by Geoff | May 17, 2011 | Gardening, Recipes
This afternoon I made a cup of yaupon tea from the leaves of one of the shrubs that’s growing in my backyard. As I write this I think that the caffeine buzz has begun to hit me. Yaupon holly, a relative of Yerba Mate, is the only native North American plant that contains caffeine. Yaupon has the unfortunate scientific name of Ilex vomitoria. According to Charles Hudson, in his introduction to the book Black Drink: A Native American Tea, the scientific name...
by Noel | May 17, 2011 | CobraHead, Gardening
The 200 plus strawberry plants in the foreground are in a very temporary home. They are banked, trenched, or heeled in; a process of laying plants in a trench and covering the roots with soil. Here they can reside until they can be relocated. A few of these transplants were retrieved from a four old bed that I dug out last week, but most were dug out from runners in the paths on either side of the center bed in the background. 100 of these plants have already...
by Anneliese | May 15, 2011 | Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day, Gardening
Well it’s Bloom Day again, and I’m ashamed to admit that it’s been a rather long time since I last put up a Bloom Day post. Even longer still since I’ve posted about my own garden. It’s not that I have a shortage of flowers during the “warm” months (I put warm in quotes because it’s currently in the 50s and rainy here), I just usually tend to forget to take pictures of them. But not today! For your viewing enjoyment...
by Noel | May 9, 2011 | CobraHead, Gardening
My garden is an experiment to prove to myself that it’s possible to maintain a large organic vegetable growing area using all hand labor and with a minimum of outside inputs. Weed control is the toughest part, and not having or taking enough time to do a good job of preventative weeding often leaves me with some labor intensive weeding chores. This partly weeded bed was planted with strawberries in 2007. I normally clean out the berry beds and move any...
by Noel | May 3, 2011 | CobraHead, Gardening
I planted a bed of potatoes Sunday, using two new planting boards that I made from a 4′ x 4′ sheet of 1/2″ plywood. I had been using some old scrap plywood for planting boards, but I decided I would be happier and more efficient with two boards exactly the size I wanted. I cut a 12″ strip off the 4′ x 4′ sheet so I have a 3′ x 4′ board for using when I’m on top of a bed and I have a 1′ x 4′ sheet...
by Noel | Apr 25, 2011 | CobraHead, Gardening
Here’s me, yesterday, atop a bed, planting peas. We had a nice little break in the rainy weather, so I took the opportunity to get my peas seeded. I’m using a large piece of plywood to kneel on. The plywood disperses my weight and allows me to get right on top of the bed. It makes the work much easier that trying to reach in from the sides to set the peas in place. The bed has just over 36″ of flat planting width across the top. I’m...
