by Noel | Aug 17, 2014 | CobraHead, Environmental Issues, Gardening, Recipes
Judy made this season’s first salsa yesterday. It’s about as local as you can get. Everything in it is from the garden except the lime. Here’s the recipe: 2 cups chopped cherry tomatoes – red, yellow, orange – most any tomato will work, but the cherry tomatoes, especially the orange Sungolds, give it a particular zing. ¼ c. chopped red onion 3 cloves garlic – chopped finely 1 T. hot pepper (or to taste) – chopped finely ½ c. cilantro – chopped 1 lime –...
by Geoff | Jul 28, 2013 | CobraHead, Environmental Issues, Gardening
Today I finally built some nesting logs for native bees. I got inspired by the frequent postings of Gail Eichelberger about native plants and native polinators on her blog Clay and Limestone. I then used some instructions from the Xerces Society (PDF), grabbed some old oak logs and got to work. Most native bees build solitary nests. Some nest in the ground and others nest in holes in wood or other cavities. According to the Xerces Society, holes for wood...
by Noel | Aug 6, 2012 | CobraHead, Environmental Issues, Gardening
I’ve done battle with the caterpillars of the small white and yellow cabbage butterflies for as long as I’ve gardened. The most destructive caterpillar, known as the Imported Cabbage Worm, is from a white butterfly native to Europe called the Cabbage White Butterfly (Pieris rapae). These insects have only been in North America since the 1860’s, but they like it a lot on this side of the ocean and are a truly destructive pest. The small green...
by Noel | Jul 4, 2012 | CobraHead, Environmental Issues, Gardening
We have not had significant rainfall for six weeks. I was told that June was the driest recorded here since they started keeping records. Today and tomorrow will be among the two hottest days in south central Wisconsin since the weather service started logging meteorological data. 103 was reported as a high today, highest ever for July. The all-time high temperature record here was 104 in August of 1988. Tomorrow may be hotter yet. In most of the 26 years...
by Noel | Mar 18, 2012 | CobraHead, Environmental Issues, Gardening
The average March high temperature where I live is 42 degrees. The average minimum is 24, with an average mean temperature of 32 degrees. Today, a high of 82 is predicted. We’ve had highs of upper 70’s to over 80 for the past week. The lows have been just below 60. I don’t know if this portends oncoming climatic disaster, but the warm weather is sure making it easy to get a jump start on a lot of this year’s preparation tasks in the garden. ...
by Noel | Feb 7, 2012 | CobraHead, Environmental Issues, Gardening
Here’s a snowdrop that’s shown up over a month early. A lot of snowdrops and crocus have sprouted with our unseasonably warm weather. I’m going to drop some leaves over them to see if I can help them hang on until their normal blooming time later in March. Early blooming due to warm spells can be a real problem. Tender new growth can be frozen when the temperatures return to really cold. I worry about my fruit trees where new buds that come...
