Bummed Out Bumble Bees
A couple days ago I blogged about flowering edibles in the garden. It was quite hot when I was taking the pictures which included some shots of the multitude of pollinators that collect around the flowers. I commented on how hard it was to photograph the bumblebees...
Pretty Flowers From Plants You Can Eat
Long ago I used to have a bad attitude about ornamentals. I looked at flower gardening as an indulgence, without the necessity attached to growing plants to eat. That has changed and I now not only admire beautiful gardens, but I have great respect for the gardeners...
Buried in Berries!
The strawberries are dwindling. I believe we just had our last handful of extra sweet ones on our garden fresh greens topped with a little bit of Hook's Blue Cheese. We've surpassed our previous best of 44 quarts with over 50 this year! We have 3 beds that are 20 feet...
Corn Corrals
When I returned from Chicago yesterday afternoon, Judy let me know that a morning thunderstorm had taken the fabric off the hoop tunnel and had knocked down the corn. Fixing the tunnel was easy. The corn took a little more work. Corn does very well in my raised beds,...
Easy Hoop Tunnel
I put up this tunnel to protect my cole crops from insects. It was very quick and easy. My son Geoff gave me the idea. I'm not sure who showed it to him. Material List: 12 pieces - 3/8" reinforcing rod cut into 18" lengths by my local lumber cut the material to length...
MREA
This weekend Judy and I were CobraHead Exhibitors at the Midwest Renewable Energy Association's 20th annual energy fair in Custer, Wisconsin. It is the largest show of this type in the U.S. This was our third year at the show. We sell lots of garden tools. In fact it...
Chucking Woodchucks
Two day ago I caught momma groundhog. I posted about it and got a comment from Beckie who noted, "I am sure she will do fine in the wild, but be on the look out for the pups - they may be big enough to make it on their own." We'll, sure enough. I caught this guy this...
Groundhog Day
I first noticed the damage last week. I thought it was deer, but there were no deer tracks. The sweet peas were nipped off and some eaten to the ground. Then I saw some asparagus eaten, and some strawberry plants. Yesterday I found my two tomatillos almost gone and...
CobraHead Video Review by Shawna Coronado!
I was very excited to see this video today. It was made by Shawna Coronado, a Chicago area gardener and writer. Here is the link to her blog, The Casual Gardener, where she first posted the video. Shawna also has a website and book called Gardening Nude, which is not...
Better Than Your Average Strawberry
I picked our first pint plus of strawberries this morning. Even though most are ripe, I usually have to pick them before they are totally deep red or else the birds get there first. The berries with a little white on them will ripen just fine in the house. I could...
Reclaiming the Northern Frontier
Other than the perennial asparagus bed and a bed that was fallow last year but cleaned out for Anneliese's gardening effort two years ago, I haven't gardened any of the north beds since 2003. Besides the asparagus, I have a stand of perennial sunchokes and my compost...
Guess the Flower!
Do you know what this flower is? I'll give you a hint: it's part of an edible plant. Feel free to post your guesses in the comments section. The first person who answers correctly wins major gardening cred and a CobraHead Weeder and Cultivator. No cheating! Comments...
Nothin’ Like the First Spring Rhubarb!
I like rhubarb crisps best at the beginning of the season. The stalks are succulent and juicy after all the spring rains. I realize there are a multitude of very good rhubarb recipes from pies to cobblers. (And we've tried a lot of them.) Following is a recipe I've...
Not a Cobra, but My Friend Just the Same
I found this little red-bellied snake while raking leaves off the beds. They nest in the leaves every year. This one is still a small juvenile. They are not big snakes even when fully grown. I like having snakes in the garden. They are harmless and they eat lots of...
Medicine Wheel Gardens
Last Saturday Raemelle and I had the opportunity to attend a workshop about Medicine Wheel Gardens at the Alma de Mujer Center for Social Change. I want to convert a section of my front yard to an herb garden and the able crew at Alma de Mujer gave us some...
More on Leaf Mulch
I'm really beginning to see positive results of covering the beds with leaves in the fall. I've been pretty diligent about doing this for the last five years. This picture shows a bed I just cleaned off. It is almost totally weed free, and the few weeds that have...
Room to Move
I spent some time today potting off peppers and other starts. The first picture shows the results of moving the starts from their seed starting cups to individual larger cups. I still have to pot off most of the tomatoes which are getting pretty crowded. Once they get...
Of Garlic, Raspberries and Rhubarb, Compost, Asparagus, and Boots
I've really only been in my garden for two days this spring. The first time out I weeded strawberries and that was it. Today, I did a little here and there trying to catch up after two weeks on the road. Since I'm on the road again tomorrow until next Tuesday, I took...
It’s Shiitake Time!
I harvested our first shiitakes of the year yesterday. We've had a lot of rain this month, and the weather finally warmed up. Perfect conditions for the shiitakes to start fruiting. These shiitakes are from logs that Noel plugged two years ago. He and his friend...
Oh, Snap!!
I don't exactly know when this happened, but I discovered it at 5:45pm today, and it wasn't like that at 4pm when I left for the post office. We've had three days of pretty steady rain, and the wind has been rather gusty today, so I guess this is what can happen....