Organic Gardening (Not Just) in the Northeast: A Hands-On Month-to-Month Guide
We knew little of what is referred to as “Lawn & Garden” in the worldwide marketplace before we started CobraHead.  But we soon learned that if you can make garden writers familiar and happy with your products, there is a chance they might mention them when they write, and possibly the Lawn & Garden industry might notice, too.  So we’ve promoted CobraHead products earnestly to garden writers and it’s been a very smart move.Henry Homeyer was an early CobraHead convert and he’s been a long time champion for our tools.  Henry is a professional garden writer, Master Gardener, gardening magazine editor, radio broadcaster, and gardening teacher who lives and gardens in New Hampshire.  He writes a weekly gardening column for a long list of newspapers in New England, and he has an avid following.Henry recently published another book and it’s one I can recommend, highly.  We like it so much we now offer it on our website HERE.  The book is a collection of gardening articles Henry has written.  They’ve been edited and updated, and formatted into a month-by-month discussion of what gardeners should and could be doing throughout the gardening year.The title, Organic Gardening NOT JUST in the Northeast, is important.  In Wisconsin we have real winters as do about two-thirds of the geographical US.  So what Henry writes about is good for most everywhere except the deep South and west of the Rockies, and it certainly applies to most of Canada, too.  Just remember that seed starting and planting dates can vary widely, even within your own state or province.Henry approaches growing and caring for both ornamental plants and food plants with totally organic methods.  It’s one of the things that I find so useful about the book.  I’ve met a lot of professional and amateur gardeners who seem to think organic is for the veggies, but it’s okay to use chemical pesticides and herbicides on the flowers, lawn, and trees.  My thinking is it’s all the same garden, why do I want to poison any of it.  I’m glad to find a really good gardener who thinks the same way.A beginning gardener will find much useful information in this book.  It’s easy to read and understand.  While it is a well indexed and useful reference, it’s also a good read and enjoyable just to go through it, front-to-back.  Henry’s an excellent story teller and the book can almost be read as a collection of short stories.  The solid advice dispensed is not just for new gardeners, however.  I found a recipe for a soil mix to use in soil blocks, which I never had good success with before, that will get me to try them again.  I’m sure even professional gardeners can find lot of good information here.Henry starts the book with March, so the last chapter is February, which is where we are now.  Here are a couple interesting comments Henry has about Groundhog Day and what is the last “full” month of winter:  “I think we should take time out to recognize that February 2nd is halfway though winter.  The worst is over.  That’s worthy of celebration”.  And, “It’s still real winter, and too early for starting seeds indoors, but in a couple weeks we can start onions and leeks.  Then, by the first week of March, I’ll plant peppers and artichokes.  And before you know it, spring will be upon us, with snowdrops and crocuses.  I can barely wait.”  Henry’s book is loaded with optimism and, of course, gardening is a most optimistic endeavor.I know I approach this with a bias, but my favorite part of the book is really the cover.  It’s a woodcut of Henry, squatted over his onions and working them with a CobraHead Weeder and Cultivator.  Woo Hoo!!  Thank you, Henry!--Noel Valdes, Cobrahead Blog, February 15, 2012With local strawberries about to come on the market many gardeners might be wishing they had planted their own, but when and what kind? Look no further than this well-written and informative but often amusing book that makes gardening a year-round adventure whether your ‘green-thumb’ is best suited for vegetables, flowers, shrubs, or trees. For strawberries, Homeyer advises the day-neutral or ever bearing variety that can be harvested all summer long as well as a fall crop, too. “All strawberries hate weeds, so mulch like crazy,” he advises. The author started gardening as a toddler more than 60 years ago, but only started writing about the “gardening magic” 10 years ago. Some 500 articles were written since then; and as he says, his favorites and those of his readers were weeded out for this book.As for weeds in your garden, he recommends pulling a few every day. “Make it a habit like brushing your teeth.” As a journalist, Homeyer has the knack for finding people with good gardening stories to tell.An example was finding Joey Klein of Plainfield, VT at the Tunbridge World’s Fair where he won a blue ribbon for his 18-inch long organically raised carrots. Joey attributed his success with carrots to weed control, proper watering, and raising them in soil built up with organic matter from cover crops (oats, peas, barley) that are mowed and ploughed into the soil.For growing giant pumpkins, the author checks out a 225-pound prize winner grown by Karen and Steve Cutter of Cornish, NH, who share their secrets on how to produce such a wonder, grown from Dills Atlantic Giant seeds. A remarkable story is also told about Bill Shepard of Thetford, VT, who decided that over the course of his life he would create an arboretum, which would not only please him but would nurture wildlife.Bill today has 30 species of trees growing on half an acre of land surrounding his house. The arboretum cost very little as family and friends gave him seedlings that were generally 12–24 inches tall. The first tree he planted was a thornless honey locust. More unusual trees include beaked filbert, mountain maple, and hackberry, as well as shrubs including witch hazel, elderberry, pagoda and red osier dogwood, blueberries and hobblebush.Chapter headings invite the reader to learn still more. Some examples: Compost Tea; Weeding 101; Watering 101; Standing Stones in The Garden; Saving Seeds; Growing Garlic; Hoes and Wheelbarrows; and Growing Bananas and Other Unusual Plants from Seed. This is an exceptional book as it not only includes excellent technical advice, but captures the joy and fun of the growing season, and the people who make it happen.--Vermont Country Sampler, June 20, 2011