by Noel | Jan 30, 2012 | CobraHead, Gardening
Geoff posted last week about the heat mat set up he is using to start some pepper plants, here. I use a heat mat and grow-lights as well to start peppers, tomatoes, and other vegetable seedlings that need a jump start, and I’ve also found the set up useful to give some bottom heat to my sweet potato starts well ahead of the time I need to get my peppers started. Since I don’t need very much space for the sweet potatoes, I use the mat and lights to...
by Geoff | Jan 24, 2012 | Gardening
We’re pleased to announce that our BioMarkerTM plant markers won a Green Thumb award from the Direct Gardening Association this year. Now in its 15th year, the Green Thumb Awards recognize the best new plants and gardening products available each year from gardening catalogs and websites. The Direct Gardening Association (formerly the Mailorder Gardening Association) sponsors the annual Green Thumb Awards. For more information, visit the Green Thumb Awards page....
by Geoff | Jan 13, 2012 | Gardening
Last year I skipped using a heat mat underneath the flat in which I started my hot pepper seedlings. That was a big mistake. I had a germination rate of less than 10%. This year I picked up a new heat mat and have had great results. It’s already time to start hot peppers in Austin. They can be transplanted into the garden as early as mid-March and it takes 8-10 weeks from the time seeds are sown until the seedlings are ready to transplant out. Hot peppers...
by Noel | Jan 6, 2012 | CobraHead, Environmental Issues, Gardening
The weather in Wisconsin has been super freaky. With highs of 50 yesterday and again today following a December with no snow and exceptionally mild temperatures, a lot of the locals are saying, “what the hey, this ain’t all bad!” I have to say yes and no. It’s kind of scary, and from a gardener’s perspective, in most ways not so good. I love a deep snow cover on my garden beds. The snow offers insulation and moisture. And too...
by Geoff | Dec 14, 2011 | Gardening
In October I wrote about the project that I did with Save Our Youth making self-watering planters out of reclaimed five gallon buckets. You can read the original post here. I decided to modify the original design and turn it into a strawberry planter. First a note about strawberries in Austin: They are normally planted in the fall here and treated as an annual crop. I’m a little late in my planting this year. The plants fruit in the spring, but rarely survive...
by Noel | Dec 12, 2011 | CobraHead, Gardening
The outdoor season is over for my 2011 Wisconsin garden. I may do a little more clean up, and possibly drag in a few leaves to cover up some north beds, but the frost has already penetrated deep and there is nothing left to harvest. There will be no more weeding or working the soil. All my efforts now are in preparing for next year. Gardening patterns and habits repeat themselves as you learn what has to be done to ensure a good harvest, but that hardly means...
