipes
Sweet Potato Black Bean Salad After looking at Noel’s beautiful sweet potato starts for this season I thought I’d better see what we have left from last year’s harvest. After setting aside the two biggest sweets for next year’s sprouts we still have about 10 lbs left to use. We have good luck with individually newspaper-wrapped potatoes kept in a cool room temperature basement setting. They don’t like to be too cold so root cellars...
