JeffCo Gardener

No More Latin Descriptions for New Botanical Species!

2012-01-22T10:53:00.002-07:00

I'm sure all you plant nerds will have an opinion on this one. Botanists who discover new species no longer have to provide descriptions in Latin and can publish their information on line!

And why is this important you might ask?

Read all about it here!

The Supertrees of Singapore by Elaine Lockey

2012-01-17T14:01:00.000-07:00

photo by Wong Maye-E, AP

Singapore is currently constructing an astonishing botanic park, integrating massive tree sculptures in with their gardens. Dubbed “supertrees”, they range from 82-164 feet and weigh hundreds of tons. These mega trees are made of concrete and metal rods, with steel frames on the trunks to host huge vertical gardens.

The Supertree Grove will support flowering climbers, epiphytes, ferns and other plants that can do well in such an environment. Eventually when the supertrees project is complete, there will be 18 trees covered in over 200 plant species, giving the feeling of a woodland grove. Huge built tree canopies will provide shade to the live plants and ground areas. There will be rainwater catches added to the trees and some of the trees will have solar panels to provide lighting to the gardens. Aerial walkways will connect two of the trees and a treetop bistro will give visitors a great view of the gardens and the bay.

photo by Munshi Ahmed

The government project is part of a larger effort to green Singapore and transform it into a City in a Garden. Supertree Grove is in the Gardens by the Bay, a 250-acre botanic park, located in the Marina South area. Gardens by the Bay will consist of three waterfront gardens, making it Singapore’s largest garden project. It is managed by Singapore’s National Park Board. The park will contain 226,000 plants from all over the world. Two cooled conservatories, named the Flower Dome and the Cloud Forest, will give visitors the opportunity to see plants from two very different biomes – cool and dry and cool and moist.

The projected timeline of the park opening is June 2012, according to the Gardens by the Bay website.

The supertrees project will undoubtedly bring controversy. Some will find the man-made trees to be objectionable while others will find their concept novel. Wherever your opinion lies, most plant lovers would agree that it is very encouraging and positive that a huge city, such as Singapore, appreciates the value of their botanic gardens and is putting so much effort into expanding them in new and exciting ways. Look for photos of the finished project in mid-2012, or better yet, add this to your “places to visit” list!

Ice-melt Salt and Magnesium Chloride Cautions by Carol King

2012-01-14T11:35:00.000-07:00

The winter season is in full swing along the Front Range. Using ice melt to clear pathways seems like a good idea. However there some cautions. Here's a good article from Horticulture Magazine.

If you live near a roadway where magnesium chloride is routinely used, here's another caution from CSU Extension.

Seed Savers Exchange for Heirloom Vegetables

2012-01-12T11:15:00.000-07:00

I know many of you are vegetable gardeners who are interested in growing heirloom vegetables. You might want to consider becoming a part of Seed Savers Exchange. It is a non-profit organization dedicated to saving and sharing heirloom seeds. Its members have collected and distributed thousands of samples of rare garden seeds to other gardeners since 1975.

Here's the site with all the info on how to join.

Sudden Aspen Decline Explained

2012-01-09T15:09:00.001-07:00

A mysterious malady has killed off nearly one- fifth of Colorado's aspens. But forest ecologists have struggled to explain the widespread die-off, known as Sudden Aspen Decline.
A new study from researchers at Stanford University and the University of Utah may provide a breakthrough in understanding the decline and how it kills trees.

Read the whole story here.

Challenges of Mountain Gardening by Molly Nevin

2012-01-06T15:22:00.000-07:00

“ The garden suggests there might be a place where we can meet nature halfway.”  Michal Pollan

Is this a true statement for the residents of Jefferson County that reside in the Front Range Mountains? Is a vegetable garden possible in the Jefferson County Mountains? Several questions must be answered before turning the first spade of soil.  Since most mountain residents are on wells drilled after 1972, a must do requirement, is to research what kind of a permit you have for your well.  Most wells are restricted to household use only, no outside irrigation or watering of livestock. This water restriction alone makes a traditional vegetable plot a non-viable option. Besides water restrictions, other issues are faced by our mountain gardeners: a short growing season, cool night temperatures, wind, slopes, foraging wildlife, and creating defensible space around your house for fire protection – an important priority.

Help for the mountain gardener is available at the Spring Gardening Symposium: Vegetable Gardening A –Z: Hitting the Basics, on January 28, 2012, at the Jefferson County Fair Grounds, 15200 W 6th Ave, Golden, Co, 80401.    We will explore ways to work within water restrictions, solutions to the obstacles of mountain gardening as well as alternatives to growing vegetables and herbs. Join us for a full day of six classes and covering Soil Preparation & Amendments, Vegetable Basics, Starting your Garden from Seed or Transplants, Tomatoes, Container Vegetable Gardening and Mountain Vegetable Gardening; plus handouts, seeds and lunch for $70. There is an optional lunch and learn class on Basic Flower Gardening for an additional $10. Classes are from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Spend the day Colorado Master Gardeners who have access to the best research based gardening information, and in addition learn how the Jefferson County Master Gardeners can assist you with your gardening adventures all year long. Call the Master Gardener line (303-271-6632) for more information or register at http://vegetablegardening.eventbrite.com/.

Welcome 2012!

2011-12-31T10:30:00.000-07:00

Get the Dirt on Dirt by Jim Rohling

2011-12-27T08:00:00.000-07:00

Jim Rohling Demonstrates Soil Gathering for Soil Test to Lakewood resident, Ted Struzeski

January is not too early to start thinking about your 2012 vegetable garden. A lot of thought, planning, and work goes into a successful productive garden. Did you know that in Colorado, 80 percent of plant problems are due to soil problems?

CSU Extension recommends a soil test as the best way to check the growing potential of your garden. You can bring home the best looking and attractive plants from the garden center or order the best seeds, but they won’t give the best results if your soil lacks the proper nutrition or qualities the soil should have. A soil test gives you a baseline to work from to improve your soil nutrition, soil texture, and soil tilth. Over-fertilizing is a common problem. It is expensive and may harm your garden’s production and our environment.

The soil test is just one part of the soils class being taught as one of the six classes at the Jefferson County Master Gardeners 2012 Spring Gardening Symposium. We will also cover a good soil profile, soil compaction/tilth, soil amendments, soil and plant nutrition, and compost and mulching.

Join us at the Spring Gardening Symposium on January 28, 2012, Vegetable Gardening A –Z: Hitting the Basics. It is a full day of six classes and covers Soil Preparation & Amendments, Vegetable Basics, Starting your Garden from Seed or Transplants, Tomatoes, Container Vegetable Gardening and Mountain Vegetable Gardening. All this plus handouts, seeds and lunch for $70. There is an optional lunch and learn class on Basic Flower Gardening for an additional $10. Spend the day Colorado Master Gardeners who have access to the best research based gardening information, and in addition learn how the Jefferson County Master Gardeners can assist you with your gardening adventures all year long. Call the Master Gardener line (303-271-6632) for more information.

A Holiday Gift to You: Wings of Life!

2011-12-23T17:08:00.001-07:00

Pollination: it's vital to life on Earth, but largely unseen by the human eye. As gardeners, we know the importance of this feat of nature. Filmmaker Louie Schwartzberg shows us the intricate world of pollen and pollinators with gorgeous high-speed images. Here's his film "Wings of Life," inspired by the vanishing of one of nature's primary pollinators, the honeybee.

Enjoy the film and Happy Holidays!

Real Christmas Tree Industry Needled by Growing Artificial Tree Sales by Elaine Lockey

2011-12-18T21:01:00.001-07:00

Christmas tree farm

There has been a downward trend in real Christmas tree sales in the US, from 40% of homes purchasing one in 1991 to just 23% last year (National Christmas Tree Association). The main reason? More people are buying artificial trees. In the recent Wall Street Journal article, "Fir Real? Christmas Trees in Crisis", changing demographics are contributing to the decline - baby boomers are less inclined to buy real trees as they get older. Buyers of real trees are buying smaller trees now which are less profitable. The economy is also playing a role as tree growers planted a surplus of trees when the economy was doing well but now there is an oversupply of trees with fewer buyers.

Real Christmas trees have a long and illustrious history. The first known decorated tree was in Latvia in 1510. Since then, Christmas trees have held a place in countless homes and outdoor displays. A Christmas tree has been displayed in the White House annually since 1914, when President Franklin Pierce began the tradition.

There are over 21,000 Christmas tree growers in the US that employ 100,000 people. Almost half a million acres of land are grown for Christmas tree production. So what is the industry doing about the decline in sales?

They are putting the science behind the sales to make real trees more preferable to consumers:

For lots of fun and historical facts about Christmas trees, like the ones above, visit http://urbanext.illinois.edu/trees/facts.cfm

Christmas tree pruning

2011 National Christmas Tree

Photos courtesy of: www.stcharlesmd.com, www.hollowcreektreefarm.com, http://dc.about.com

The Science Behind Your Christmas Tree by Elaine Lockey

2011-12-16T15:42:00.001-07:00

photo courtesy of SeattleTimes.nwsource.com

Going to pick out a Christmas tree is always an exciting holiday tradition. It’s one my family never really took to though. My father preferred the variety of tree that didn’t drop needles or require watering. Once I had a home of my own, I decided that I wanted a “real” tree from then on – I sought the fresh smells and natural beauty that an artificial tree just can’t provide.

As I perused the tree lots looking for the right tree, I have to admit, it never crossed my mind to think about why the choices are Douglas Fir, White Fir and Scotch Pine for the most part. What makes them the tree of choice to adorn my living room? And once I brought the tree home, what can I do to keep it greener longer?

It turns out, there is an incredible amount of research behind the selection of trees specific for growing as a Christmas tree, and another whole body of research into how trees can behave more to our liking when growing in a tree stand - way more than the time that it takes me to pick out the perfect tree. Just who is doing the research? One such place of research is the Christmas Tree Research Center at the Nova Scotia Agricultural College.

Focusing on the Balsam Fir, one of the main trees grown for Christmas trees in Canada, the Center has focused much of their study on how to keep needles greener longer. This goes well beyond just remembering to put water in the tree stand. The bonuses of this research are many, from the longer duration of freshness of trees in tree lots to how long they can look good in your house.

Needle drop is triggered by the hormone ethylene. Ethylene is the same hormone that is released when an apple ripens. With some manipulation of the hormone, the Center has been able to find some possible solutions to slow down needle drop by half so a tree has a much longer life span. Two different solutions, one taken in through the trunk in liquid and the other in a gas “bath” affect the synthesis of the hormone and also the needle abscission layers from forming.

Other research from the Center has found that white LED lights provide the most benefit over other color spectrums, no lights, or regular incandescent or florescent lights. Needle retention in white LED light was much higher. Blue performed the worst. Additionally, there is more benefit to the tree if you leave the lights on all the time instead of turning them off at night. Consequences to your electrical bill aside, if you want to keep needles on your tree longer, trees do better in the constant light. When they are in the dark, respiration increases and they use up a lot of calories that they aren’t taking in.

Christmas trees and greenery are more than a billion $ industry around the world. There are more than 30 million live Christmas trees sold just in the US every year. Countries like Canada, are spending more to help the industry find solutions and eventually hope to create the perfect Christmas tree, or at least a much improved one. New Mexico State University’s Christmas Tree Research Program has done extensive work on tracking the provenances of many commonly used trees and has introduced a tree to the industry that does better in the climate of the SW. Some other institutions, such as Oregon State University’s College of Forestry research genetics, fertilization and disease management.

Picking out the right Christmas tree for your home can be a science in itself for you and your family. No matter how you go about doing your research and making a selection, it is fun to know some of the institutional science that has gone on behind the scenes to keep this long-standing tradition going. Oh, and keeping ripening fruit away from your Christmas tree is recommended. Who knew?

Tip: Charlie Brown Christmas trees can solve that search for perfection. There is no bad-facing side to one of these trees because they are all irregular. You can get away with just hanging one ornament and no lights. In Charlie Brown’s world you don’t even need a tree stand, just some planks of wood!

Best Gifts for Gardeners by Patti O'Neal

2011-12-11T18:30:00.001-07:00

What do I get for the gardener or my favorite new “wanna be” gardener on my list this year? Most of my friends are seasoned gardeners and they are the hardest to buy for – they already have all the basics. So I have been “shopping” the best websites and catalogues and nurseries to find unusual items, the most sustainable items or just things that I might not have thought of. I am sharing them with you in hopes that you will find the perfect item to surprise and delight that gardener in your life.

Start with the 2012 Jeffco Master Gardener Calendar for everyone on your list. At $13.00 it's a real bargain and available at many garden centers in Jefferson County. Check here for the information.

For the Beginning Gardener

Radius ergonomic hand tools. These come not only in hand tools but also in every spade, shovel and fork configuration imaginable. These tools are a pleasure to use and reduce stress on wrists and forearms. Your wrist maintains a natural position while you work. They are bright chartreuse so you cannot lose them in the garden or yard. Also very sturdy and beautifully crafted. You can find them locally at Paulino’s, Echters, and Arapahoe Acres. Call first as none of these locations carry the full line. I particularly love my round handled pro shovel and my hand trowel.

A Gift Certificate for Garden Classes. The best deal around is offered by the Jefferson County Master Gardeners. They are offering a Spring Gardening Symposium on January 28, 2012, called Vegetable Gardening A –Z: Hitting the Basics. It is a full day of six classes and covers Soil Preparation & Amendments, Vegetable Basics, Starting your Garden from Seed or Transplants, Tomatoes, Container Vegetable Gardening and Mountain Vegetable Gardening. All this plus handouts, seeds and lunch for $70. There is an optional lunch and learn class on Basic Flower Gardening for an additional $10. Spend the day with these people who have access to the best research based gardening information, and in addition to the classes learn how the Jefferson County Master Gardeners can assist you with your gardening adventures all year long. Call the Master Gardener line (303-2712-6632) to get a Gift Certificate and set your favorite beginning gardener (maybe yourself!) up for success. What a great gift!

Atlas Nitrile Garden Gloves. A favorite of mine as they are lightweight (almost like no gloves at all) and colorful, so hard to lose if you remove one to tie off a tomato plant. Easy to find at nearly any garden center and really inexpensive at $5-6 per pair.

Gifts for the Gardener Who has Everything

Living Walls. Portable and Freestanding, these triangular living walls allow you to grow garden-fresh produce inside or out, beautifying your living space and removing pollutants. They can be used on a patio or balcony as well as in a bed to create more growing space.
Green Living Technologies, 800-631-8001 or www.agreenroof.com

A Beautiful Harvest Basket. For harvest time or for a quick trip to the Farmer’s Market to fill in with something you are not growing or that has not come in yet. Baskets from The Blessing Basket Project are handcrafted in Ghana from elephant grass with goat leather wrapped handles. This nonprofit pays its artisans Prosperity Wages designed to bring the artist out of poverty and increase financial independence. Giving a beautiful, useful and sustainable gift and feeling a sense of helping someone all at the same time. A blessing indeed. The Blessing Basket Project. www.blessingbasket.org

Wingscapes Timelapse Plantcam. Create awesome time lapse videos of your favorite plants growing with this amazing little camera. Weatherproof and comes with stand to capture nature unfurling right before your very eyes. What else are you gonna do? www.Amazon.com/gardening

Gifts For Apartment Dwellers

Terrarium. Once again, all the rage. An entire garden landscape under glass which requires little attention to delight its owner. They come in all sizes, open or closed, with all kinds of themes. And if that person is so inclined a gift certificate to Denver Botanic Gardens class on Terrariums and Dish Gardens might be just the ticket.

Houseplant Tools. These handy little tools make keeping houseplants tidy so much easier. They are just the right size for digging around in small pots and not disturbing tender roots. The set consists of a tiny shovel, trowel and cultivator. Tied with a lovely bow and attached to a matching spray bottle to mist plants with a little moisture, especially in forced air heated homes; this makes a great gift for around $10. www.amazon.com

Worm Box and Gift Certificate for Worms. Even apartment, condo, patio home dwellers can compost with a worm farm. One pound of worms can eat up to 5-6 pounds of kitchen scraps per week. Resulting vermicompost can be used on houseplants or maybe traded with the neighbor down the street for fresh veggies in the summer. Present the giftee with a Rubbermaid 60 gallon box and a gift certificate for a pound of worms and make someone and the world happy! Call CSU Extension office in Jefferson County (303-271-6620) for a Vermicomposting fact sheet to include with your gift that gives directions to build out the box and exactly what you can and cannot feed and bed the worms with.

Stocking Stuffers

Crabtree and Evelyn Ultra Moisturizing Hand Therapy. It’s been around forever it seems, but I love it
Mosquito dunks. This may sound funny, but a package of the mini dunks is handy to have around in the heat in the summer when the mosquitoes are pesky to pop into your bird baths, fountains and ponds.

