Best Sweet Potato Harvest Ever!
With frost forecast for later this week and knowing that I would be out of town, I decided to harvest my sweet potatoes. Sweet potatoes cannot tolerate frost, so I did not want to take a chance on losing any of my crop. I had previously put a clear plastic cover over...
Salted Sunflower Seeds
I grew a half dozen Grey Stripe Mammoth sunflowers this year and decided to save some seed for snacks. These monster plants are not the tallest sunflowers one can grow, but they are tall enough, and the mature seed heads are well over a foot across. This seed came...
Ecology Action
Earlier this month Anneliese and I had a chance to visit Ecology Action, in Willits, California. Ecology Action is the research farm of John Jeavons, author of How to Grow More Vegetables than You Ever Thought Possible on Less Land than You Can Imagine. Given that...
News From Southeast Queensland
Presenting the CobraHead Blog's first ever guest post! Barbara Wickes of the ‘The Perennial Poppies Group’ garden club was our first international customer. Somehow she found us on the world wide web soon after we opened for business and we’re happy that she did! ...
Simple Seed Saving
I could have titled this, "Seed Saving for Dummies", but I've never been a fan of the "For Dummies" or "Idiot's Guide" list of titles for how-to manuals. How dare they imply that I may not be too smart? Anyone reading our blog posts is obviously very intelligent and...
Cassius Cauliflower
We'll try to stay lean, but we won't be looking hungry when we cook up this good-sized Cassius Cauliflower I harvested this afternoon. The fall coles are coming in nicely; cauliflower, broccoli, cabbage, and soon Brussels sprouts. Cabbage type crops are great for...
Garden Tomato Salsa
Several years ago I got this salsa recipe from a friend of a friend who worked at the local post office. (Consider this my plug for saving our little post offices – they’re good for more than just mail…) I make it every year, as long as I have tomatoes, onions and...
Growing Microgreens
My friend Ted Skenandore of the Tsyuhehkwa Center has been growing pea and sunflower micro-greens and explained his method to me a few months ago. Now I’ve been growing them for myself as well as with the young people of the Save Our Youth program. These are his...
Ratatouille Hot Dish Casserole Bake, with Potatoes
Can you tell by the title that I grew up in Minnesota? Actually I was given a version of this recipe when I lived in Michigan many years ago so it’s more of a ‘bake’ or ‘casserole’. The original recipe included a double layer of sliced zucchini, onions, tomatoes,...
Elegant Vegetable Container Gardening
Judy's good friend Dorothy Davenport lives in a condo but that doesn't keep her from growing a lot of her own food. Using pots, containers and hanging baskets, Dorothy grows a lot of different vegetables while keeping everything looking pretty by inter-planting...
Worm Free Cabbage Crops? Check out Neem Oil
I've done battle with the caterpillars of the small white and yellow cabbage butterflies for as long as I've gardened. The most destructive caterpillar, known as the Imported Cabbage Worm, is from a white butterfly native to Europe called the Cabbage White Butterfly...
Shiitake Mushrooms – A Missed Opportunity
I missed one of the largest flushes of mushrooms I've ever had by three or four days. I didn't even think to be checking for them in our summer heat and it was just chance that I looked over in the woods, today, to find these. They are on three year old...
Pesto Corn on the Cob
I doubt that I would ever say no to a piece of corn on the cob smeared with fresh butter and salt. But I have tried a couple of alternatives that place high on my list of yummies. One option is extra virgin olive oil with lots of freshly chopped garlic and salt. ...
Cow Flipping in the Kickapoo Valley
This is an absolutely un-retouched picture of Judy lifting a cow over her head. Now you know why I'm so meek and mild mannered. I wouldn't dare step out of line when flipping a cow around is so easy for her. She could send me to the moon. The picture is courtesy of...
Preparing for My Fall Garden in Austin
I garden year round in Austin, so there is no point at which I “put the garden to bed”, as is often done in more Northern climates. I never get to start with a clean slate for the next year’s season. At any given time in my garden I’ll have recently planted sections...
K is for Kohlrabi Pancakes
Kohlrabi is one of our favorite crunchy summertime veggies. We like it best when peeled, sliced and sprinkled lightly with salt. It has a mild cabbage flavor with a turnip-like texture. Kohlrabi (Brassica oleracea (gongylodes group)) is best picked when less than...
Anticipating the Main Harvest
Here Come the TomatoesWith this year's warm weather, we'll be picking things from the garden a lot earlier than most years. I'm often late getting things started, but I did a good job of getting the tomatoes, peppers, and cole crops into the ground before the end of...
Overhead Irrigation System for a Backyard Garden
We have not had significant rainfall for six weeks. I was told that June was the driest recorded here since they started keeping records. Today and tomorrow will be among the two hottest days in south central Wisconsin since the weather service started logging...
GWA Region V Meeting
CobraHead is a member of the Garden Writers Association – GWA. It's been a great organization, as garden writers have been instrumental in helping us get the word out about CobraHead Tools. The GWA is divided into various regions and we officially belong to Region...
Double Amaranth Bolita Bean Soup
I grew bolita beans a couple of years ago as a dried bean and had yet to cook them. Last week I made this bolita bean soup with amaranth leaves, amaranth grain (hence double amaranth) and purslane. 1 cup dry bolita beans, soaked overnight 3/4 cup amaranth grain 1...