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 Judy | Oct 22, 2024 | #CobraHeadFolksEat Good, #JudyValdes, cherry tomato sauce, CobraHead
Tomato season is just about over here in southern Wisconsin, unless you have a greenhouse. We’ve had a couple of light freezes, and since we are on tomato overload, our plants have been pulled. This doesn’t mean we’re out – we have a 6-foot table plus of tomatoes in various stages of ripeness, including various colors of cherry tomatoes. I could juice them, but my freezer is full of tomato products, so I’ve opted to make a simple pasta sauce for dinner. Recipe: 4...
by Judy | Sep 30, 2024 | CobraHead
Noel has done it again. There are tomatoes everywhere in this house and still on the vine. Tomorrow is the first of October and there are still bowls of tomatoes to pick! Last week I canned two batches (14 pints) of salsa and baked a tomato cobbler with blue cheese biscuits. Yesterday I roasted some tomatoes with olive oil and garlic – yum! Today I will be making eggplant pasta sauce for the freezer. If you want to find our other favorite tomato recipes just go to...
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 Judy | Aug 22, 2024 | #CobraHeadFolksEat Good, #JudyValdes, CobraHead, Everything Bagel Seasoning Squash, Parmesan topped summer squash, Recipes
Help! The summer squash are taking over the kitchen. We had planned to plant two yellow squash and two zucchini plants but one zucchini plant expired and we only had a yellow squash as a spare, so three yellow and one green. We are harvesting some green zucchini just about every day, but we’re choking in yellow squash. Along with tomatoes ripening overnight, the counters are covered once again. It’s hard to find a spot to prep for the freezer, let alone make...