Leap Organics Soaps. These amazing bars are vegan, biodegradable, cruelty-free, triple-milled and produced using renewable energy. The riotous packaging is 100 recyclable and manufactured using wind energy. Aside from feeling luxurious to use, you can’t get any more sustainable than that! www.leaporganics.com
A gorgeously bound garden journal. An essential for the conscientious gardener is keeping records. Keeping notes on your favorite plant of the year, how certain vegetables did this year and maybe why, i.e. the weather is key to success the next time around. It’s hard to make corrections when you can’t remember why you did something a certain way last year. Always best to make notes on your successes as well as failures. Also a great place to stick photos of the progress of a new bed or plant you are trying. Barnes and Noble has all kinds of beautiful journals, leather bound, handmade paper, ribbon markers – you name it, great choices.
Window Mounted Thermometer. Every gardener needs to know what the temperature actually is, especially if he or she is growing crops that are temperature sensitive. This totally cool looking 4 ½” circular thermometer allows you to read the outside temp in both Celsius and Fahrenheit without leaving the comfort of inside. It has large readable markings and can be removed to clean the window. A super value at $9.95 and can be found in the Lee Valley online catalogue, one of my all time favorites, as it is full of fabulous gadgets that you never knew you couldn’t live without! www.leevalley.com

Some of my favorite sites or catalogues for great garden “stuff” are Lee Valley Tools, Walt Nicke Company Fine Tools for Gardeners and Gardeners Supply. All great companies to deal with as well. Hope this inspires your holiday shopping.

Poinsettia Sale at CSU!

2011-12-05T14:30:00.001-07:00

CSU Horticulture Students With Poinsettias

For four months, students in Colorado State University's fall floriculture practicum have nursed hundreds of poinsettias from tiny rooted cuttings into vivid holiday plants. They are for sale at the 18th annual holiday sale running Dec. 5-9 and Dec. 12-16.

Read about the project here!

The Great Christmas Tree Conundrum: Real or Fake? by Carol King

2011-12-01T13:14:00.001-07:00

Heading Out for the Perfect Tree!

If you are considering a “real tree” for Christmas, here are a couple of options when looking at fresh trees.

You can cut your Christmas tree at several U. S. Forest Service locations near the Front Range, provided you have a permit. A permit costs $10 per tree, with a limit of 5 trees. Cutting time this year is December 3-11, 2011. The USDA Forest Service web site has information on where and when to get a permit, cutting dates and times, tips on caring for your tree including a recipe for a fireproofing mixture, and other details. There are also Christmas tree farms along the Front Range that allow you to “cut your own.”

Perhaps you would rather not make a day of it and instead want to stop by a tree lot or nursery on the way home from work. Here are a few simple steps that will ensure you get the freshest tree and keep it that way. When buying a fresh tree, check that the needles bend rather than break with gentle pressure; shake it carefully to look for needle loss; and check the cut end: it should be sticky with sap. If these conditions exist, buy your tree and take it home.

Whether you get your tree in the mountains or from a tree lot or farm, here are some tips from Plantalk Colorado on keeping it fresh:

As soon as you get the tree home, make a new cut at the end of the trunk about an inch above the old one. Keep the cut end standing in water, whether you decorate the tree immediately or store it to decorate later. If you store the tree, keep it in a cool, shaded place.
Check the tree's water level frequently, and refill as necessary. Fresh evergreen trees can take up an amazing amount of water -- up to a gallon during their first 24 hours off the tree lot. Because many tree stands have small reservoirs, you'll need to fill the reservoir twice daily.
Your tree will last longer indoors if it's located away from direct sun, radiators or heat vents, fireplaces, television sets and other sources of heat. Take care to place your tree in a location that won't block any room exits. Check electric lights to make sure cords aren't frayed or worn, and keep metallic ornaments and tinsel away from bulb sockets. Avoid combustible decorations, and make sure electrical circuits aren't overloaded. A fresh tree that receives good care should remain in safe condition indoors for ten days to two weeks.

How about a potted tree that you can plant in the garden after the holiday? Yes, you can plant trees in December. Many nurseries offer live, potted Christmas trees including pinyon, ponderosa, limber, Austrian, bristlecone and Scotch pines.

These potted trees are usually sold when they are two to six feet tall. Be sure to consider the mature size of the tree, where it will be planted after Christmas, and the weight of the tree in the pot before purchasing.

The two most important factors for successfully growing a live potted tree are to not allow the rootball to dry out and avoid keeping the tree indoors too long. Seven days indoors is a maximum time recommended, but five days is better.

Pre-dig the planting hole, as the ground can be frozen in late December and early January. Store the soil backfill in the garage or outdoors in a black plastic bag so it is less likely to freeze.
You can keep the potted tree in the garage for a few days before bringing it indoors, but frequently check the rootball to ensure that it stays moist but not soggy. After Christmas, the tree can again be placed in the garage for a few days before planting outdoors. While indoors, decorate the tree with small lights, which generate less heat, and place it away from sources of heat like fireplaces, heat vents and television sets.

For a complete guide to the proper planting of trees, check here. Happy Holidays!

Fertilizer Safety by Joyce D'Agostino

2011-11-28T15:39:00.001-07:00

I recently received a call on the Master Gardener hotline from a consumer in Jefferson County who wanted to know which fertilizer that we could recommend to him that was “pet safe”. He planned to use fertilizer on his lawn and garden in the future and wanted to be sure that his pets would not be harmed should they be exposed to the fertilizer when it was applied.

While the Master Gardeners do not typically endorse or promote a specific product, my first suggestion to him was to be sure that he bought his fertilizer from a reputable source and carefully read the label. Some consumers may not be aware that the label information on products like fertilizer, pesticides and herbicides are actually legal statements. The companies that make these products are obligated to outline on their label the components of their product, how it should be used and any safety guidelines that the person must use to handle and apply their product. In addition it should tell what to do if a person or animal is exposed to their product.

The label should include the name of the manufacturer and the contact information so consumers can call their customer service department with questions or concerns. If there is no label information that supplies all of these important details, it should be avoided.

Even some products that are organic in nature could be toxic if used in the improper levels or for the wrong application. All of the information must be carefully reviewed and considered before making your choice.

Taking the time to research the products that are available, read labels, contact the manufacturer with questions or ask for guidance from a reliable garden center will help you choose the product that is both safe and effective.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-11-23T16:50:00.001-07:00

Tomatoes for Thanksgiving by Duane Davidson

2011-11-17T15:30:00.001-07:00

I've volunteered to provide the salad for this year's Thanksgiving dinner. I plan to show off my fresh home-grown tomatoes. I always try to have a taste of my own tomatoes as late as the beginning of December. You could, too. Here's how.

I grow tomatoes mostly in containers these days. A couple of the containers are lightweight pots of manageable size. (Mine are made of a foam material, but sturdy plastic would do.) They spend the summer in my backyard. At the end of the season I bring them inside when an overnight freeze is expected. But they go back out into the sunshine every time the temperature reaches 50 degrees. I don't expect the plants to continue blooming and setting fruit, but this is a good way to let existing fruit ripen – more or less naturally.

On cooler days the tomato plants are happy to stay inside my south-facing sun porch. But we usually have a lot of warm days in the fall after the first freeze or two. I like to take advantage of them. I find the warmest spot and put the tomatoes outside, usually in a corner facing southwest, which traps the heat. They need to come back into the porch at night. Because the pots are lightweight, they're easy to move.

I've also kept the tomato pots in the garage at night and on cold days, but they aren't as happy with less sunlight. Moving them in and out is even easier, though. One year I set them on a furniture dolly and rolled them in and out on that.

Here are a few more details about my method: I fill the pots with houseplant potting mix because it's lighter in weight than soil mixes. I add in a handful or two of a slow-release fertilizer made from alfalfa. Later, during the growing season, I give the tomatoes several doses of liquid fertilizer made from seaweed or worm compost. I also mix in a handful of polymer, already hydrated, to help even out the availability of moisture and keep the pots cooler. My preferred tomato variety is Czech's Bush, which does well for me in containers. I found this variety at a garden center some years ago, and now grow my own plants from seed. The fruit is small to medium in size – larger than cherry tomatoes but considerably smaller than beefsteak varieties, which – in a pot – would set fewer tomatoes, and which likely would break the plant's stems. There are other varieties recommended for containers. They could be cherry or grape-size types, but should be "determinate" so as not to grow vines too large to be moved about without breaking off.

Denver Urban Gardens Wins Grant!

2011-11-14T11:08:00.001-07:00

Congratulations to Denver Urban Gardens!

RJ Sangosti, The Denver Post

From the Denver Post:

" More than 25 years' experience with community gardens helped Denver Urban Gardens win a $70,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's People's Garden Grant Program. The money will be used to develop 14 new gardens in the next two years, adding to Denver Urban Gardens' network of 114 community gardens, which produce more than 294 tons of food each year. "

Read the whole story here.

Aconitum - A Plant with a Dark Side

2011-11-11T14:35:00.000-07:00

“Even those who are pure of heart, and say their prayers at night, can become a wolf, when the wolfsbane blooms and the autumn moon is bright.”

You might remember hearing that popular rhyme while watching the old werewolf movie “The Wolfman”. Wolfsbane, also known as monkshood, is a member of the Aconitum genus of over 250 plants. Aconitum species are popular and attractive ornamental perennials that enjoy shady moist garden sites, but beware, they are also considered some of the deadliest plants in the world.

The myths and fear surrounding Aconitum are based on real-life danger. Every part of the plant is poisonous especially the leaves, roots and seeds. The principal alkaloids are aconite and aconitine. Aconitine is thought to be the main toxin causing severe gastrointestinal upset, followed by cardiac symptoms and eventually death if enough has been taken in.

Got a problem with werewolves? Hold the flower of the monkshood under the chin of someone you suspect and if you see a yellow-tinged shadow then you’ve got your wolf. The common name wolfsbane owed to its use as a real wolf extermination tool for farmers in the past. It was used historically for hunting on spears and arrows (smeared onto the tips) or as a poison during ancient Greek and Roman times to eliminate enemies and criminals, or even one’s wife.

Aconitum has tall leafy stems growing to about 1 foot and flowers resembling larkspur. The flowers are in dense racemes, blue, purple, white, pink or yellow in color and a distinctive helmet-shaped hood. Leaves are palmate or deeply palmately lobed into 5-7 segments. Aconitum napellus is one of the more commonly grown garden species. It has showy blue flowers on spike-like inflorescences. Like other species in the genus it too is toxic, producing mainly cardiac conditions, large doses (which seem to be specific to each individual) killing the victim in 2-6 hours. This plant has a very bitter taste so it is very rarely accidentally eaten, most accidental poisonings come from the absorption of the plant via the skin or open wounds. Aconitine toxin is easily absorbed through the skin so wearing gloves while handling this plant is a necessity.

One of the more interesting stories I read about this plant was a murder in 1881 using aconite and aconitine. George Henry Lamson was an American doctor who became addicted to morphia and got into financial difficulties. In an attempt to secure his part of the family inheritance, he gave his brother-in-law some Dundee cake and a pill capsule containing the poisons. Dr. Lamson was found guilty when the pill batch was later tested. He had learned about aconite from a professor in his early college days. The professor thought that the poison could not be detected but forensic science had greatly improved by time Dr. Lamson conducted the murder and he was found guilty and hanged. He left another unsolved murder in his wake of another brother-in-law whose death was suspected but never formally linked to him.

The most recent criminal case was the conviction of the murderer Lakhvir Kaur Singh, also known as the “Curry Killer” in 2010 in London. Singh laced her former lover’s and his bride-to-be’s curry with Indian Aconite. She had made a special trip to India to purchase the powder. Her ex-lover died a horribly agonizing death after consuming the food.

Using monkshood or any of your locally available Aconitum plants can add a bit of thrill to your garden and a great conversation piece. If you believe in some of the old myths that wolfsbane repels werewolves, it might also be smart to keep it handy for the next full moon.

photos courtesy of about.com and drugstoremuseum.com

How Did Your Garden Grow? by Donna Duffy

2011-11-08T11:09:00.000-07:00

Autumn is the perfect season to step back and reflect on the successes and challenges you experienced in your garden this summer. Grab your garden journal and take a walk around your yard. Jot down detailed notes – your memory may fade over the long winter months. Consider the following:

· What did you love about the garden this year?

· Which plants thrived? What did you do to help them thrive?

· Which plants struggled? What happened to them? What were their precise growing conditions (e.g., how much water, what kind of soil, how much sun)?

· What insect problems did you encounter? How did you manage those problems?

· What plants outgrew their space?

· What do you want to do differently next year?

With these notes in hand, you have several months to research answers to your specific plant problems. The CSU Extension website, http://www.cmg.colostate.edu/ has a wealth of information to help you get answers to your gardening questions. You’ll find downloadable fact sheets to shed light on your most perplexing issues and provide guidance.

The fun part of planning is considering all the options for adding or replacing plants. One of the best resources to find plants that thrive in the Rocky Mountain region is the Plant Select^® website: http://www.plantselect.org. Plant Select^® is a cooperative program administered by Denver Botanic Gardens and Colorado State University in concert with horticulturists and nurseries throughout the Rocky Mountain region and beyond. The purpose of Plant Select^® is to seek out, identify and distribute the best plants for landscapes and gardens from the intermountain region to the high plains.

Jeffco Master Gardeners Kristin Sutton, Jamie Gallagher, Jan Skibinski and Ellen Goodnight

Fair warning: once you open the website, you may find the time slipping by as you click through the plant lists and photos. You can check out the Plant Select^®“winners” for the past year or previous years. You can create your own customized plant list based on your unique growing conditions. There are galleries of landscape designs as well as downloadable designs. You can look at individual plant photos and eye-popping photos of gardens that incorporate Plant Select^®recommended plants. You can even find a list of retail suppliers of these marvelous plants.

Next spring, take note of the nearly 90 Plant Select^® demonstration gardens to visit and view Plant Select^® introduced and recommended plants in real-garden situations. A great place to start is the Jefferson County CSU Extension at the Jefferson County Fairgrounds, 15200 W. 6^th Avenue.

Are Your Roses Ready for Winter? by Donna Duffy

2011-11-05T08:00:00.000-06:00

The arrival of fall brings the realization that winter really will be here soon. Among all of your other fall garden chores, be sure to plan some time to get your roses “tucked in” and ready to brave whatever winter may bring. According to the Denver Rose Society’s publication “Growing Roses in Colorado,” there are five basic steps to remember.

FIRST – Pick up and discard all the leaves that have fallen from the rose bushes. This is especially important if you have had mildew and/or blackspot. You can repeat this step in another month or so, when the roses are truly dormant and more leaves have fallen. This simple sanitation practice will decrease the likelihood of having the problem recur next year.

SECOND – You can stop deadheading your roses at this point. Some roses develop colorful hips after the last bloom, and you’ll miss them if take off all the spent blooms. In Colorado, it’s best to wait for Spring to do heavy pruning of roses. If you have some rose canes that are taller than 3’, you could top them off to prevent them from rocking in the wind or breaking off in heavy snow. Save any additional pruning for springtime.

THIRD – Water your roses well before the ground freezes. Watch the weather: if the temperature is likely to drop below 25 degrees, get the roses watered. Roots will suffer more from cold temperatures in dry soil than in damp soil.

FOURTH – Keep watching the temperature. When it drops to about 22 degrees in your yard for a few nights, it’s time to cover the crown area of each bush with a few shovels full of soil. Add mulch for additional protection. If you live in a windy area, you might use a rose collar to hold the mulch in place (purchase them at garden centers).

FIFTH – Check the roses for moisture content every couple of weeks during late fall and winter. If the temperature will be 45 degrees or warmer for six hours, watering can be done. Dig down with your trowel for 4-6 inches to test the soil moisture.

These simple steps will help your roses survive the winter weather and be ready to delight you in the springtime!

For more information about rose care or for additional yard/gardening information, call the Jefferson County CSU Extension at 303-271-6620. You can also visit the website of the Denver Rose Society.

Help For Storm Damaged Trees by Carol King

2011-11-02T13:28:00.001-06:00

CSU Extension

Many Front Range residents awoke on Wednesday to find that their trees had been further damaged by Colorado's second major fall snowstorm of 2011. It seems that we are not catching a break this year! Perhaps you are wondering just what to do about it.

The Colorado State Forest Service offers these first aid tips for dealing with damage.

Read about it here.

World's Largest Pumpkin Becomes a Zombie!

2011-10-30T13:59:00.000-06:00

Photo by Lorna King

Here's the world's largest pumpkin now a zombie sculpture! The New York Botanical Gardens commissioned Ray Villafane to create this work of art from it.

Here's a link to more pictures of the actual carving:

Ray Villafane Carves the World’s Largest Pumpkin into an Intricate Spine-Tingling Sculpture

Enjoy and Happy Halloween!!

Sustainable Pets by Amanda Dowdy

2011-10-27T14:33:00.000-06:00

Labbit the Rabbit!

There are many joys involved with pet ownership, but I was overjoyed this summer when I realized one of my pets can pull his own weight (and more) around here. Pictured above is Labbit, a one and a half pound black otter mini rex, and my family's newest addition. Rabbit leavings are a great addition to any compost pile, as it is very high in nitrogen. Also most natural shavings used in litter pans can also be composted, it complements the droppings with a carbon source. I use recycled newspaper in ours. Rabbits are herbivoures, their diets consist mainly of field grasses like timothy hay or orchard grass. Dandylions are his favorite treat, that were grown in a pot for him on my deck. These little guys have great personalities, and now he has been recognized for his "contributions" around the house too! So next time you clean out the that hamster, chinchilla or mouse cage, chuck it in the compost bin!

