by Judy | Sep 21, 2011 | Gardening
This is the year of the tomato for us – our best harvest in three years. Two years ago the blight attacked our tomatoes and last year due to an extremely busy schedule we didn’t do a good job of trellising and keeping the tomatoes off ground. Our freezer was looking mighty empty of our favorite garden produce. We’ve been making lots of sauce for the freezer and as you can see from the pictures we’ve been drying cherry type tomatoes. The dried tomatoes are great...
by Noel | Sep 15, 2011 | CobraHead, Gardening
Yesterday, the Weather Service forecast a hard freeze for Cambridge. The weather people always try to err on the worst case side of things, but you never know, so Judy and I covered everything we could with plastic or ag fabric. We managed to cover the tomatoes, the peppers, the squash, the sweet potatoes, the basil and remaining cukes, and some of the beans. While hardly an architectural masterpiece, form follows function, and Louis Sullivan would have to give...
by Geoff | Sep 15, 2011 | CobraHead, Gardening
We’re giving away a CobraHead Weeder, a garden fork, and a kneeling pad, our Garden Essentials Package worth $89.95 to help Austin’s Urban Roots program – see the details at the end of the post. We’re also matching donations in kind with up to $1,000 worth of our tools and other products. Austin has an amazing youth agriculture program called Urban Roots, a program of Youth Launch. Now in its fourth year, Urban Roots is a youth development program that...
by Geoff | Aug 31, 2011 | CobraHead, Gardening, Recipes
This year I decided to finally grow papalo, Porophyllum ruderale, also known as quillquiña. This herb has a flavor somewhat similar to cilantro, but unlike that plant, it has thrived throughout a summer of triple digit days. Not having cooked with it before, it gave me an excuse to make a quick roasted salsa. Ingredients 1-2 tomatoes Several hot peppers, I used a mix of fresh and dried peppers 1-2 cloves garlic 1 small onion a handful of papalo leaves, chopped...
by Noel | Aug 21, 2011 | CobraHead, Gardening
I finally built a tomato trellis that I’m happy with. I knew this was a good approach years ago, but it was one of those projects I never took the time to complete. I usually grow about 30 tomato plants in three rows in one of my 20 feet long by five feet wide beds. Two years ago, when my crop was decimated by late blight, I learned that blight can be slowed by good air circulation. Crowded and damp conditions greatly increase the chance of blight, and I...
by Anneliese | Jul 28, 2011 | Events, Gardening
Okay, so it’s summer, but summer doesn’t rhyme with fling. For the past four years, a group of garden bloggers has met up each spring or summer in a different part of the country. I’ve had the pleasure and privilege of attending all four Garden Bloggers Flings, and this year it was held in Seattle. The weather cooperated beautifully, and we were treated to sunny days every day except one. Over the course of four days, we visited a number of...
