by Anneliese | Sep 15, 2009 | Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day, Gardening
About a week and a half ago, I bought a house. It’s my first house, and I have to admit I’m a bit intimidated by it. Just the idea of home ownership and the responsibility that goes with it is intimidating enough, but on top of that I had to go and buy a “fixer upper”. The house needs new windows, new wiring, more insulation, an additional bathroom, new paint in every single room, floor refinishing, and a couple of new basement steps. Did I...
by Noel | Sep 5, 2009 | Gardening
The bucket is holding over 28 pounds of Purple Viking and Durango potatoes that I dug yesterday. There are some very large specimens and I’m quite happy with this year’s crop. The entire bed yielded about 55 total pounds of spuds including these, some blue fleshed Adirondack Blue, and a little pinkish fingerling called Rose Finn Apple. I still have most of another bed to harvest, so we’ll be eating a lot of potatoes in the coming months. To...
by Judy | Aug 23, 2009 | Gardening, Recipes
Lest you think I jest, take a look at the purple pommes de terre next to the skinny leeks below: The garden leeks aren’t as fat as I would like yet but they are usable and the potatoes are definitely ready. It’s time for leek and potato soup. With all the hype about “Julie and Julia” by Julie Powell these days (I did read the book) I have to recall that my first attempt at this soup back in the 70’s came from “Mastering the Art...
by Noel | Aug 17, 2009 | CobraHead, Events, Gardening
We continue to do a lot of trade shows, trying get our tools known by the gardening public. We’ve found that small shows can be more attractive than large ones, especially if the ratio of hands-on gardeners to the overall attendance is good. Big shows attended by the general populace are not for us. County fairs, street fairs, and music festivals are now on our “do not even think about it” list. We do well at energy shows that that have an...
by Judy | Aug 3, 2009 | Gardening, Recipes
Last night we were invited to a potluck. I don’t usually bring desserts because I rarely make them at home – and I’m not one that can live on just desserts. Besides, who has time to bake? But how could I not do something with the raspberries that we’re lucky enough to have (even if I do have to don a mosquito net over my head to pick them)? Two quarts don’t go very far at a gathering but I happened to remember the little used Maryann pan...
by Noel | Jul 30, 2009 | Environmental Issues, Gardening
Funnel Collector Japanese Beetles On A Grape Leaf Japanese beetles only became a pest in my garden four years ago. When they first appeared their numbers were so overwhelming that I pretty much had no choice but to let them go unchecked. They nearly defoliated my raspberries, but I still got an okay harvest. They loved the asparagus fronds, but they did not seem to be doing severe damage there. Their favorite food was the leaves of the wild grapes that grow all...