Recipe for Christmas Compost by Mari Hackbarth

2011-10-24T14:25:00.000-06:00

Think you can’t compost in winter? Think again. Vermicomposting (worm composting) can be done year ‘round, even at the North Pole. Worm composting can be used to convert kitchen waste (and garden waste in summer) into a nutritious amendment for the garden and house plants, known by gardeners as “black gold”. All that’s needed is a non-transparent plastic storage bin with lid, room temperature between 55 – 77 degrees F.; air, bedding, water and food.

According to Brenda Sherman, of the North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service, using worms to decompose food waste offers several advantages:
It reduces household garbage disposal costs;
It produces less odor and attracts fewer pests than putting food wastes into a garbage container, or than traditional compost piles;
It saves the water and electricity that kitchen sink garbage disposal units consume;
It produces a free, high-quality soil amendment (compost);
It requires little space, labor, or maintenance;
It spawns free worms for fishing.

Start this recipe now, and harvest some ‘black gold’ by Christmas!

Equipment and Supplies for four to six people (about 6 pounds of waste per week)

Worm Bin
A 2-foot-by-3- foot plastic storage bin.
For aeration, drill three ½-inch holes on each wide side, spaced 5 inches apart.
For drainage, drill six ¼-inch holes in the bottom of the bin.
Plastic tray (or additional lid) - place under the worm bin to collect any moisture that may seep out.
Bedding
9 to 14 pounds of bedding (enough to fill bin about half full when moist). Use any combination of:
shredded paper (such as black-and-white newspapers, paper bags, computer paper, or cardboard);
composted animal manure (cow, horse, or rabbit);
finished compost
peat moss (which increases moisture retention);
Do not use glossy paper or magazines.
Handful of soil.

Water
3 pints of water for each pound of bedding.
If the bedding dries out, use a plant mister to spray some water on it.

Worms
1-2 pounds (~1000 worms per pound) of redworms or "wigglers" (Eisenia foetida) - (do not use night crawlers or other types of worms). Purchase from an online or local worm vendor.

Food
Organic waste including vegetables, fruits, eggshells, tea bags, coffee grounds, paper coffee filters, and shredded garden waste.
Worms especially like cantaloupe, watermelon, and pumpkin. Limit the amount of citrus fruits that you add to the bin to prevent it from becoming too acidic.
Break or cut food scraps into small pieces so they break down easier.
Do not add meat scraps or bones, fish, greasy or oily foods, fat, tobacco, or pet or human manure.
Cover the food scraps completely with the bedding to discourage fruit flies and molds.

Temperature
Redworms will tolerate temperatures from 50° to 84°F, but 55° to 77°F is ideal.  Directions
Select a location for the worm bin.
Popular indoor spots are the kitchen, pantry, bathroom, mud room, laundry room, or basement.
Prepare the bedding.
Put shredded materials in a bucket of water and soak for 10 minutes. Wring it out like a sponge and fluff it up as you add the newspaper to your worm bin. Aim for the bedding to be very damp, but not soaking wet (only two to three drops of water should come out when you squeeze the bedding material). Spread the bedding evenly until it fills about half to three-quarters of the bin.
Sprinkle a handful or two of soil (from outdoors or potting soil) into the bedding to introduce beneficial microorganisms and aid the worms' digestive process.
Gently place your worms on top of the bedding. Leave the bin lid off for a while so the worms will burrow into the bedding, away from the light. The worms will not try to crawl out of the bin if there is light overhead.

Feed
Dig a hole in the bedding (or pull the bedding aside), place the food scraps in the hole, and cover it with 2 inches of bedding.
Wait until food scraps are eaten before adding more.
Bury food scraps in a different area of the bin each time. Worms may be fed any time of the day.

Maintenance
Fluff up the bedding about once a week so the worms can get plenty of air and freedom of movement.
Worms will eat the bedding, so you will need to add more within a few months.
Add water to maintain moisture like that of a wrung-out sponge.
Add food as needed. One pound of worms will eat about four pounds of food scraps a week. If you add more food than your worms can handle, anaerobic conditions will set in and cause odor. This should dissipate shortly if you stop adding food for a while.

Worm Castings

Harvesting Compost
Worm castings (soil-like material that has moved through the worms' digestive tracts) will be visible after about six weeks. After three or four months, it will be time to harvest the vermicompost, which consists of the castings along with partially decomposed bedding and food scraps. Vermicompost can be harvested by one of two methods:
Method 1: Place food scraps on only one side of the worm bin for several weeks, and most of the worms will migrate to that side of the bin. Remove the vermicompost from the other side of the bin, and add fresh bedding. Repeat this process on the second side of the bin. After both sides are harvested, resume adding food scraps to both sides of the bin.
Method 2: Empty the contents of your worm bin onto a plastic sheet where there is strong sunlight or artificial light. Wait 20-30 minutes, then scrape off the top layer of vermicompost. Scrape off the top layer of compost every 20 minutes or so, as worms keep moving down away from the light. Pick up the worms and gently return them to the bin in fresh bedding.
Be on the lookout for worm eggs; they are lemon-shaped and about the size of a match head, with a shiny appearance, and light-brownish color. The eggs contain between two and twenty baby worms. Place the eggs back inside your bin so they can hatch and thrive in your bin system.

Using Worm Compost
You can either use your vermicompost immediately or store it and use it later.

For more details, along with troubleshooting information, consult the excellent resources provided by Rhonda Sherman at http://www.bae.ncsu.edu/topic/vermicomposting/pubs/ag473-18.html.

Moving Houseplants Indoors by Sharon Routa

2011-10-17T14:31:00.000-06:00

What to do now! No more daily watering or constant deadheading.

One of the projects I’ll be doing this fall is moving house plants indoors. Before I move them back indoors, I put them in a shadier part of the yard. This helps them make an easier adjustment to the change in light and environment they are going to undergo.

I cut them back, getting rid of damaged growth; this also helps to control the size of plant, and encourages new growth. Fertilize one last time before you bring plants into the house. Do all of this before the weather turns cool or they may go into shock. One symptom of shock is leaf drop. Plants will usually survive this with regular watering. It’s difficult for plants to deal with changes in light and temperature. Check the foliage and soil thoroughly for pests before you bring them indoors. If an insecticide is needed, read the label carefully before applying. Be certain you check the drainage holes on containers for slugs or bugs, which you can manually remove.

If the plants we bring indoors have been growing in the ground, it’s important to pot the plants properly. The pot should have drainage holes in the bottom and a dish to hold water. Use potting soil, not garden soil which can be too fine for drainage pots.

Many of these plants will require full sun and humidity when they are relocated indoors. I mist them regularly and on occasion put them in the sink or tub and give them a shower.

They do not require fertilizer but water them deeply, but infrequently. Late fall and winter are not the growing season and most plants are at rest during this time.

Moving plants outside for the summer improves their vitality. I have had moderate success with ferns, coleus, aloe, and not as much with amaryllis and bougainvillea.

A 2011 “Summery” of My Garden and Other Random Observations by Gardener Dave

2011-10-15T13:50:00.000-06:00

Sometimes a summary report is useful only to the one who writes it. I hope this one is a bit more informative and even somewhat entertaining. I have used common plant names in most cases. Here goes…

Calibrachoa

Annuals: I like bright color all summer. It’s not that I look for more work to do – I let the perennials show their stuff, each in their own short season. But when it comes to providing color and consistent bloom, annuals still are the way to go. In addition to choosing bright colors, I go for the ones that require less maintenance.

Deadheading definitely extends the blooming period – some annuals don’t require any deadheading and some are easier to keep trimmed than others. Those that I have indicated with an asterisk (*) are not hard to deadhead, but they do need it very frequently.

No Deadheading Required    Easy to Deadhead            “A Pain” to
                                                                                         Deadhead

Wax begonia                         Salvia                                 Petunias
                                                                                        (get “rangy”)
Calibrachoa                           Marigold                           Cosmos*
Vinca                                     Snapdragon                       Calendula*
Nemesia                                 Canna lily                         Coreopsis*
Scaevola (Fan Flower)        Dahlia                              Carnation relatives*
Moss rose                               Zinnia                             Blanket Flower*

Scaevola

I have a lot of respect for the annuals listed in the “No Deadheading…” column above. Most are also prolific bloomers, so I plant them every year. Give them regular watering, good drainage and a bi-weekly fertilizing and they will perform. The little Wax Begonia with brown leaves is a favorite of mine. They will do well in full sun, part sun or light shade. The “Callies” (Calibrachoa) are also called “Million Bells”. If you don’t let them go dry or sit with wet roots, you will see why! They do well in my large pots. I no longer plant petunias because I like the Callies much better. A favorite Nemesia of mine is Sunsatia “Cranberry Red”, try it in a pot, it will overflow with small red flowers all summer. Scaevola (Scaevola aemula) is also great in pots, flowering and expanding all summer even in extreme heat. Their five-petaled flowers are fan shaped, thus their alternate name, “Fan Flower”.

Perennials: I find myself growing lazy as my years accumulate, ergo: I have added quite a few perennials to my garden. Some show off quite early, such as spring bulbs. Most “do their stuff” in the May-June or June-July time period and then are done for the year. I have tried to add several which bloom in August-October when others are done. Some observations from my garden, good and bad:

"AVA"

Aagastache "Ava"

Agastache “Ava” – that seeded itself in my gravel garden path – did better than the same plants in the regular perennial bed. I have always suspected that a certain amount of neglect is “beneficial”, or at least that plants that grow from seed often do better than those purchased as nursery stock and given loving and tender care!

Northern Sea Oats – An attractive plant that resembles bamboo – has interesting flattened seed heads that appear in late summer. I have had a couple of these over the years. A word of warning however, if you don’t want them springing up all over your beds, trim off the seed heads in late fall. They re-seed with a vengeance!

Red Birds in a Tree (Scrophularia macrantha) – These were a 2008 Plant Select item. I planted these in three different spots in different beds. One did not receive enough sun due to a linden tree that did very well this year. Another did not seem to like the soil I put it in (too wet?). A third one was in a spot next to my agastache which gets all morning sun with perhaps too-high temperatures? All had improved soil at planting time. None have done well. I believe these are penstemon relatives. Perhaps too little neglect? Any suggestions? :o(

Joe Pye Weed – I planted two of these toward the back of my garden this year. I have a neighbour who has a large specimen that seems to “bloom” most of the summer into autumn. They make a good background.

Torch Lily (Kniphofia) – I planted these years ago in a spot not far from a fire hydrant on the corner of my front landscape. It now tries to overwhelm the hydrant, so I cut it back and will probably be moving it next spring.

Large mushrooms – sprang up in several spots in my flower beds after rains in the early summer. I didn’t consult anyone about their edibility, I just got rid of them before the spores matured (I hope). I’m sure Jeffco Master Gardener (and Mushroom Expert) Tom Taggert could have told me exactly what they were.

California Fuschsia

Zauschneria (Epilobium) – Now called “California Fuchsia” (don’t ask me why) has made a very good ground cover on a hot southwest-facing slope in my rock garden. No other ground covers that I know of have such attractive red trumpet-shaped blooms that last from July thru September. I want more of it next year!

Wildlife:
Fox – I have a “foxhole” passageway under my back fence. There have been fox in my neighborhood for many years. A pair used to sun themselves on the roof of my neighbor’s tool shed. About 4 years ago I observed three little ones chasing each other around a tree and fountain in the back corner of my yard. They are cute and entertaining, never seem to do mischief in my yard, other than digging that one hole, apparently to allow the little ones through for their training exercises. The adults leap the fence with very little effort. I once saw an adult fox sitting in the middle of my street, regarding a young human mother who was walking with her baby in a stroller. The baby was sucking on a bottle. I assume the fox wasn’t thinking about “a meal on wheels”, but he might have been thinking “Why doesn’t the mother teach her kid how to hunt, as I have to do with my own youngsters?”

Squirrels – The squirrels use the cables and utility wires that span my back yard as “Interstate Highways”. It’s fun to watch them zoom across singly and in small groups. One day I saw two groups meet, headed in opposite directions. I wondered if they would fight, but one (submissive?) group got around the other by hanging upside down and traversing the wire beneath the other group very quickly. No road rage at all! We drivers can’t pass beneath other traffic, but maybe we could learn something from this episode?

Deer – Three or four years ago, I couldn’t raise tulips in my front yard. The deer would eat them down to the ground. So – the only bulbs I planted were Daffodils, which they don’t eat. The tulip bulbs are still in the soil and this spring they somehow did very well. The deer were nowhere to be seen. Did they have an abundance of things to eat in the wild this year without having to visit the suburbs?

Anyway… some things to think about over the winter season!

Happy Autumn, and Cheers!

Gardener Dave

Simple Food for the Good Life; Book Review by Grace Olson

2011-10-13T08:00:00.000-06:00

Nearing, Helen. Simple Food for the Good Life. White River Junction, VT. : Chelsea Green Publishing Company, 1990.

    When the air turns crisp and evening walks begin smelling like wood smoke and fallen leaves, gardeners reap the harvest of their season-long labors. Tomatoes travel from vine to kitchen. Onions are braided and hung. Potatoes and carrots are transformed into breads and soups. It is a part of gardening that is cherished and looked forward to throughout the sun-soaked days of summer spent weeding, watering and whining about rabbits and deer.

    In Simple Food for the Good Life, Helen Nearing captures the joy of cooking with one’s own, bountiful harvest. Her extremely simple recipes focus on the wholesome nourishment of the fruit or vegetable itself. She takes her “random acts of cooking and pithy quotations” and boils them down into a quick, easy celebration of the land’s offerings that many a JeffCo gardener will be able to relate to.

    Her recipes focus on one ingredient, and bring out the best of its flavor: gingered pears, raisined rice, baked mushrooms or potatoes Tyrolienne. The seasons are highlighted, as well: winter supper salad, springtime soup. Each dish takes only a few minutes to prepare, yet some are elegant enough for a dinner party—and all would impress the most discerning connoisseur when made with fresh-from-the-garden produce.

    Nearing’s love of literature and “a good read” comes shining through as well. Quotes from the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries are mixed into the batter of each chapter, giving perspective and humor to each section.

    “I want to show how delightful the old cookery book is as a book to read, not merely to keep handy on the kitchen dresser,” Nearing quotes Elizabeth Robbins Pennel, 1903. Indeed, whether you are gleaning ideas for that evening’s supper or simply wish to be entertained by a few morsels of culinary wisdom, glancing at a few pages of Simple Food for the Good Life will do the trick every time.

Belmar Farmers Market: the Last Hurrah by Grace Olson

2011-10-10T15:23:00.000-06:00

    Sunday, September 25th, marked the final day of the Belmar Farmers Market. Families came out (many in the Broncos orange and blue), seeking one last chance to purchase fresh baked breads, organic clothing, or a bouquet of flowers for that evening’s dinner party. Amid the aromatic stalls and colorful displays, the Colorado Master Gardeners (CMGs) flew their flag, making themselves available for any last-minute questions about Jefferson County gardening.

    There were many. September and October may be the gardening season’s last hurrah, but it also poses unique challenges to those not quite daunted by the cooling weather. Some elect to transport potted herbs inside, harvesting mint and thyme all winter long. Others choose to erect hoop houses and cold frames, seeking an extended season—if only until Thanksgiving. With flyers and fact sheets, CMG volunteers stepped up to the plate.

    Powdery mildew or black spot on those luscious tomatoes? Get as much as you can out of this season’s harvest, and then get those vines out of there—not into the compost, but into the trash where the disease cannot spread into next year’s soil. Crab weed or grubs taking over the lawn? Now is the perfect time to aerate—mid-September, in most areas of Jefferson County, so spring growth will make for a healthier grass. Too many peaches or tomatillos? Take a CSU Extension class on food preservation, and spend your autumn evenings canning, freezing or drying the fall’s harvest. Additional fall tasks for JeffCo gardeners include:

Divide perennials/plant new perennials to allow time for root growth
Aerate lawn
Cut back perennials & wrap newly planted tree trunks
Prepare new beds by adding compost, digging it in 4” to 6”
Lift tender bulbs like Dahlias, Cannas, Gladiolas & store in peat moss or soil medium in bag or box during winter
Plant fall bulbs like crocus, daffodils, hyacinths and tulips
Get rid of old/diseased plant matter after harvest
Clean up your container gardens
Clean and oil garden tools
Add 2” to 3” of mulch after cleaning up plant materials in garden

Belmar Farmers Market visitors concluded the season with more food for thought than what weighed down their shopping bags. Whether returning to their loft, farmhouse, apartment or dorm, all had ideas for planning, maintaining or continuing to enjoy their gardens. Gather ideas for your own fall gardening at http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/pubs.html.

Cover Crops by Amanda Dowdy

2011-10-08T08:30:00.000-06:00

Its a safe bet that those veggie plots and annual beds have worked hard this year, and even if they haven't, it may be a good idea to give them some TLC! The Autumn harvest brings many chores, but this one may prove to be so beneficial, you'll be happy to add it to your clean up routine. Cover crops, or green manure, are grasses or legumes like winter rye, crimson clover and hairy vetch, that can be planted in early spring or fall.

