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....
GBBD April 2009
Today was a good Bloom Day. The weather was beautiful, and we actually had a few different blooms. Spring might just finally be here to stay. Noel and Judy are leaving tomorrow for the Cincinnati Flower Show , so we all spent a lot of time outside today while loading...
Who Puts 28 Great Tomatoes In That Little Bitty Flat?
I started my tomato seeds today. A little late, but I think I'll be okay. My flats hold 28 five ounce Dixie cups almost perfectly. I usually start about 30 different tomatoes. So with one cup of tomatillo seeds pushing the cup count to 31, here is the result. My...
GBBD March 2009
Finally got our first outside blooms today! Dad took this pic of a cluster of snowdrops that came up on the west side of the house. Comments (Comment Moderation is enabled. Your comment will not appear until approved.) [Add Comment] And they smell so sweet! # Posted...
Forecasting More Than A Peck of Peppers
I started pepper seeds yesterday. Here's the list: Hot peppers: Orange Fogo - source - Renee's Garden; Red Demon - source – Renee's Garden; Unknown 1 1/2" long short fat tapered hot, and Unknown 2 1/2" long fat tapered hot - source – saved seed from plants given to me...
Madison Garden Expo
This weekend saw three-fourths of the CobraHead Team working the Madison Garden Expo in our home city. The event is sponsored by Wisconsin Public Television and I can say with certainty, as we've now got over two hundred trade shows behind us, this is one of the...
Onion Obsession
I got most of my onions seeded into a flat tonight. Three types – Copra, a hybrid yellow storage onion that I've grown for years. It is extremely reliable and an excellent keeper. Redwing, a red storage hybrid. This is a new one for me. I had been growing a red onion...
Just Call Me Master (But Not Yet)!
I'm excited about the coming months for many reasons. We have a busy schedule exhibiting at garden shows and Green Festivals, and it's always fun to travel and meet new people (and say hi to the folks you haven't seen since last year). I'm excited for spring to...
Welcoming Home the New Family Pet
I've wanted a worm bin for a while, but it was never an urgent issue. It's not as though we don't have a compost pile. For as long as I can remember, we've composted all of our food scraps. In fact, when I was a kid, I didn't know what a garbage disposal was. I...
Ant Gardeners
On Monday afternoon I went out to my garden to harvest spinach and chard for the evening meal. However, I discovered some friends who were also helping themselves to the spinach and devastating the beets: Texas Leaf Cutting Ants (Atta texana.) I hadn't noticed any...
Edible Estates
Last January the Arthouse at the Jones Center here in Austin hosted an exhibit by architect Fritz Haeg called Attack on the Front Lawn. The hands-on installation presented examples of projects from Los Angeles to London to South Austin that transformed front yards...
The Miracle of Dried Vegetables
As I used a handful of our fantastic dried tomatoes in last night's veggie sauté it brought to mind the very thought provoking book that I read a couple years ago by Barbara Kingsolver, 'Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life'. This is a story of how the...
CobraHead is Now on Twitter!
In an effort to keep up with the times, CobraHead has set up a Twitter account. The rest of the CobraHead team has appointed me the designated Twitterer, and I've already started posting updates. Feel free to follow us at http://twitter.com/CobraHead. I will post...
GBBD Update — I Found One!
I have some blooms after all! The flowers on our potted Tradescantia are so small that you can't even see them unless you're quite close. Seriously, that little flower is barely over 1/4" across. I had quite a bit of trouble getting my camera to focus on it. I'll be...
Does This Count as a Bloom?
I have never participated in Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day for a few reasons. First of all, I'm an infrequent blogger, and remembering to post on the same day each month never felt like an important priority. Also, I travel a lot, especially in the spring during garden...
In January, an Old Man’s Fancy Turns to Seed Catalogues
It was about 20º F when I took this picture of the garden yesterday afternoon. The snow has covered up the precise delineation of the beds. I'm looking north. The raspberries are to the left. I won't cut those back until late February. In the back center are the dried...
To Beet or Not to Beet
When I chanced to read about our new 'foodie-in-chief', President-elect Obama's dislike of beets in the New York Times Diner's Journal, I couldn't help thinking what my Dad always said: "beets taste like mud." I like the earthy tasting beets – especially dug fresh...
Going Green from Coast to Coast
The past two weeks have been quite hectic for me and Geoff. We exhibited at Green Festivals two weekends in a row, and they were on opposite coasts. It's a tiring schedule, to be sure, but we like being busy like that. The Green Festivals are always interesting and a...
There Are Leaks and There Are Leeks!
Well we harvested our leeks. I couldn't face the thought of mulching them heavily, covering them up and hoping they wouldn't be so frozen into the ground that I couldn't dig them out when I felt the need for a batch of leek and potato soup! The leek section was about...