Rhubarb Crisp with Ginger
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...
A Tale of Two Invasives
Our property is over half wooded and for the last few years, two invasive plants have really made their presence known. Dames Rocket (Hesperis matronalis) and Garlic Mustard (Alliaria petiolate) are now well established. It’s interesting that both these plants were...
Come on Spring!
The vernal equinox of March 20th was supposed to mark the beginning of spring. Somebody forgot to let Wisconsin know. It’s the end of April, and we are just beginning to see weather that in any way lends itself to gardening. Indecent weather and the fact that I...
Fried Potatoes, Sweet Peppers and Shallots
I just used the last four potatoes from our 2021 harvest. They were starting to sprout but not so much that I couldn't use them. We also have a few shallots left so one went in the pan along with some frozen sweet pepper strips and a couple of cloves of garlic....
Tofu Spring Rolls with Peanut Sauce
Where better to learn to make spring rolls than San Antonio in March? There are all kinds of fresh herbs and vegetables easily accessible at this time of year. You can put almost anything in the spring roll but it’s the fresh herbs that make them special. I asked my...
San Antonio Botanical Garden
Judy and I spent the month of March in San Antonio visiting our son Geoff and his wife Queenie, and enjoying and helping with our new granddaughter, Ophelia. Since we’re not doing any gardening, we’ll talk about our trip to the San Antonio Botanical Garden. The...
A Vacation from Gardening
January Garden While this may not have been the coldest January we’ve seen, it was still pretty cold. Depending on your gardening attitude, the frigid Wisconsin winter can be good, or not. I rate it very good, and other lazy gardeners are in my camp. There is...
Buckeye Bean Pot
Bean Nachos I've tried a lot of bean recipes over the years. I'll keep trying new ones, but I always come back to my favorite. Lately, I've been experimenting with various heirloom beans, such as Buckeye, Santa Maria Pinquito, San Franciscano, and cranberry beans...
2021 Garden
I like to grow food. My partner likes to cook. Those complementary interests lead to great meals. This year we had another good garden and as every year, some crops grew better than others. The advantage of growing a lot of different food is that a singular crop...
Not Quite Ready for Spring
Most years I use the month of November to get my garden ready for the next spring’s planting. Preparation includes removing all the trellising I’ve set up, a thorough weeding of most of the beds, cultivating and shaping the beds, and covering both my garden plots with...
Repurposed Chili Casserole
Repurposed Chili Casserole a.k.a. Mexicali Bean Bake is a dish I've been making for well over 30 years. I first found the recipe in an old vegetarian cook book. It is now online at cooks.com. I probably made it once or twice following the recipe. Then I realized...
I Love My Gallant Soldier
Bed of Galinsoga Galinsoga (galinsoga parviflora) is often called gallant soldier, and also quickweed, or potato weed, or by many other common names. It’s native to South America and was brought to Europe, where it's now pervasive, in the 1700’'s. Its presence in...
Anderson Japanese Gardens
Back in July, I took a day trip with a friend to see the Anderson Japanese Gardens in Rockford, IL. This serene, 12-acre garden sanctuary consists of lush, manicured landscapes, winding paths, streams, waterfalls, Koi ponds, and Japanese architecture and sculptures....
Garden Tomato Soup
If you have a big garden you're probably still buried in tomatoes. Along with canned salsa, frozen tomatoes, both roasted and stewed, and spaghetti sauce I've been making tomato soup base. We grow a variety of heirloom tomatoes, red, yellow, purple, orange and...
Caramelized Summer Squash with Garlic
Caramelized Squash It's definitely the year of yellow summer squash and zucchini, for us anyway. We've been pretty good about keeping them picked when smaller but they do get away from us. No baseball bats, yet! The yellow squash don't seem to grow...
All Pole Beans, All the Time
After years of growing half a bed of pole beans and half a bed of bush beans, I’ve given up on bush beans and I’m not going to plant them anymore. This bed was planted about July 16th. It was previously a bed of garlic inter-planted with lettuce. I’ve had...
Rhubarb Raspberry Cobbler with Cardamom
I don't make a lot of desserts but we have rhubarb and raspberries. We usually eat the raspberries fresh but we're not into chewing on raw rhubarb, though I remember doing it as a kid. So a cobbler came to mind and I turned to my 50 year old trusty Better...
Storm Flattened Corn
On July 14th a thunderstorm flattened our two beds of sweet corn. It was déjà vu all over again. I wrote this post in July of 2009: https://blog.cobrahead.com/2009/07/11/corn-corrals/ I usually prepare for events like this by corralling my corn ahead...
Deer Fence
I used to fence the garden regularly, but for the past several years I tried to get away from doing it. I had purchased some electric deer repellers, but they were only moderately effective. Deer Damage This year I decided to go back to my old fence setup. ...
PESTO TIME
The basil and parsley are growing quite nicely this year. It's not tall yet but there are numerous plants with big leaves in our garden so I had plenty to harvest for a batch of pesto. The 'traditional' pesto is made with basil and pine nuts. But there are...