Winter Rye in Raised Bed

Higher altitudes should plant sooner as some varieties will winter kill faster than others, yet others like winter rye may show growth throughout the winter season. These crops protect the soil from erosion and suppress weed growth. Also tilling the crop into the earth in spring improves the soil structure and may fix extra nitrogen. Its a small step that has a great payoff, so start thinking about next year's bounty and give your garden a boost! Check out Plant Talk 1607 and 1616 as well as some great literature out there. Good luck and happy harvesting!

Here's another couple of links.
http://www.specialtycrops.colostate.edu/rmsofp/green_manure.htm
http://cmg.colostate.edu/gardennotes/244.pdf

Scan Away by Patricia Barry Levy

2011-10-05T15:21:00.002-06:00

Many of us enjoy taking pictures of our flowers and gardens. But have you ever considered recording the beauty of your plants using something besides a camera?

Your typical flatbed scanner can show off botanicals in a really interesting way. When selecting pieces to scan bear in mind the coverage area of your scanner. Letter size, or 8.5 x 11 is common and plenty large enough for many leaves, flowers, grasses, etc. Use a high enough resolution to allow you to print onto some nice paper, and voila, you’ve made art. Leaving the top of the scanner open in a dark room will give you a dramatic black background. Or try propping a white or colored sheet above your plant material – I’ve even seen fabric prints used to add pattern to the background.

In this example, I scanned peonies at different stages, using a small box to surround and support the flower head. Now’s the time to visually preserve that last perfect tomato, seedpods, leaves as they turn colors – you get the idea.

Precocious Pre-Schoolers put Classroom Concepts to the Test by Amy Bubar

2011-10-02T14:59:00.000-06:00

Remember the first time youfelt the joy of digging in the dirt, making a home for a tiny plant andnurturing it into a full-grown leafy donor of juicy, delicious veggies? A group of children at the Mount SaintVincent Home is doing just that. Though they range from only 3 to 5 years old, as pre-schoolers they’vealready been taught the basics.

Every Wednesday afternoon asmall group of Colorado Master Gardeners gets the pleasure of spending an hour withthese children. To make the mostof their perpetual physical and mental motion, the first half of the session isspent with hand-on activities in the garden. The dozen or so children share activities such as planting,weeding, watering, and even tasting the end products… all the while indirectlysoaking in a bit of Gardening 101. Just as these little gardeners start wandering away from the duties athand, or giving in to the overwhelming temptation of spraying their classmates,we quickly transition back into the classroom. After regrouping, we typically read a story or teach a shortlesson on topics such as plant parts, composting, and insects. The lesson then wraps up with arelevant hands-on project favorite such as starting seeds in egg cartons,decorating wooden insects, and making insects out of actual fruits andvegetables.

The Mount Saint Vincent Homeis pleased with the work that Colorado Master Gardeners have done this season and looksto expand involvement next season.

If you are interested inhelping to grow a new generation of Colorado gardeners, please stay tuned formore information on how you can help starting next spring!

How Hot Is Hot: The Bhut Jolokia AKA the Ghost Chili by Jim Rohling

2011-09-29T14:38:00.000-06:00

The Bhut Jolokia chili originates from Nagaland and Assam in northeastern India and was named by the Naga people after the most venomous snake in the region. The Assamese word “jolokia” means the Capsicum pepper and the word naga means” King Cobra” in Sanskrit. The peppers’ fierce “bite” is akin to the venom of a King Cobra. One farmer described it as “so hot you can’t even imagine. When you eat it, it’s like dying,” hence the name “ghost chili.” It’s also been referred to as “the equivalent of a gastronomic mugging.” At over 1,000,000 Scoville units (SHUs) one can see why.

In 2005, New Mexico State University’s Chili Pepper Institute (yes, there is a chili pepper institute) found the Bhut Jolokia to have a Scoville rating of 1,001,304 SHUs. Although there are other peppers that are hotter, like the Naga Viper at 1,382,118 SHUs and the Trinidad Scorpion at 1,463,700 SHUs, because of their hybrid nature they are unable to produce offspring exactly like the parent. So, at 855,000–1,050,000 SHUs, the Bhut Jolokia is the hottest “naturally grown” pepper. For comparison, a bell pepper registers zero SHUs, a Jalapeno comes in at roughly 3,500, and a Habanero is approximately 100,000–350,000.

What is a Scoville unit you might ask? In 1912, Mr. Wilbur Scoville invented a method of testing a pepper’s pungency units. Scoville’s test results were determined by taking the extracts of many types of chili peppers and diluting them in a sugared water solution until none of the heat remained. Testing was done by a panel of five “judges” who would taste these solutions and then tell Scoville when they no longer felt any heat. Because of the differences in an individual’s taste buds, the results were not very consistent. Today, more scientific and accurate methods like Electrochemistry and High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) are used to determine capsaicin levels (the chemical in chilis that produces the heat). In honor of Mr. Scoville, the unit of measure is still named Scoville.

In 2009, scientists at India’s Defence Research and Development Organisation announced plans to use the peppers in hand grenades, as a non-lethal way to flush out terrorists from their hideouts and as a pepper spray to control rioters.

I first read of the Ghost Chili in 2008 in a newspaper article and wondered at the time where I could get some seeds. I found the seeds at the Chili Institute of New Mexico in 2010 and called to place an order. I was told that they were very hard for the home gardener to grow and the seeds were costly. I took what they said about hard to grow as a challenge; after all, what kind of “almost” Master Gardener would I be if I didn’t at least try.

This year, 2011, I ordered 20 seeds and started them in my greenhouse the first of February in Fox Farm seed starting mix (only the best for this experiment). With a 160–180 day growing season, I needed to start them very early. I ended up with a 90 percent germination rate, not too shabby. In 5 weeks, I was able to transplant the seedlings into the containers I was going to grow them in. I used Fox Farm potting mix (only the best for this experiment). I watered with non-chlorinated water and fed them with Fox Farm liquid fertilizer (did I mention only the best for this experiment?). Whenever the sky looked stormy, I would put them under cover to avoid any hail damage. But, with this summer’s heat, they didn’t get moved much.

Ripe “Ghost Chili” Pepper Photo: Jim Rohling

Of the nine plants I kept, four were setting fruit in about 160 days and getting ripe at about 180 days. I was warned to be sure to wear gloves when I handled the peppers because they were so hot they could blister the skin by just touching them. I talked to many people about my experiment and they all asked me the same question: What was I going to do with the peppers? I guess it can be said it’s like a dog chasing a car, what are you going to do with it when you catch it. I decided the safest thing to do was to dry them in my dehydrator. Since the peppers were “not allowed” in the house, I set up the dehydrator in the greenhouse. Maybe I’ll grind them into chili powder to add to green chili stew. Ready for a cook-off anyone? With my curiosity fulfilled for this year, I guess I need to focus on how to get into trouble next year.

Dried Ghost Chili Peppers Photo: Jim Rohling

Oh, and by the way, like the apple in the Garden of Eden, I did bite. WOW!!!

Happy Gardening!

Further Reading:

For some fun facts on chilis, go to www.thehottestpepper.com/ghost-chili-pepper-fun-facts.html

For a list of how chilis rate on the Scoville scale, go to http://ushotstuff.com/Heat.Scale.htm

To read about all the nutritional benefits of chilis, go to www.chilepepperinstitute.org, scroll down to and click on chili information, then click on nutritional information. Chilies are so good for you, you’d almost think they could cure death!

A Word on Hypertufa by Judy Huckaby

2011-09-26T14:10:00.000-06:00

When a hypertufa class was offered through the Jefferson County Master Gardener program, I immediately signed up to become an instructor. I learned that tufa is compressed volcanic ash that has been mined for centuries in order to be carved into watering troughs and sinks. Gardeners began to covet these containers for their rugged looks and soon the troughs became expensive and rare.
Somebody somewhere down the line had a flash of brilliance and came up with a recipe to make garden containers that look and are waterproof like tufa, but are lighter in weight. Called hypertufa, the prefix “hyper” can mean excess, exaggeration or above and beyond. Regardless of the meaning, hypertufa containers are usually planted with “alpine gardens” because they leech alkalinity and these plants can take it.

Duane Davidson’s lovely circular red colored pot.

That’s not to say that all that can be planted are hens and chicks and things like that. One of my fellow hypertufanists planted blooming oregano in hers. And I’ve seen some beautifully planted with other things.

Not satisfied with the standard recipe, I realized that hypertufa is a concrete mixture. Concrete is cement mixed with aggregates. To make traditional hypertufa, the aggregates are perlite and peat moss. Mix 1 part cement to 1-1/2 parts each of perlite and peat moss, toss with a bit of water and cram into a mold. Keep covered and moist, wait a curing time of 4 weeks or so, and viola a hypertufa container is born.

The traditional look is gray and so gray cement is used. I learned about white cement, a more refined cement product which costs twice as much. Aggregate can be lots of different stuff: sand, coffee grounds I am told, vermiculite, aquarium pebbles, the list goes on. The only thing constant is the ratio of 1 part cement to 3 parts aggregate. For my latest container, I used white cement, vermiculite, and a finely ground perlite to create a mixture that could be carved a day after it was molded. The texture is a bit different, and it is rather heavy, but to me it still looks like a weathered pot that possibly came from stone (who knows, maybe even tufa).


Vermiculite Pot

The Jefferson County Master Gardeners have taught a very successful workshop on hypertufa. Participants created a pot about 8 inches wide and long and 12 inches high using cardboard boxes as molds. In the garden, these containers will provide a little nook where alpine plants can be featured.
The workshop was so successful, that the Master Gardener instructors are debating whether to offer another workshop before Christmas. Fall is an excellent time to create hypertufa as the pots cure better in cool temps. Should the workshop come to pass, it would be offered in time to make a container or two for Christmas gifts. A gift of a handmade hypertufa to a gardener would go a long way in providing holiday cheer.

Needless to say, learning how to make hypertufa has set me on fire for more experimentation. Rex Murfitt’s garden in Victoria, British Columbia offers me lots of inspiration. (The picture is from Creating and Planting Garden Troughs by Joyce Fingerut and Rex Murfitt, a good read if you want to know everything about making and planting a hypertufa pot).

Wintering-Over Mandevilla Vines by Gardener Dave

2011-09-23T13:42:00.000-06:00

Have you ever tried to winter-over a Mandevilla vine (Mandevilla spp.) indoors? I am trying it this year and would like to pass on information and tips I have (recently) researched on the Internet. The info below is a compendium of that information. Since they can be quite expensive, it may be worth your while to try it.

Mandevilla vines are sold by nurseries and “big box” stores throughout the summer. They are showy plants with trumpet-like flowers in many attractive colors. They are a tropical plant, only hardy to Zone 9 and above. If they are grown in hanging containers or in medium sized pots on the patio, they can be cut or pinched back to maintain the desired size. However, if it is happy in your location, i.e. sunny and warm, it will vine, and will need a large pot and some sort of trellis. It will thrive outside with regular, even watering, being careful to not let the soil get soggy. It needs well drained soil and light fertilizing at regular intervals when actively growing. They are moody if temps drop much below 60 degrees, and will NOT tolerate temps much below 45-50 deg.

If you pot it in a container on the patio, the container should be of adequate size to support good root growth and not be heavy. Resin pots can be quite large and still be lightweight – an advantage if you move it or take it in for the winter. The soil should be a good quality, light, porous potting medium. Make sure the pot has adequate drainage, cut more holes in the bottom if needed.

Some people treat Mandevillas as an annual, but they can survive inside in a sunny spot. Trim them back to about a foot tall, and leave them in their original container if possible. Take them in well before the danger of frost in the fall. Water them evenly, but keep them on the semi-dry side all winter. If new vine growth emerges after it is taken indoors, it will probably not bear any flowers. Since the plant likes bright sun, it will tolerate winter indoors but will not be truly happy unless your “indoors” is a greenhouse! Be sure to get rid of any insect pests before bringing them inside. An indoor temp of 65-75 deg should be quite satisfactory.

The crown and roots of the plant should survive the winter indoors with the above care, but don’t panic if most (or even all) of the leaves become mottled and/or fall off. It will NOT be a showy, flowering indoor plant for you even if you put it in a sunny window. You are just aiming for survival until spring, when it can be set outside again after all danger of frost is past. Wintering-over can be worth it, especially if it is a large plant, as they can be quite expensive to replace.

Prune your plant(s) in the spring, before new growth appears, if possible. Cut them back to within and inch or two of last year’s woody growth. New growth should appear as soon as they are receiving adequate sunlight and warmth when set out. If you need to repot, do it at this time, using the next bigger pot size. 

Mandevillas can have pests. Whitefly, mealybugs, spidermites, scale and aphids are possible “guests”. Keep your eye out for any of these, especially when bringing them in from outdoors, or when they are close to other plants you have brought in.

With some luck and the above winter care, they will bloom profusely outside next year for you, and for years to come. Bon jardinage !

Cheers,
Gardener Dave 

What to Do With Green Tomatoes by Carol King

2011-09-20T15:43:00.000-06:00

Lakewood Gardener, Jose Lara with his bounty of vegetables! Photo by Diana Roca.

This is the time of year when gardeners have a plethora of unripe tomatoes in their gardens. If your garden is no exception, here are a few tips on dealing with all those green tomatoes.

To speed-ripen on the vine try these:

Stop watering. This encourages ripening.
Root prune the plant. Dig into the soil 6-8” deep and cut around a circle 12” from the stem. Shake the plant but don’t dig it up. This will stress the plant and the fruit will ripen faster.
Pinch off any flowers, small fruit, new shoots, and suckers. It’s too late for them to become anything. Do this now and all the plants energy will go toward ripening.

When frost is expected, try these:

Cover the plant completely and anchor so the wind doesn’t blow it off. Use old blankets, thick plastic, or anything similar and make sure it goes all the way to the ground providing the plant with trapped warmth.
Harvest the tomatoes by pulling the plant from the ground and hanging it upside down in a garage or other shelter. Check often for ripe ones.
Pick the pink ones and put them on the counter to ripen
Pick the green tomatoes and store them in a shallow tray lined with newspaper. They need 60-70 degrees and no light. The warmth ripens them not light.

If all else fails, have a Fried Green Tomato Party! They are yummy, unhealthy, fried, and a real crowd pleaser. Here’s my recipe as taught to me by my Texas cousins. You know it’s good.

Emma Jean and Rita Jane’s Fried Green Tomatoes*
Ingredients: green tomatoes, eggs, milk, flour, cornmeal, salt, pepper, vegetable oil for frying
Wash and dry the tomatoes.
Slice about ¼ inch thick.
Salt each slice on both sides and set aside.
Beat egg(s) with a splash of milk making a batter
Put cup or so of flour in a plate, pepper it a little and mix with a fork
Put cup or so of corn meal in a plate, pepper it a little and mix with a fork. I prefer Bob’s Red Mill medium or coarse ground.
Put ½ inch of good vegetable oil in skillet. An iron skillet is the best. Heat to 350 degrees or a good frying temperature. You may have to discard the oil and add new if you are frying a lot of the tomatoes.
Dip salted tomato slices into flour, then into egg mixture, then into cornmeal.
Plop in the skillet and brown both sides.
*Quantities in this recipe depend on the number of tomato slices you are frying. It’s a very forgiving recipe.

Good with a nice chardonnay or cold beer of choice!

Green Manuring By Grace Olson

2011-09-16T15:28:00.000-06:00

Once when I was in early high school my mother asked me to take my old Toyota pickup and drive to a local dairy farmer to buy some manure for her garden. I dutifully chugged over to the quiet farm, where the owner’s teenage son helped me load several tractor buckets full of fresh, steaming slop into my truck bed. I puttered on home and began shoveling it out onto her beautifully maintained plot, eyes watering with the stench and wondering how anyone could stand using the stuff. A half-hour later, my mother came home, took one breath of the chaos ensuing in her yard, and explained to me in some very heated language all about the term “composted.” In the end, her garden recovered and we now laugh about how that was some really “green manure.”

Fortunately, the term’s actual meaning is far more beneficial to the Front Range home gardener. In effect, using a green manure means growing your own fertilizer and compost. You take a cover crop, usually a grass or legume seed broadcast over a soil surface, let it grow a while, and then till it under a month or so before planting your garden. The tilled-in plant material adds fertility and soil structure to your garden plot. For most of Jefferson County, mid-September is the perfect time to begin a fall-planted cover crop for spring till.

Hairy Vetch

Choose a rye/hairy vetch or rye/Austrian winter pea mix so the crop will overwinter in Colorado. Mix with a rhizobium listed on the bag and broadcast over your garden. (Rates can be found in Table 3 of Garden Notes 244, click here). You may choose to cover the seed with bird netting or less than one inch of straw to ensure germination, and water often to keep the soil slightly moist until the crop is established.

The seed will grow all winter while you feast on last season’s harvest, sip hot tea by the fire, and order new seeds for the spring’s planting.

    One month before you plan to fill the area with your vegetables or flowers, till the cover crop under, thereby turning it into your very own green manure. You can get a motorized tiller or use a spade, depending on the size of your garden. Waiting one month allows the plant material to decompose properly before your seedlings enter and compete for soil oxygen. Its nitrogen is released into the soil and its slime, mucus and fungal mycelia glue soil particles together to improve the tilth.

    Whether you are wrapping up your harvest and can afford the space to cover your entire garden plot, or you wish to fill the area left by your broccoli or tomatoes, a green manure crop will benefit your garden. And, even if you ask your inexperienced teenager to help you, there is a lot less room for error than that other kind.

