by Geoff | May 31, 2012 | CobraHead, Gardening
Earlier this month I attended the Texas State Master Gardener Conference in San Antonio. The master gardeners had a new cold hardy satsuma, “Orange Frost”, available. This satsuma variety will not be commercially available until 2014. What makes Orange Frost cold hardy in places like Austin is that unlike most satsumas, it is not grafted. So if a hard freeze in Austin kills the top growth down to the ground, the re-growth in the spring will be true...
by Geoff | May 24, 2012 | Events, Gardening
Back from the Garden Blogger’s Fling in Asheville, North Carolina; great gardens in a beautiful setting. I saw way too much to try and put into one overview, so I’m going to highlight ideas that I got from several of the places that inspired me in a short series of posts. Wamboldtopia is the creation of Damaris and Ricki Pierce. Besides being gardeners, Damaris is an artist, artoflife.com and Ricki a stone mason, RockPirate.com. Their entire garden impressed...
by Noel | May 10, 2012 | CobraHead, Gardening
Here are two videos about garlic and inter-planting garlic with salad greens. I plant garlic here in southern Wisconsin in late October. I plant the cloves along the top of ridges of a raised bed that has been shaped into three ridges (or two troughs). After I plant the garlic I mulch it deeply with straw. I plant the garlic on the tops of ridges in my dense clay soil because garlic likes to be well drained. I’m minimizing the chance of the garlic getting...
by Noel | May 2, 2012 | CobraHead, Gardening
There are normally three steps to growing vegetables that require indoor seeding. First you plant the seeds in a growing medium into a flat or a small container. Second, you transplant the sprouted seedlings after they have established themselves into a second, larger container. This is called potting off and it gives the seedlings room to expand both their root system and their leaf growth. Then, when the weather is right these transplanted and firmly...
by Noel | May 1, 2012 | CobraHead, Gardening, Recipes
Judy and I enjoyed a great light meal last night that was mostly from the garden – a salad with a side of roasted asparagus. The roasted asparagus recipe: Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Wash & dry asparagus spears after removing woody ends. In a large bowl pour in 1-2 T. olive oil, mash in 1-2 crushed cloves garlic, 1/2 tsp. seasoned salt & freshly ground pepper. Toss in asparagus spears & gently mix until well coated. Place on a greased...
by Geoff | Apr 24, 2012 | Gardening, Recipes
Driving around Austin during the past couple of weeks I have seen hundreds of loquat trees, Eriobotrya japonica, loaded with ripe fruit. Here the trees are mostly planted as an ornamental, in part due to their tropical looking foliage. The fruit, however, is delicious. Loquats are originally from China and are distantly related to apples. My friend Bianca says that growing up in San Antonio, they referred to loquats as ‘Chinese plums’. I find the...