    For more information, read Colorado State University Extension’s Garden Notes 244. http://cmg.colostate.edu/gardennotes/244.pdf

The Grass is Greener by Gail Wilson

2011-09-13T12:16:00.001-06:00

..Or at least I certainly hope so! I decided in 2010 that it was time to do some thing with my lawn. I had only owned the property for 10 years but the lawn was 40 years old. My decision was to over seed with Reveille, a Hybrid Blue Grass that claims to be more drought resistant. Saving water is really important to me so I did some research and everything I read indicated that it was worth a try.

In the spring of 2010 I aerated (2 inch centers) my existing lawn, applied seed, (1 lb per 1000 square feet) and covered the seed with approximately 1/8 inch of compost. I watered three times a day until the seeds germinated and continued watering an average of three times a week during the summer. In the beginning of August I repeated the procedure, Reveille is started in early August no later. I had a beautiful lawn that year. Well of course I did with all that care and water.

Enter spring 2011 and things were not so great. I had aerated, applied compost and a small amount of fertilizer but the lawn was greening in a mottled fashion. Parts looked great others parts not so good. At first I attributed the problem to poor fertilizer application so I reapplied more fertilizer but to no avail. As the season progressed it became evident that the greener grass was the new Reveille because new, beautifully green grass was growing in areas that previously had been with out.

What to do? So I decided to reduce the water in an attempt to stress the KBG and give the HBG a chance to take over. I reduced the water to one solid watering per week, nature helped a little this summer with additional precipitation and the HBG began infiltrating the KBG. The lawn still is not beautiful but getting better.

Even though I chose not to reseed at all this year, I think I will over seed those areas that need help in the spring of 2012 (depending on weather, med to late April is suggested).

I am really optimistic about this grass and trying to be patient, which is not one of my strongest personality traits. I will return in the future and let you know how everything turns out. I do hope the grass is greener in my yard.

Here's a CSU fact sheet on rejuvenating the lawn: http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/garden/07241.html

Autumn Beauty for Your Garden By Joyce D’Agostino

2011-09-11T12:05:00.001-06:00

For those of us who garden in the Front Range, it seems we find that our growing season is just not long enough. Our late and early frosts often challenge us to find plants that can produce quickly and will sustain as long as possible.

Some of these plants such as tomatoes are warm weather plants and begin to decline as the cool temperatures begin to arrive. One way to extend your garden enjoyment is to add plants that often do their best toward the end of the summer season, such as sunflowers, pumpkins and gourds.
This year, I chose a sunflower variety called ‘Autumn Beauty’. Autumn Beauty features both bi-color and solid colors in the mix. This morning (08-31-11) the first flower of this batch opened and it was a lovely bi-color of bronze and deep orange yellow.

There are many types of Sunflowers to choose from including dwarf sizes all the way up to the “giant” that can reach 6 ft or taller, and all shades of the yellow, red and orange color family.

You may notice that sunflowers can attract insects such as aphids. This group did endure some bug attacks from aphids and flea beetles earlier in the season but managed to survive. Sunflowers can also attract ants and wasps and this is because the leaves of most sunflowers secrete a nectar type substance that can attract beneficial insects which can then prey on the destructive insects.
In addition to adding color beauty to your garden, many people grow sunflowers for the added treat of the seeds once the petals dry and fall off. If you have problems with squirrels and birds raiding your garden for food, you may need to cover the heads with netting to prevent them harvesting the seeds before you are able to do so.

If you enjoy growing flowers and want some with very showy blooms and edible seeds, sunflowers will be a welcome addition to your garden. Here are some fact sheets available with growing tips that you might find helpful:
http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/columngw/gr090613.html
http://www.ext.colostate.edu/ptlk/1828.html
http://www.ext.colostate.edu/ptlk/1004.html

High and Dry: Gardening with Cold-Hardy Dryland Plants; Book Review by Liz Swiech

2011-09-09T08:00:00.001-06:00

Nold, Robert. High and Dry: Gardening with Cold-Hardy Dryland Plants. Portland, Or. : Timber Press, 2008.

Okay, whoever put the hold on this book at the library – you are forcing me to return it after renewing it twice and I may just have to go out and buy it for my own library. This is like a huge plant catalog specifically for our region with heaps of additional information, including the personal experience and opinion of a tried and true Colorado gardener.

Nold’s relaxed writing style and wry sense of humor kept me browsing through 400 pages of detailed plant descriptions and color photos. For example, in the commentary about Cercocarpus intricatus (little-leaf mountain mahogany) Nold says, “True, life would be good if C. intricatus came with bright red flowers the size of Frisbees lasting all year, but this is a really beautiful shrub even without the flowers.”

Robert Nold

Nold does not pretend to have the last word – like admitting defeat in an attempt to start a particular plant from seed, but at the same time offers known advice for the reader to try their hand at it. He’s not afraid to say what common practices he doesn’t follow – like planning. The page or so dedicated to this subject had me laughing out loud.

Some details and commentary regarding botanical nomenclature were beyond my current scope of interest but may interest more geekier plant geeks than myself. A forward by Panayoti Kelaidis (Senior Curator and Director of Denver Botanic Gardens Outreach) gives credence to Nold’s knowledge and experience. Altogether, I believe this is an excellent resource for the Colorado gardener. The writing style and practical knowledge lend an added dimension to an otherwise dry subject (pun intended).

Successfully Growing Tomatillos by Elizabeth Buckingham

2011-09-06T14:15:00.000-06:00

As a professional chef and an avid gardener, I am always interested in trying new vegetables in my garden. Each growing season I set a goal to grow at least five new vegetables or herbs that I’ve never grown before, and this year the tomatillo made that list. I know that the tomatillo is probably not considered particularly exotic here in Colorado; our Mexican influences and love of Mexican cuisine means that many local gardeners grow this vegetable every season. Although I’d used tomatillos numerous times in my professional life I had not yet grown my own, and I was excited to try it out.

Wikipedia defines the tomatillo as follows:
“The tomatillo (Physalis philadelphica) is a plant of the nightshade family, related to the Cape gooseberry, bearing small, spherical and green or green-purple fruit of the same name. Tomatillos, referred to as green tomato (Spanish: tomate verde) in Mexico, are a staple in Mexican cuisine. Tomatillos are grown as annuals throughout the Western Hemisphere. The tomatillo fruit is surrounded by an inedible, paper-like husk formed from the calyx. As the fruit matures, it fills the husk and can split it open by harvest. The husk turns brown, and the fruit can be any of a number of colors when ripe, including yellow, red, green, or even purple. Tomatillos are the key ingredient in fresh and cooked Latin American green sauces. The freshness and greenness of the husk are quality criteria. Fruit should be firm and bright green, as the green color and tart flavour are the main culinary contributions of the fruit. Purple and red-ripening cultivars often have a slight sweetness, unlike the green- and yellow-ripening cultivars, and are therefore somewhat more suitable for fruit-like uses like jams and preserves. Like their close relatives Cape gooseberries, tomatillos have a high pectin content. Tomatillo plants are highly self-incompatible: two or more plants are needed for proper pollination, thus isolated tomatillo plants rarely set fruit.”

With that helpful information in mind, I purchased a number of different pepper and tomatillo plants at the excellent Master Gardener Plant Sale in May. I kept all of these in the sunroom for a few weeks then gradually hardened the seedlings off outside, and finally transplanted into the ground on May 29. Unfortunately, somewhere between getting the plants home and transplanting them, labels were lost and what I thought were peppers were actually tomatillos. (Experienced gardeners, please forgive me for not being able to distinguish between a tomatillo and a pepper seedling – I am still quite new to this gardening!) The result of this story is that I had substantially more tomatillos but substantially fewer peppers than I thought…and was slightly worried to find out from a gardener friend a few days later that apparently tomatillos are “voracious self-seeders.” Who knows how many I’ll have next year?

Now, late in August, I am finally reaping my tomatillo harvest and hugely enjoying the results. Through no intentional effort I managed to stagger-plant my tomatillos (in three separate areas of my vegetable gardens), and as such am enjoying a gradual harvest without becoming inundated. On my older plants, the husks are starting to dry up and turn brown, and the fruits nearly fall off the vine when touched. All of my plants have thus far produced green fruit, although I would love to see the purple cultivars and hope to find those next season! I was also surprised to find that even my one isolated plant has set fruit, despite warnings against individual plantings.

I am harvesting the fruits as needed and have thus far used them with great success in fresh summer salads with chunks of tomato, cucumber, feta, red onion, basil and a simple vinaigrette. Fresh recipes such as this composed salad are exactly why chefs love this season so much – it is so easy to take just a few pristine ingredients and make an amazing dish.

I plan to make salsa with my tomatillos, of course, but as yet haven’t harvested enough to make a big batch. I taught myself to can and preserve last summer so I’ll definitely include wood-roasted tomatillos when I grill my other ingredients for my “smoky salsa,” which also includes onions, peppers and tomatoes. I also will make a brightly-flavored (and brightly-colored) sauce for grilled chicken which will include quickly sautéed onions, garlic, and tomatillos, perhaps finished with fresh chopped cilantro or parsley. It is important to remember that the tart, crisp flavor of the tomatillos is the fruit’s primary attraction and should be left mostly intact. I have found that the tomatillo’s fresh taste makes a terrific addition to just about any summer dish, and I am looking forward to finding many more ways to incorporate the tomatillo in my summer menus as well as my preserving plans.

I can now confidently include tomatillos on my ever-increasing list entitled “Things I’ve Grown Successfully.” I am thrilled to have this interesting and unique plant as part of my summer harvest and if you haven’t yet tried tomatillos, I would definitely encourage you to try a few plants next season!

Dealing with Disappointment – Garden Style by Sue Bloomquist

2011-09-03T13:52:00.001-06:00

This summer has been a time of great success . . and great disappointment. The joys have included my first attempt to raise LOTS of seedlings. I planted four varieties of tomatoes and, out of three full bedding plant trays, only three seeds did not sprout. I also built not one but two raised bed gardens – something I have been promising myself I would do for three years. As usual, my lettuce, which reseeds itself, has been delicious.

Tomatoes With Spotted Wilt Virus

However, in the midst of all this bounty, I came face to face with THE ENEMY. I am talking about tomato spotted wilt virus, TSWV. Several weeks ago, I began to notice a couple of tomato plants just looking, well, sickly. After Internet searches led me to several possibilities, I took samples to the Jeffco Extension diagnostic clinic. The search narrowed, but a simple chemical test delivered the final blow. TSWV! Time to yank out the plants – no treating, babying or otherwise trying to save them.

Since that time two more plants have tested positive, and my tomato garden shrank again. The last plant to fall was a formerly beautiful Ace bush type that was more like a small tree. Big lush leaves. Tall and umbrella shaped. Flower bud galore. And cruelest insult of all, it was the vanguard plant in my experimental raised bed with only long-rotted compost as soil. The plant's removal left a gaping hole this showcase bed. What to do?!

As it happens, I have never before planted a fall crop. Of anything. I have always settled for store bought lettuce and chard. And I love home grown lettuce. Pick one leaf or a whole head, and it's always fresh.

Voila! The solution – this opening has become my new fall garden. I have planted several varieties lettuce to see what does best in the late summer. Some ruby red chard made its way into a corner of new ground. I know the daily heat will affect some more than others, but cooler nights are coming, and I expect a crisp and “springish” fall.

So, don't despair if all did not go well in your garden. Join me, and plant a fall crop of lettuce, spinach, chard and radishes. We will be dining on BLTs and spinach salads well into October. Bon jardiner! Bon apetit!

The Joys of the Common Colorado High Country Gardener by Nancy R White

2011-09-01T12:16:00.002-06:00

The summer gardening season is winding down. As each year passes, I find that I learn new things and once again this year is no exception.

Elk Damage on Viburnum

Living up in elevation at about 7,000 ft. makes gardening a challenge. One of the biggest challenges is the wildlife that I love to see when I am hiking, but have gotten a bit frustrated with in my own yard. When I got home from a short trip to the mountains recently, I found that some animal had eaten half of the leaves off of my small Black Haw Viburnum Tree right by my front door! My husband said that a large male elk had been hanging around. I wish I had seen the majestic creature! I have learned to share in order to enjoy these beautiful creatures in my neighborhood, but I sure hope my tree will live.

Tomato Spotted Wilt Virus

As I was checking out my tomato plants one day in August, I discovered that one of them has a disease. I immediately went to my computer and found a number of things it could be. There were a few easy things I could do. Getting any loose vines up off the ground was a simple way to keep any soil microbes or insects off of them. Trimming off any yellowed leaves was easy, too. I bagged a few blistered, deformed tomatoes along with the diseased looking vines I’d cut and brought them to the plant clinic at the Jefferson County CSU extension office where the plant diagnostic experts looked at them carefully under the microscope. My Italian plum tomato plant that I was so excited to find has Tomato Spotted Wilt Virus. Except for a few yellowed vines and some grayish/purple spots on otherwise healthy looking leaves, the plant looks normal. But, the tomato fruits have yellow rings and spots on them and some are blistered and distorted. They are not edible and in order to keep the infection from spreading to the rest of my vegetable garden, the plant has to be removed and destroyed, along with solarizing the moistened soil around it with a black trash bag. BUMMER!!! So much for a harvest of Italian Plum tomatoes. Chalk it up to another learning experience…

Black-eyed Susans

Meanwhile out in the rock wall garden where the deer love to roam, the Black-eyed Susans are making a showy late summer display. The seeds I had so meticulously spread last fall have certainly fulfilled my expectations and then some. So far no creature is eating them! I promise to spread their seeds across the entire hillside this fall along with the seeds of a few other species that the deer, elk, rabbits, voles, pocket gophers, etc. don’t seem to like. Things like Monarda, Cleome, Daisies, Liatris and lots of various Sages. Learning about what will grow in my area that the animals don’t like is definately a trial and error learning process.

Then there is the joy of discovering what the hummingbirds, butterflies and bees love and opening a restaurant for them. The catmint and the Blue Mist Spirea are a hit with the bees. The hummingbirds love the variety of fuscias I have potted on my upper patio along with the creeping California fuscia that spreads like crazy out front. Butterflies flock to the butterfly bush of course as well as the carpet Roses, Penstemons and Lavender. The restaurant is open and busy.

Black-headed Grosbeak

The birds at this elevation are wonderful, too. We have Mountain Bluebirds, Scarlet Tanangers, the ubiquitous Magpies and Ravens and even a pair of Great Horned Owls that pay us a night-time visit from time to time. Recently on returning home one morning, my husband came upon an injured Grosbeak. She had flown into a window. She was flopping around, but her wings were ok. As soon as I could I took her to the Wild Bird Rescue where I was told she has a pretty bad head injury. The caretaker told me that if she doesn’t recover fairly quickly, which she hasn’t, she will have to stay at Wild Bird’s indoor rescue home through the winter. The rest of her kind fly all the way to Venezuela for the winter. If she’s able, I can come back and get her in the Spring and release her where she was found. I am hopeful that that will happen.

Spending time outdoors and observing and participating in nature is wonderful. Seeing the interactions of living things: plants, animals, viruses, insects, etc., and being an integral part of it all myself makes life interesting. Thus learning new things in the garden each year comes without much effort. Appreciating each one as part of the whole process is a bit more of a challenge.

2011 Master Gardener Garden Tour: Home Grown by Georgina Kokinda

2011-08-29T16:33:00.000-06:00

Photo by Janet Shangraw

It was the last day of July, a perfect commonly sunny summer day with temperatures hovering close to the century mark, when the Jefferson County (Jeffco) Colorado Master Gardeners (CMG’s) held the HOMEGROWN TOUR. The event, which focused on home/community food production, was organized and orchestrated by a team of Jeffco CMG’s led by Janet Shangraw. Featured were six luscious gardens, including: a community garden in Golden; the home garden of CSU Extension Research Associate, Curtis Utley; three home gardens of Jeffco CMG’s; and the Horticulture Research and Demonstration Garden at the Jefferson County Fairgrounds.

The CMG’s and CSU staff who offered to show their own gardens along with volunteers who helped them, worked tirelessly preparing, planting, weeding, watering, sweating and stressing, as crazy monsoon weather in the preceding weeks brought almost daily threats of hail and other severe weather. Their efforts paid off (and of course those daily monsoon rains didn’t hurt), as approximately 200 people toured the productive lush gardens. All monies raised for the event were donated to the Colorado Master Gardener Fund, which provides scholarships for horticulture students at CSU.

In the ‘workshop’ garden (pictured below) outside the CSU Extension office at the Fairgrounds, Extension staff and Jeffco CMG’s plant and evaluate vegetable varieties and growing methods, as well as teach children involved in 4-H and other after school programs. Among the fruits and vegetables being grown there are tomatoes, radishes, broccoli, beans, peppers, onions, garlic, herbs, corn, cabbage, kale, wheat, apples, and peaches. Many tour participants were interested in the blueberry experiment, in which plants are being grown in bags of peat moss, since the soils along the Front Range are generally so alkaline. For more information on growing blueberries in Colorado, see the Winter2011 issue of the Front Range Sustainable Small Acreage News here: http://www.ext.colostate.edu/sam/nl/11-winter.pdf

(photo credit: G. Kokinda)
CMG’s Ellen Goodnight and Vicky Spelman-Lang assist the children in planting tomatoes after school.


(photo credit: P. Luzetski) Mary Small, Jefferson County CSU Extension Agent, stops briefly in the shade for a quick photo-op during a rare quiet period during the tour on the near-100degree Sunday.

photo credit: P. Luzetski)
Raised beds with concrete reinforcing mesh ‘structure’ provide quick cover if needed for vegetables and herbs at the Horticulture Research and Demo Garden at the Jeffco Fairgrounds in Golden.

Though not focused on food production, the Plant Select® Garden at the Fairgrounds was recently awarded a Showcase Garden Award for the region, was also on display during the tour. Plant Select® is a collaborative effort with Colorado State University, Denver Botanic Gardens and regional and national horticultural professionals. “The purpose of Plant Select® is to seek out, identify and distribute the very best plants for landscapes and gardens from the intermountain region to the high plains”. Learn more about Plant Select® here: http://plantselect.org/about-us/

Trial plants Coral Canyon Twinspur http://www.botanicgardens.org/content/twinspur (left) and Sea Foam Artemisia http://www.ext.colostate.edu/ptlk/2025f5a.html in the Plant Select® garden.

(photo credits: G. Kokinda)
VERMILION BLUFFS® Mexican Sage (Salvia darcyi 'Pscarl') was a 2007 Plant Select® choice.

For more on Herbaceous Perennials that are best adapted for Colorado’s lower elevations, see: http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/garden/07405.html, and Flowers for Mountain Communities: http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/garden/07406.html.

Several visitors asked questions about Paulownia tomentosa http://www.robsplants.com/plants/PauloTomen, which had been a trial plant for the program a few years ago (pictured below center with large leaves).


(http://www.robsplants.com/images/portrait/PaulowniaTomentosa070728.jpg)

According to Curtis Utley, the plant usually dies back to the ground each year, though some top growth managed to survive this past winter because it was a fairly mild one. It was pulled from consideration for the program, as it is not reliably hearty along the Front Range.

(photo credit: J. Shangraw)
Visitors tour the garden of CMG Vicky Spelman-Lang, which, at the foot of a hillside, integrates beautifully into the other backyard landscaping, featuring a xeric south-facing slope, pictured below.


(photo credit: P. Luzetski) For information on xeric plant choices, see Plantalk Colorado: http://www.ext.colostate.edu/ptlk/1907.html

(photo credit: J. Shangraw)
The charming garden of CMG Carol Burks featured chickens, bees, herbs and vegetables, and fruit with perennial beds tucked in between and connected by well-tended paths.

photo credit: C. Burks)
Succulent raspberries in the Burks garden.

To learn more, see ‘Raspberries for the Home Garden’ here: http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/garden/07001.html, and in the Spring2011 issue of Front Range Sustainable Small Acreage News: http://www.ext.colostate.edu/sam/nl/11-spring.pdf.

(photo credit: J. Shangraw)
A tiny tour-goer enjoys a cool quiet spot in the Burks garden.

(photo credit: P. Luzetski)
A large healthy Elm tree highlights the Burks backyard.


(photo credit: E. Goodnight) CMG Patti Douglas in her garden before the tour begins.

(photo credit: J. Shangraw)
Overheard by CMG volunteers at the garden of CMG Patti Douglas were comments by guests such as “I love this garden. I want one just like this,” and “is she really going to eat all of that garlic and all those onions?”

(photo credit: P. Luzetski)
Hostess Patti Douglas (center) chats with guests.

photo credit: J. Shangraw)
Other comments were “Everything is so beautifully labeled” & “Patti is so knowledgeable, helpful, and giving.”

(photo credit: J. Shangraw)
Curtis Utley poses behind a poster describing intensive and vertical gardening methods in his own lush garden in Wheat Ridge.

(photo credit: P. Luzetski)
A few of the 60-some chickens in Utley’s chicken coop.

(photo credit: P. Luzetski)

photo credits: J. Shangraw)
Curtis stayed busy throughout the day explaining to many grateful tour-goers how he grows food for his own family, especially on Training and Pruning Fruit Trees

Find more info on the subject here: http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/garden/07003.html,
on Fertilizing Fruit Trees: http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/garden/07612.html,
Drip Irrigation for Home Gardens: http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/garden/04702.html,
and Operating and Maintaining a Home Irrigation System: http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/garden/07239.html.

(photo credit: J. Shangraw)
The entrance to the Applewood Community Garden features a beautiful and prolific trumpet vine embellished gate, designed and hand crafted by community member Christina Forsythe.

The Applewood Community Garden in Golden was started with the help of Denver Urban Gardens http://dug.org/gardens/, in 2007 by 100 volunteers on Earth Day with land donated by a local church. Each plot owner pays $25 per year for fees. Gardeners meet for winter sign-up and a planning dinner.


photo credit: J. Shangraw) Butterfly bush and Aquilegia chrysantha, DENVER GOLD® Columbine http://plantselect.org/plant-lists/ embellish a bench in the Applewood Community Garden.

(photo credit: J. Shangraw)
Common areas include raspberries (recently nibbled by deer), cutting flowers, herb garden, squash, and a pumpkin patch.

(photo credit: J. Shangraw)
Many people at garden asked questions about the Leonotis leonurus, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonotis_leonurus, aka Lions’ Tail or Wild Dagga, which, according to CMG volunteer EJ Bennet, “looks just like a Dr. Seuss creation”.

(photo credit: P. Luzetski)
Tour highlights from the Applewood garden included a tasting of raw okra by CMG volunteers, offered by Zachariah, a local community gardener.

Overall, the feeling by CMG’s is that the tour was a huge success, as we accomplished our mission of sharing research-based knowledge and our enthusiasm for the natural environment. “The Colorado State University, Colorado Master Gardeners Program volunteer network strives to enhance Coloradans’ quality of life by: ●Extending knowledge-based education throughout Colorado communities to foster successful gardeners, and ●Helping individuals make informed decisions about plants to protect neighborhood environments. We are committed to using horticulture to empower gardeners, develop partnerships, and build stronger communities”. Check out this link http://cmg.colostate.edu/ if you are interested in learning more about the Colorado State University Extension Colorado Master Gardener Program.

For more research-based information on growing your own food, we’ve listed a few select links listed below, or search the CSU Extension general web site here: http://www.ext.colostate.edu/index.html.

Apple and Pear Insects: http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/insect/05519.html
Backyard orchard: Apples and Pears: http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/garden/02800.html
Backyard orchard: Stone Fruits: http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/garden/02804.html
Composting Yard Waste: http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/garden/07212.html
Cucumbers, Pumpkins, Squash, and Melons: http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/garden/07609.html
Edible Flowers: http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/garden/07237.html
Growing Plants From Seed: http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/garden/07409.html
Recognizing Tomato Problems: http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/garden/02949.html
Saving Seeds: http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/garden/07602.html
Storage of Home-Grown Vegetables: http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/garden/07601.html ,
Preventing E. coli From Garden to Plate: http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/foodnut/09369.html

The CSU Extension Small Acreage Management website also has information on managing your land, controlling animal and other pests, composting and vermicomposting, creating an heirloom vegetable garden, noxious weeds, and more! Visit http://www.ext.colostate.edu/sam/.

Kim Bone, 2011 Plant Select Photo Winner!

2011-08-24T15:21:00.000-06:00

Our very own Jefferson County CSU Colorado Master Gardener, Kim Bone, has won the 2011 Plant Select Photo Contest in the Great Groupings Category!

See all the winners here.

Congratulations Kim. It is a great photo!

Mountain Pine Beetle Spreads to Front Range

2011-08-19T11:31:00.001-06:00

Photo Courtesy of University of Wyoming

The Denver Post reports that the mountain pine beetle has spread to Colorado's Front Range cities, but forestry experts and city arborists do not expect losses on the scale seen in Rocky Mountain forests.

Read the whole story here!

Herbicide Imprelis Recalled by the EPA

2011-08-17T11:39:00.003-06:00

After reviewing thousands of complaints of damage to evergreens and other trees, the Enviornmental Protection Agency has ordered a recall of DuPont's new herbicide Imprelis.

Garden Weed Management: Using Pulled Weeds for Mulch

2011-08-15T08:00:00.001-06:00


Pile of Bindweed. Use as Mulch? Think Again!

Andrea Cummins, Extension Agent at neighboring CSU Douglas County Extension, has this to say about using your weeds as mulch. Be careful. You might be making your weed problem worse!

“Afternoon July thunderstorms have brought an onslaught of weeds in gardens and open space all along the Front Range. Soils too dry for seed germination this spring now have enough moisture to sprout weeds. Weeding practices may actually worsen the problem. Leaving pulled weeds on the soil surface is advocated by some as a way of mulching. Weeds dry out and die and the debris forms a mulch.

It is important to identify the weeds pulled for mulch. Some weeds can be pulled prior to setting seed and left in place with no danger of returning.Examples include: salsify, annual sowthistle, groundsel, and prickly lettuce.

Weeds such as bindweed, purslane, prostrate spurge and prostrate knotweed can root from a very small piece of stem or root. Gardeners should not leave these weeds on the soil for mulch, instead dispose of them in the trash.”

Herbicide Carryover: From Digestive Tract to Your Garden

2011-08-13T08:00:00.002-06:00


Herbicide Carryover Injury

Considering getting manure from your local farmer for your garden? Dear gardener, you might want to be cautious about this!

Dr. Tony Koski, CSU Extension Turf Specialist, recently informed staff about an excellent publication from North Carolina on the topic of herbicide carryover.

North Carolina State University received reports from organic farmers and home gardeners of damage to vegetables following application of aged and composted horse and cattle manure to the soil. The symptoms exhibited on the crops are twisted, cupped, and elongated leaves; misshapen fruit; reduced yield; death of young plants; and poor seed germination. They found that one source of this crop injury is the presence of certain herbicides in manure and compost. With so many folks using composts and manures to improve soil, there have been increasing cases of contaminated amendments. Unfortunately certain herbicides can pass through the digestive tract of grazing animals and into their manure. Some straw products can contain herbicide residues used to manage weeds growing in the crop.

Read more about the problem, recommendations and how to conduct a bioassay – a test for determining if that manure you’re going to buy from a local farmer is such a good idea! Read the report here: Herbicide Carryover Injury

2011 Annual Flower Trials at CSU

2011-08-10T13:50:00.001-06:00

Salvia 'Summer Jewel Red'

Dr. James E. Klett, CSU professor and Extension Landscape Horticulture Specialist, invites us to come view the 2011 Annual Flower Trials conducted by the Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture in Fort Collins. The trial garden consists of approximately 1100 varieties of annual bedding plants, both in the ground and in containers. Twenty-five plant and seed companies are participating in the 2011 trials. The site, located at 1401 Remington Street, in Ft. Collins, Colorado, is also an official All American Selection Test and Display Garden.

Compare many new bedding plant varieties against some of the standards. The best viewing time is now through mid-September or first killing frost. Visit the website for photos of last year’s winners and other updates: www.flowertrials.colostate.edu

Here's the 2011 AAS Winners.

Violets and Ground Ivy in the Lawn by Elaine Lockey

2011-08-08T17:53:00.000-06:00

Common blue violet

Is it a flower or a weed? Well that answer is truly in the eye of the beholder. The common blue violet, Viola species, seems to be such an innocent little plant when first appearing in your lawn but can become a very difficult plant to control if allowed to spread. It can make a stunning ground cover with its pretty blooms in early spring and heart-shaped green leaves. It is generally found in woodlands and enjoys shady to partly sunny moist areas. However, it can also adapt to dry areas once established.

Ground ivy, also known as creeping Charlie, Glechoma hederacea, offers lush dark green leaves that are rounded with toothed edges and small funnel-shaped purplish-blue flowers in the spring. This perennial belongs to the mint family and has square stems and a pungent odor when the leaves are crushed. Ground ivy and wild violets can sometimes be confused when flowers are not present.

Both plants spread via seed from blossoms, branching rhizomes, and creeping roots. With so many options to expand their range, it’s easy to see how they do so very easily. These plants will simply spread out of your landscape beds and into your lawn. Removal of them is a little more complicated. Hand-pulling often just results in a lot of time and effort and broken off plants as they have extensive root systems. Herbicides are usually recommended.

Ground Ivy in turf

If violets or ground ivy are in your lawn, you’ll need to use a broad-leaved herbicide only. This type of herbicide will not harm your established lawn but can harm neighboring desired plants if the spray drifts. Caution is highly recommended by using herbicides on very calm days and following all label directions.

A herbicide containing triclopyr, 2,4-D, MCPP, dicamba, or sulfentrazone is recommended for success in control, with triclopyr showing the best results. The best time to apply this spray on perennial weeds, such as violets and ground ivy, is September to early October. Plants are storing energy reserves in their roots and stems for winter and the herbicide will be able to reach all parts of the plant via the food reserves. You might not see immediate results but should see some impact in the spring. Multiple treatments may be necessary. If you only have a few violets in your lawn spot-treat those areas, instead of applying herbicides to your whole lawn.

A healthy lawn is also the best defense against these and other weeds. Proper mowing, fertilizing, watering, and aeration practices will provide you with the greatest success in conquering weeds. The best defense I’ve discovered though is a healthy acceptance of a not so perfect lawn. Consider lawn violets or ground ivy as a pretty addition and if you don’t spray them with herbicides you can incorporate them into your next salad. I am amazed at the number of things you can do with these plants from foods to vinegars to cosmetics. There’s always a bright side right?

common violet photo by sierrapotomac.org

Blossom End Rot in Tomatoes by Stan Ames

2011-08-05T13:35:00.001-06:00

Are some or all of your recently set tomatoes, squash, watermelons, peppers or eggplant developing dark, leathery features on their bottoms?

With the abnormal amounts of rain we have enjoyed we need to be alert to this condition and take steps to prevent its onset. Once a fruit has been damaged it cannot be cured!

The technical term for this condition is “Blossom End Rot” and in some areas it is just referred to as “BER”. This condition is a result of the plant’s need for calcium not being satisfied.

Plantalk Colorado’s publication No. 1471 lists six major causes for this condition and we, in Jefferson County, have experienced three of those causes this year.

Sharp changes in temperature from cool to hot weather.
Extreme temperature fluctuation.
Waterlogged soils from too much rain or excessive watering.

Prevention steps include ensuring your plants are in well-drained soil, enjoy an even supply of water (mulching helps), taking care not to cause root damage when weeding and avoiding the use of high nitrogen content fertilizers. Keep that lawn fertilizer away from your plants!

The complete publication can be seen on the web at www.ext.colostate.edu/ptlk/1471.
Additional information can be found in the Colorado State Extension website www.ext.colostate.edu by searching for: Recognizing Tomato Problems, Tomato diseases, and Tomatoes for the home Gardens.

Don’t forget the Extension website listed above is an outstanding source of information on most gardening issues. Make it your first source of information! Or call the Jefferson County CSU Extension directly at 303-271-6620.

Become a Citizen Scientist by Shelly Taylor

2011-08-02T14:08:00.000-06:00

Gardening appeals to people for various reasons. Some like the idea of producing their own food, some appreciate the beauty of flowers and well-planned landscapes, some find it relaxing. Because gardening necessarily involves watching plants grow, well or not so well, and observing the weather (and who isn't interested in the weather, especially recently), many gardeners sooner or later become interested in the underlying science of botany, and/or horticulture, or meteorology. That is one of the reasons some people become master gardeners, who receive training and can then share what they have learned. Others begin to read about science on their own, or take classes, or research on the Internet.

In these times of economic strain and government cutbacks, scientific organizations have especially limited funds. Some are making use of a way to expand their knowledge and impact through enlisting just such interested members of the general public as "citizen science" volunteers. It is a win/win situation; the volunteers get training and the opportunity to participate in studies with scientists; the scientists get expanded access to useful data through the volunteers.

One local example of such an opportunity is CoCoRaHS, the Community Collaborative Rain, Hail & Snow Network, run at Colorado State University and supported in part by the National Science Foundation. We all know that one area can receive a lot of rain or snow while another, nearby, gets little or none. There aren't enough official weather stations to pick up all these local variations, which are of serious interest to meteorologists, entomologists, and insurance experts, among many other groups. Information about volunteering to collect and report data can be found at www.cocorahs.org.

Yourgardenshow.com, a website enabling people to share information about gardening, has a Citizen Science section, links to three interesting projects. One, The Great Sunflower Project is seeking people to track bees pollinating a particular plant you choose. Bees, as many of us know, are of great economic interest to our food supply, and are disappearing in many places. Their direct link is www.greatsunflower.org. Another Yourgardenshow linked project is Allergy Agents, a project in which you track one or more specific allergy-inducing plant's phenophases, the different stages in the plant's life, such as initial spring growth, flowering, and fruit. You can get advance notice of when pollen is imminent, as well as more information on allergies. And finally, there is Season Spotting, in which you choose a calibration plant, and report its phenophases. This information not only gets you more in tune with your local community and climate, but can provide useful information about climate changes.

Googling "citizen science" can find you many other useful links. Of particular interest is scienceforcitizens.net, which allows you to look for projects of interest by discipline, such as birds, insects, or astronomy. It even allows you to do an advanced search with a number of search elements. These projects are also of use, of course, for researchers seeking citizen collaborators.

It might be worth your while to take a look at some of these projects. At the very least they are interesting, and you might find it rewarding to become involved.

What Does Grow Under Pine Trees? By Nancy Szilagyi

2011-07-30T10:13:00.000-06:00

Everyone has seen those bare spots under pine trees. Do you wonder why? Perhaps you have heard that nothing likes to grow in such acidic soil. The needles are thick under these trees. They must just make the soil too acidic for anything to want to live there. That’s what I thought.

Recently, I took an on-line class given by Dr. Tony Koski, professor at CSU and Extension Turfgrass Specialist. I learned that our soil here in Colorado is very high pH--free lime. Although pine needles fall in abundance, there could never be enough pine needles to lower the pH. Fallen needles may SLOWLY make the soil more acidic, but more likely for the better since it neutralizes the lime. It takes decades to change pH and will not decrease by more than .5 units. There goes that myth!

Following are the some of the real reasons many things, especially turf, don’t want to grow under these trees:

The turf tends to be smothered by a thick mat of pine needles.

Dense, year round growth leaves little light. The only thing that will get through is ‘left over light’, according to Dr. Koski. This light lacks    intensity and quality. This ‘left over light’ is what the tree does not use    for photosynthesis.

Any other plant will struggle with below ground competition—tree roots     competing for water and nutrients. Our tree roots here in    Colorado tend to be fairly shallow.

Evergreens, with their dense growth, shed rain to the outside of the tree    line, so it’s dry under the tree. Without adequate water and nutrients,    most plants will suffer in this setting.

But, what does grow under pine trees?

I have found a few things that for whatever reason, seem to work well under them. The first is Brunnera macrophylla. It has a couple of common names; False-forget-me-not, Siberian Bugloss and Heartleaf Brunnera. This one, my favorite, is ‘Jack Frost’. It doesn’t mind the dense shade. It doesn’t seem to mind the thick layer of pine needles around it, and the lacy blue flowers are dainty and beautiful. After flowering is over, the stems can be cut back all of the way and you are left with the lovely heart shaped leaves for the rest of the season.

The second, which I have come to count on, is Ceratostigma plumbaginoides, common name, Blue Leadwort. It, too, has dainty, pretty blue flowers, but it blooms later in the season than Brunnera. The flowers are followed by seed pods that look like little red tufts and are quite attractive. The foliage is semi-evergreen and turns red in the fall. This plant is able to tolerate full sun to full shade!

The third is Kinnikinnick. This is a native plant in Colorado. You’ll find it in the mountains growing quite happily along with all of the evergreens around it. Kinnikinnick is more of a ground cover with evergreen, glossy, rounded, small leaves. It blooms with tiny white and pink bells and shows off with pretty red berries in the fall.

All three of these plants will need additional irrigation, however, since lawn sprinklers and rain can’t reach them well, but it’s worth the extra time.

So, at least we know there are choices. The easiest one would be to allow a natural mulch of needles to occupy that space, and that is just fine. In fact, I find pine needle mulch quite attractive! The other choice is to try one or more of the above plants, especially if you must have flowers in as many places as possible!

Patti Douglas – Gardening and Giving by Ellen Goodnight

2011-07-25T13:18:00.000-06:00

Patti Douglas "Raised Bed Queen"

Patti Douglas, a Jefferson County CSU Colorado Master Gardener for seven years, could easily hold the moniker of 'Raised Bed Queen' as she tends 20 raised beds in her Wheat Ridge garden. Yet there is much more to this inquisitive and giving gardener.

Born and bred in Michigan, Patti was raised on fresh fruits and vegetables from her mother's cooking to produce from an aunt and uncle's farm within biking distance. The seeds of her appreciation for good food and how to grow it were obviously sown in her childhood years.

In 1973, Patti moved to Steamboat Springs, Colorado to ski and lived the mountain life which always included gardening. She moved to the Denver metro area in 1983, attended massage school, got married and had a “darling daughter”, gardening all the while. Today, Patti still maintains an active Lymphatic Massage practice and teaches Yoga and Tai Chi. If that's not enough, she is also an artist and a rug braider.

For the past 22 years, Patti has tested and explored various gardening methods. Now, rather than planting in our native clay soil, she has perfected the technique of gardening in raised beds. After trying various box sizes, Patti has found 2'x3' wide boxes easiest to garden in. “I am a short person with short arms. So I either step into a 4' wide bed or fall into it!”

There are many benefits to raised bed gardening. Soil problems such as clay soils, or soil with poor drainage can be avoided by incorporating top soil and five percent organic matter to the native soil of a raised bed. Soil compaction in the planting area is eliminated with walkways between beds. By using soaker hoses or drip irrigation in a raised bed reduces water consumption is lowered and contained within the growing area. Mulching raised beds with grass clippings and walkways with wood chips conserves moisture yet reduces weed growth Raised beds heat up faster in spring, thereby allowing earlier planting than in an open garden. The retained heat and protection raised beds provide allows gardening into late fall and early winter by covering with glass, plastic or shade cloth . These benefits along with higher yields, raised bed gardening is also an ideal gardening method for small yards and is handicapped accessible.

Many of Patti 's raised beds become test plot boxes for new varieties. Her property also supports several different fruit trees, one of which she has experimentally grafted. Patti has continued her explorations by planting cover crops in the winter used as green mulch. Succession planting and storage varieties of fruit and veggies provide an extended harvest.

Patti's raised bed gardens and a 20'x20' community garden plot produce an abundance of food. Not only does she raise food for her family, she generously gives food to neighbors, a local food bank and all visitors. “No one leaves my home without something from the garden.” Family and friends can hardly wait for Christmas time when they receive Patti's gift baskets of onions, garlic, sweet carrots, homemade jams, honey, and in a really good year a melon. “You know you are special if you make it onto the melon list”.

Gardening is obviously a life long passion for Patti Douglas, but giving is definitely a core value of this warm and generous Master Gardener.

Patti’s garden is one of the featured gardens on the Jefferson County Master Gardeners’ Home Grown Garden Tour July 31, from 10:00 am. to 3:00 p.m. For more information about the annual garden tour, call 303-271-6620 or check http://jeffcogardener.blogspot.com for a brochure and map of the tour.

More information about raised bed gardening can be found at http://www.ext.colostate.edu/ptlk/1812.html .

How To Make a Worm Farm With Your Kids by Jill Knussmann

2011-07-20T13:46:00.003-06:00

Jeffco Extension 4H Cloverbuds Show Off Wormerys!

In the dog days of summer, take a step into the cool shade to do a project with the kids. Fact: Kids love worms. Therefore, what could be better than making a worm farm? Benefits include knowledge gained about nature’s recycling process, nutrient rich worm castings to be used as a soil enhancer, and time shared with your kids. Let’s get started.

Gather the following items:
2 cup plastic container with lid
Black paper to cover container and tape
Knife for poking holes in plastic container (adults only on this task)
1 cup shredded paper (from a paper shredder ideally, but torn up is fine)
Spray bottle of water
1 or 2 tablespoons of worms (Purchase Red Wigglers from a bait store. For larger volumes they can be purchased on line. Red Wigglers can adapt and thrive in captivity, while earthworms will not adapt. Red Wigglers will not survive Colorado winters, but are fine for summer gardens if you choose to put them outside eventually. )
1 or 2 tablespoons of chopped vegetable waste. Weight of food scraps should be the same as the weight of the worms. Worms love melon rinds, fruits and veggies. They like coffee grounds, tea bags, crushed egg shells and banana peels. They don’t really like citrus, onion or garlic. Worms cannot eat fatty or salty foods or they’ll get sick. Also, please don’t feed them meat because it can smell bad and put germs in the wormhouse.

Put it together:
Have an adult punch holes in the container’s top, bottom and sides. 4 holes, ½ inch in diameter, on the top, bottom, and side of the container should provide adequate ventilation. (total of 12 holes) The worms will be attracted to the food and will not crawl out.
Tape black paper over the container to keep it dark. Worms are shy and like the dark, just like when they dig in the ground.
Place ½ cup shredded paper in bottom of container.

Spray with water until paper is moist, not soggy. This is the worm’s bed. They breathe through their skin and have to stay moist. Try to keep it fluffy instead of squished into a ball.
Add remaining ½ cup paper
Moisten remaining paper with water.
Dig a wide hole half of the way down in the paper for your worms’ bed.
Add equal wieght finely chopped food scraps on top of your worms for dinner.
Put the worms in their bed and cover them up with paper.
Leave them alone
Worms don’t really like to be handled, so wait a week and let them settle into their new home. Next week check on your worms.
Pull back the covers and see if your worms have eaten all of their food. If most of it is gone, give them the same amount of chopped up food. Cover them up again.
Repeat until worms have consumed most of their bedding as well as the food and created worm castings.
Separate worms from castings. Castings are the brown soil-like particles you will see with the worms. Use the castings on top of indoor or outdoor plants for a nutritious soil supplement.

Start the process over with your worms. When you have twice as many worms as when you started, you can use a larger container, or give half to a friend.

If you decide you would like to create a larger worm farm and enjoy a larger volume of castings, please go to http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/columngw/gr070505.html for instructions.

What's Blooming in My Garden by Caroline Reardon

2011-07-18T13:39:00.001-06:00

Too Much Water! by Carol King

2011-07-15T12:52:00.002-06:00

The afternoon rains that have persisted over the last couple of weeks are a mixed blessing for gardeners. While we revel in the much need moisture, too much water can cause as many maladies as not enough water.

Here are some problems to be on the look out for:

Vegetables:

Early Blight on tomato

Early blight in tomatoes is caused by the fungus Alternaria solani. Symptoms become prevalent during the hotter months. This disease produces brown to black, target-like spots on older leaves. If severe, the fungus also attacks stems and fruit. Affected leaves may turn yellow, then drop, leaving the fruit exposed to sunburn. Sanitation is the best control. Remove all diseased plant tissue on the ground. Avoid overhead irrigation. If the infestation is heavy, sulfur dust may help protect new leaves from infection. Follow label directions carefully, as sulfur can burn leaves when temperatures are high.

Septoria leaf spot

Septoria leaf spot is another fungal disease found in tomatoes. Characteristic symptoms are white or gray spots on leaves, surrounded by a black or brown margin. Control is similar to early blight.

Root rot fungus is directly related to overwatering. Management of root rot requires soil improvement, and proper watering. Avoid overwatering. Always allow the soil around plants to dry out a few inches below the surface before watering again. Improve moisture conditions around the crown of the plant by exposing it to drying conditions. Remove some of the mulch or pull it back from the base a few inches. However, do not expose roots.

Powdery mildews are characterized by spots or patches of white to grayish, talcum-powder-like growth found on leaves, flower buds and stems. Once the disease becomes a problem:

Powdery Mildew

Avoid late-summer applications of nitrogen fertilizer to limit the production of succulent tissue, which is more susceptible to infection.

Avoid overhead watering to help reduce the relative humidity in the canopy of the plant.
Remove and destroy all infected plant parts (leaves, etc.). For infected vegetables and other annuals, remove as much of the plant and its debris in the fall as possible. This decreases the ability of the fungus to survive the winter. Do not compost infected plant debris. Temperatures often are not hot enough to kill the fungus.
Selectively prune overcrowded plant material to help increase air circulation. This helps reduce relative humidity and infection.

If cultural controls fail to prevent disease buildup or if the disease pressure is too great, an application of a fungicide may be necessary. Follow the instructions on the fungicide label for use on specific plant species, varieties, rates to be used, timing of applications, and waiting periods before harvest.

Lawn and Flower Beds:

Sprinkler Systems should be adjusted. Do not continue to water on a scheduled basis until water is actually needed. Let Mother Nature be your sprinkler!

Powdery mildews can be found on shrubs, grass, and flowers and are characterized by spots or patches of white to grayish, talcum-powder-like growth. Control is the same as for vegetables.

Fairy Ring

Mushrooms. Heavy rains or prolonged rainy periods often encourage the growth of mushrooms (toadstools) in home lawns and other turf areas. Most often, the mushrooms will appear randomly across the lawn. Mushrooms may also emerge in more organized circular or part-circle patterns, "fairy ring". Mushrooms found growing in lawns should NEVER be eaten, unless you are well acquainted with the different species. Many mushrooms are poisonous to some degree and ONLY an expert can distinguish between edible and poisonous species. Since young children and pets may be tempted to eat mushrooms, remove the obvious fungal structures by raking, mowing, or hand-picking can avoid the possibility of poisoning or illness.

All Around the House:

Mosquito!

Mosquitoes. Encephalitis, dog heartworm, and West Nile Virus are the primary mosquito-borne diseases in Colorado. Beyond viral and parasitic diseases, other health problems caused by mosquitoes include allergy and infection. Mosquitoes can be a SERIOUS health issue.

Fight the Bite Colorado recommends the following:

Check for items that might hold water including wheelbarrows, tires, hubcaps, toys, garden equipment, pool covers, tarps, plastic sheeting, pipes, drains, boats, canoes, recycling bins and trash.
Remove standing water in ponds, ditches, clogged rain gutters, flower pots, plant saucers, puddles, buckets, jars and cans. Completely change water in birdbaths and wading pools weekly. Drill drainage holes in tire swings.
Stock ornamental ponds and fountains with fish that eat mosquito larvae.
Avoid mosquitoes by staying indoors at dawn and dusk when they are most active.
Wear long-sleeved shirts and long pants while outdoors.
Apply insect repellent that contains DEET. Follow directions carefully.
Install or repair window and door screens to keep mosquitoes out.

A complete check list can be found at their website. (www.fightthebitecolorado.com/)
For help with these or other garden problems, call the Garden Hotline at Jefferson County CSU Extension at 303-271-6620.

Drip Watering Pots and Plant Containers by Gardener Dave

2011-07-13T12:41:00.001-06:00

Some years ago I swore off clay pots in my landscaping layout. My reason for this is: In our dry climate, small clay pots dry out “before you can put the hose away” – especially the unglazed ones. Glazed pots fare a little better, but beware of the darker colors as they absorb radiant heat and can cook plant roots if they are in full sun all day.

I still like the look of unglazed clay pots, especially in groups with the largest in the center, or large-to-small arrangement. The “Italian style” pots with the thicker rounded rims are my favorites. Hmmmm… now I’m talking about “my favorite unglazed pots”! What convinced me to use them again after I had sworn off?

Drip watering on an automatic timer made the difference for me. I still avoid small ceramic pots due to their quick dryout – my smallest is about 11” in diameter and they go up from there. I always use potting soil and always plant the pots with bright-colored annuals. I fill the bottom 2/3 of the pots with Perlite to avoid using large quantities of potting soil every year. This provides a “moisture sink” that roots can get down into. You can buy Perlite (or equivalent) in large sacks. It isn’t as cheap as empty pop cans or other such fillers, but I do keep it from year-to-year – currently my Perlite base has been in the pots for about 5 years. I fill the top 1/3 with good potting soil that includes some fertilizer.

Water distribution to each of my drip circuits from the full-pressure timed lines is through a 15 or 20 psi pressure regulator and 1/2” plastic tubing. Small 1/4” tubing goes from the 1/2” distribution tube to the drip hose in each pot, using 1/4” barbed connectors. See pictures below for straight and tee types.

I prefer to use 1/4” “leaky hose” for watering inside the pots themselves. I have tried spot emitters in the past, but prefer the more distributed drip effect of the small hoses. I use a proportional amount of the leaky hose, depending on the size of the pot. For the smaller pots I run one turn of the drip hose just inside the rim of the pot, then one across the diameter of the pot between plants. I use wire “staples” – made for holding down weed barrier cloth – to hold the tubing in place. In larger pots, I may use two turns of the tubing inside the rim of the pot, with an “X” of tubing across the pot diameter. Also, be aware that some brands of the little leaky hoses are more “leaky” than others. You just have to try them to know the differences.

Mulch (if used) should be applied to the soil over the tubing. Less water will be lost to evaporation if the hoses are under the mulch. I use my little leaky hoses for several years before replacing them. I am on Lakewood (Denver) water, but it will depend on the mineral content of your water – more minerals will mean replacement at more frequent intervals, as minerals tend to eventually plug them up. One good thing about using the small leaky hose is that they can be easily cut shorter or spliced if you find that you are watering too much or too little. Fine tuning is part of the process (it’s a hobby, right?) Of course, the frequency and duration of watering as set by the timer(s) are basic to the whole drip watering approach. Experiment with these as necessary. My pot circuits are set to run for 5 minutes every other day. This seems to be adequate even in hotter weather. Use whatever works for you. Try to group plants with similar water needs on each circuit if you can.

If you successfully fine-tune your drip watered pots, you can go on vacation with confidence, knowing that your pots and containers will be correctly watered. I generally have my system up and totally fine-tuned by the time September is here. JUST KIDDING! ;o)

Cheers,
Gardener Dave

“Distract-itis” by Gardener Dave

2011-07-11T12:37:00.000-06:00

“Distract-itis”

When doing our day-to-day gardening chores,
other needs often “jump up and bite us”
They keep us from making our normal rounds
and give us “distract-itis”

How many times on your morning “rounds”
to check beds for weeds and for water,
have you seen the signs of other needs
that you “must do”, or certainly “oughter”?

Most of these days I don’t even get
to those chores I first wanted to do,
for this bed chokes out a “Weed me first!”,
and that one nags “Aphids to shoo!”

This can go on, all through the whole day
and when the evening dark gathers,
I think of my list, and find that I’ve done
the “musts” and forgotten the “rathers”

Now I know this is a common “disease”
which plagues us, and makes us cuss
Most others agree - whatever their tasks -
big distractions are ever around us

So we must all sigh and just carry on,
and tend to those things that fight us
We all are victims of this “blight”
that I choose to call “distract-itis”

Cheers,
Gardener Dave

Aphids Abound by Carol King

2011-07-07T10:28:00.003-06:00

Aphids

Aphid Honeydew on Ivy

Sitting in my backyard has become an unpleasant experience. I have lots of deciduous trees and they all seem to have a large crop of aphids. One evening as I looked toward the sun, I could see the aphid “honeydew” (poop actually) pouring down like a gentle rain! When I come in from outside, I feel as if I am covered with aphids! Is there a variety that feeds on humans?

We are also on an irrigation ditch which is host to dozens of lovely cottonwoods. I like the cottonwood, but it is certainly the messiest tree ever. This time of year, the cotton is flying and sticking to the aphid honeydew that covers everything. Only a power washer can clean off the deck!

It seemed to me that the aphids are more numerous than previous years so I consulted Dr. Whitney Cranshaw, Entomology Professor and Extension Specialist at CSU, and he verified my suspicions. Here’s what he had to say.

“The northern Front Range is seeing a surge of aphids, and has for a couple of weeks.

This is due to the cool spring, followed (most importantly) by the repeatedly rainfall events. The former (cool temperatures) have the effective of retarding the activity of aphid natural enemies. The latter (moisture) promotes the flush of new growth that is favored by many aphids. And all manner of plants have had some aphid problems, each (pretty much) having their own species of aphid associate. (There are over 350 species of aphids in CO.)

Lady Bug Larvae

Things are turning the corner now I suspect with the warm weather. We are seeing natural enemies ramping up in a big way and the warm weather promotes their activity. Mostly lady beetles (larvae are everywhere). Larvae of syphid flies and green lacewings are also important in the ultimate control of the aphids - as can be earwigs Also there is usually a smattering of parasitic wasps (visible by the aphid mummies they produce). I would guess that aphids will pretty much be history within two weeks.

That all this is going on so late is due to the cool spring. I think the insects are at least 2 weeks, perhaps more, behind schedule this year.”

Sure enough, last evening while my family sat on the deck, we saw numerous lady bug and lacewing larvae crawling on chair covers, (and us!) While it is tempting to spray something, I will follow Dr. Cranshaw’s advice and let Mother Nature take her course. It is, however, disconcerting coming in from a day of gardening knowing that not only am I showering off a day’s worth of sweat and garden dirt, but also, the cycle of life from one insect’s perspective: aphids, aphid poop, and aphid predators!

Here’s a complete fact sheet on aphids.

Espalier: The Art of Plant Training by Elaine Lockey

2011-07-05T10:27:00.000-06:00

Espalier at Denver Botanic Gardens

Espalier, pronounced esp-al-ee-er or esp-al-ee-ay, is the practice of training and pruning a plant to grow on a flat plane against a wall, fence or building. This can create a beautiful focal point in a garden, can save space in small areas, and help fill in space if you have a large wall or fence that you want to hide.

Espalier can be informal or formal and there are several common forms practiced. Certain plants respond best to certain types of espalier as well. Informal espalier can be as simple as a vine climbing up a wall to a pyracantha hedge that is pruned in a flat plane but is allowed to branch where it wants vertically and horizontally. Formal designs can be like the French palmette verrier in which a plant, commonly a pear tree, is attached to a frame that helps to shape it into the desired structure. This particular one looks like a box shape or candelabra. This enables the pear tree to grow wide but the height is limited.

Simple backdrops work best to highlight the trained plant. When thinking about site selection look for walls or fences that would be enhanced by the espaliered plant. Normal growing conditions should be provided such as proper soil, water and light. Often a south or east-facing wall is a great place to put a plant but keep in mind that walls also add extra heat and that can be a problem in winter for plants that are susceptible to winter injury.

Espaliered fruit trees can produce heavy fruit loads and can be positioned in areas such as against a south-facing wall where they receive more sunlight and warmth. Fruit trees and most other plants need to be attached to a trellis or the fence or wall in some manner to lend the branches support. With informal design a frame may not be needed, but supports might be. Plants should be spaced at least 6” from walls to allow for air circulation and to reduce potential pest issues.

photo courtesy of colonialsense.com

You can buy plants that have already been started with a trellis so that all you have to do is transplant them. Untrained plants can be started fairly easily as well with a little more time upfront to get them ready. Prune new plants sparingly until they are established. Plant limbs are most flexible in the summer so this is the best time to train new twigs to your supports. Espaliered plants must be pruned and trained annually. There are numerous resources available to aid in teaching this art form so I won't go into the actual pruning and training practices here.

Plant choices should be based on the type of espalier design you want to achieve and also in selecting plants with interesting foliage, fruits or flowers. Some common plants used are pyracantha, Japanese maple, redbud, forsythia, crabapples, viburnum and yews. Many of the various dwarf or semi-dwarf fruit trees can be trained for a beautiful and edible espalier.

Once you have an idea of where you’d like to put your plant and if you want a fruit tree or not, you can begin making your selection at the nursery of the species. Then the hard work begins -but you will have a true conversation piece and work of art that you’ll be proud to show off!

Happy Fourth of July ! Natures' Fireworks

2011-07-03T11:06:00.000-06:00


Photo by GayleL Art

Fireworks are commonly seen in the United States on the Fourth of July as a celebration of independence.

"And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there."
- The Star Spangled Banner, the national anthem of the US

So here are 10 sparkling shots of starburst fireworks in nature.

Thanks to the online magazine "Environmental Graffiti".

Happy Fourth to all you gardeners!

Saving Soil When Planting Large Planters by Caroline Reardon

2011-06-30T10:34:00.002-06:00

Magnificent plant pots abound, from the local discount store to upscale greenhouses. Terra cotta, glazed, even plastic that looks like pottery—or not, in hot lime green, tangerine, aquamarine. These large containers make a strong statement massed on the porch by your front door or along the patio by the lawn chairs. And then comes the fun of choosing an artistic combo of leaf shapes, colors, uprights and vines.

And soil. Reality hits when you realize how much potting soil you will need to nurture this fine display! Perhaps as much as two feet of soil at the bottom of a tall pot that the roots will never touch.

Recycling to the rescue. Collect some empty aluminum pop cans from your recycling bin and arrange them in the bottom of the pot, deep enough to leave 8"-12" above for the soil.

Cover the cans with a couple layers of landscape cloth. This will keep the potting soil from filtering down into the spaces between the cans and still allow for good drainage. I wanted a trellis for the Black Eyed Susan vine I would be planting so cut a couple of holes in the cloth and pushed in the sticks. Soil will hold them in place.

Fill the remaining space with your favorite potting soil and then plant, usually starting from the center with the tallest selections and working toward the edges. Crowded plantings make the most spectacular displays, as long as you remember to fertilize throughout the summer. And now you have more soil for your next display.

What's Blooming in Your Garden? by Carol King

2011-06-27T15:51:00.001-06:00

Here's what's blooming in my garden! What's blooming in yours? Email me your pictures at jeffcogardener@gmail.com and I'll post them also.

Black Eyed Susan

Clematis

Coreopsis

Delphinium

Heuchera

Lilies

Tomato Problems? Try Flea Beetles! by Stan Ames

2011-06-25T10:16:00.000-06:00

Do some of the leaves on your tomato plants have holes in the lower outside leaves and the leaves are turning yellow?
What should you do?
Any other symptoms?
Large green worms been seen on the plant? No?
How about little tiny white or gray little bugs (Aphids)? No again!
Blackish spots on leaves and the edge turning yellow? No!
Just lots of little tiny holes in the leaves and they leaves are turning yellow? Right!

All of the symptoms mentioned lead to the diagnosis of Flea beetles! These pests chew little holes in the leaves! Inspect the underside of the affected leaves and look for very shiny little brown or black beetles about the size of a straight pin head. However they may have their feast and moved on to the next plant before you noticed the damage.

Other common causes of tomato problems in Colorado are:

Phosphorus deficiency
Curly Top virus – leaves and stems become stiff
Psyllids – stems may become distorted
Flea Beetles – adults chew small holes in the leaves
Tomato hornworms – voracious feeders, they strip leaves from the stems.
Early blight – produces brown or black spots on older leaves
Septoria leaf spot – white or gray spots on leaves
Whiteflies and aphids Cucumber mosaic virus – leaves appear shiny and are sticky
Fusarium wilt and Fusarium crown rot – leaves turn brown and wilt.

Here's a complete article on recognizing tomato problems .

Belmar Farmers' Market by Grace Olson

2011-06-21T15:16:00.006-06:00

The Farmers’ Market season crept into Jefferson County like a late spring, and is now suddenly in full bloom. From Evergreen to Lakewood, the weekends are alive with smells of exotic cooking stations, shouts of face-painted children skipping through the streets, and the enthusiasm of those seeking a local connection to their land, food and community. In between the booths selling seedlings, scarves, fresh produce and stuffed chili peppers, Colorado Master Gardeners (CMG) add their voices to the festival-like atmosphere.

Colorado Master Gardener Apprentice Susan Bloomquist holds a presentation on container gardening at the Belmar Farmers' Market

I recently volunteered at the Belmar Farmers’ Market. It takes place along a fifth-avenue-style boulevard, touted as offering the “finest shopping in America” by the market’s website. The clientele: Chic urbanites dwelling in sky-rise apartment complexes that offer postage-stamp-sized balconies inhabited by a Topsy-Turvey or two. Couples in their 20s and 30s stroll by hand-in-hand, seeking ideas for a gourmet supper party. Families stop by, their bags full of tomato plants or lettuce heads, and shake their heads when asked if they ever grow their own.

Enter: the Colorado Master Gardeners, spreading the gospel of good tilled earth and the benefits of dirt under your fingernails. Didn’t get a plot in the local community garden? You can put a pot of tomatoes on your patio. Love to cook with expensive spices? Fill your window box with basil, oregano and thyme. The day’s theme was “Container Gardening in Almost Anything,” and the good people of Lakewood seemed taken with the idea of flowers springing out of watering cans, decorative baskets and even an old pair of running shoes.

Farmers’ markets are becoming more and more popular across America. They add a sense of community, build up local businesses and help increase awareness about the source of our food. Colorado Master Gardeners play a huge role in the movement, helping children, families, retirees and busy executives realize that fresh, local produce can come right out of their backyards. We answer the hows and the whys. We field questions on pests, soil, watering and compost. Above all, we help the average market-goer feel confident enough to go home and face their own gardens with enough enthusiasm and knowledge to reap the benefits.

And even if you are used to shopping Saks, that kind of interactive experience sure beats a day in the mall!

Why Aren't My Iris Blooming by Stan Ames

2011-06-18T14:07:00.000-06:00

While manning the Master Gardener booth at the Golden Farmer’s Market last Saturday a woman asked me why her Iris do not all bloom.

I thought for a while and suggested they might be overcrowded or stressed from last year’s dividing activities. She said she had not divided any of her Iris, ever, and asked when to do that. I said not until after the blooming was complete and not to cut back leaves until the divisions were made. She seemed satisfied with the answers and went on to get a nice big juicy breakfast burrito from the booth next to ours. Imagine smelling that wonderful aroma all morning and not having enough time to buy one for yourself, much less eating one. AND they were all gone when we broke down the booth!

Well, I have been thinking of that question now for a couple of days and decided to look up Iris on the http://www.ext.colostate.edu/ website. Remarkably and somewhat surprisingly I was mostly correct!

According to “Plantalk Colorado” 1018-Perennials: How to divide
“Plants that begin to produce more foliage at the expense of flowers may be overgrown. To determine if plants are overgrown, count the number of stems that emerge from the base. If five or more strong stems are present the plant may need to be divided.” (I found one clump with ten in my collection)
“When dividing plants, pick a cool spell in the spring or fall, and gently dig up a clump with as many roots as possible. Expose the central rhizome or stem by shaking or washing away the soil. Then, with a sharp knife, cleanly slice the plant into several new pieces. Leave a minimum or two to three growing points, or it may take many years for the plants to recover. Place in newly prepared soil and keep them moist until they re-establish. Share surplus divisions with friends.” (Most likely when I do this in August I will be looking for parked cars with the windows rolled down!)

“It’s a good idea to start with a single clump of one kind of plant until you master division, rather than risking an entire planting.” (It is wise to have a first aid kit handy, sometimes sharp knives slip!)

According to “Plantalk Colorado” 1041-Iris
“Iris should be divided every three to four years. Divide the rhizomes, which are underground stems, after the plant have finished flowering, but no later than August.” (I was close!) “Discard any segments that are mushy or riddled with holes. Separate the healthy rhizomes into segments with one fan of leaves and several feeding roots. Cut the leaves back to six inches. When setting the new plant spread the roots out in the soil and position the top third of the rhizome above the soil surface. Arrange the foliage to face outward away from the center of a group.

Other helpful information can be obtained from Colorado State University Extension fact sheets:
Perennial gardening
Flowers for Mountain Communities
Herbaceous Perennials

Cactus Garden Tour by Kim Bone

2011-06-15T15:06:00.001-06:00

Every year in early June the cactus arboretum at Timberline Gardens explodes into blossom. The dozens of cacti species put all their energy into this grand display. Learn the history of the collection and how the garden was built. Come see the grandeur on Saturday, June 18 @ 12:00 noon, for the Desert Bloom Tour.

Kim the Gardener

Straw Bales Garden by Duane Davidson

2011-06-13T14:00:00.003-06:00

(Click on Image for Slide Show of Process)

The idea came from an article in a gardening magazine. I was already changing the way I gardened in the back yard, adding raised beds and converting lawn sprinkler heads into drip irrigation distributors. Why not give a corner over to a small straw bale garden and see what I might grow there? My approach to gardening has always been about trying something new and learning from my experiments. The uncertainties of gardening make it fun for me. Introducing new elements only heightens the challenge.

The author of the magazine article had some specific reasons for creating her straw bale garden – aside from the vegetables she expected to harvest. She utilized a spot in her yard where the soil was so poor she had never grown anything but weeds in it. By the following year it was covered in a thick layer of rich compost "replete with fat and happy worms." She figured she could revitalize another plot with a straw bale garden each year, progressively improving her whole yard.

The instructions were simple. Lay four bales of straw, flat sides to the ground, one end of each bale abutting the side of another, forming a square on the perimeter and another square cavity in the center. I put a layer of rabbit wire on the ground under the bales, to deter any critters from burrowing into the straw from below.

Then I was instructed to sprinkle a granular organic fertilizer on the top surface of the bales, followed by a 2-3 inch layer of compost. The hole in the center was filled with a mixture of compost and top soil (which I had brought in for the new raised beds nearby). The straw bales were to be watered every day for 10 days with a liquid organic fertilizer. I used liquid kelp. This was to "cook" the straw, causing it to start to break down to better accommodate plant roots.

After 10 days the bales were planted. I put in three tomato plants, two indeterminate varieties on the rear corners of the square, and an early season determinate on one front corner. On the other front corner, I planted an artichoke I had picked up on impulse at the garden center. (One year I experimented with artichokes in a conventional garden; I found they needed a longer growing season than I had allowed for.) The magazine article writer had grown a huge summer squash bush. I decided to seed a couple of winter squash varieties that would produce vines to trail down from the straw bales into the yard. A couple of eggplants I had grown from seed completed the "garden."

The center cavity seemed to invite root vegetables to grow in its deep, rich, loose filling. I opted for parsnips, which have no chance of penetrating the heavy clay of my conventional garden. Because parsnips are slow to germinate, the seed packet always recommends mixing in some radish seeds with them to mark the rows. The radishes germinate quickly and can be harvested by the time the parsnips are getting started. I mixed in seeds of several varieties. I also had on hand some seed for daikon, the long white radish loved and grown in Asia. I figured I had the perfect spot for them and seeded a couple rows.

Then I laid a length of soaker hose over the straw bales, looped it a couple times across the center, and began a schedule of almost daily watering. I continued applications of the liquid kelp several times through the summer.

The results: I harvested fruit from all of the plants except the artichoke, which grew only a few leaves. The tomato plants were not as large as the same varieties growing in the ground, nor did they produce as much fruit. The same was true of the eggplants and squash. I ate the small radishes in my salads, but the parsnips weren't planted early enough to grow beyond the size of a small carrot. The daikons flourished. They grew to the full depth of that center cavity, and when they reached the rabbit wire on the bottom, they began growing upwards, protruding from the surface of the soil.

Some findings:

- In 10 days of fertilizer treatments the straw didn't break down much. The "composting" process probably works better where the climate is not so dry as ours. (The magazine article writer lived in the coastal area of northern California.) When I planted, the holes I made in the straw didn't seem all that inviting for plant roots. There was moisture from the irrigation, of course, and I worked some of the compost from the surface into the straw. Next time I might add some soil, as well.

- For the same reason, even a year later, the straw is not composted. The bales have "melted" a little, but still retain their shape. I expect to replant them again this year. (Because the weather has been so cool, most of this year's planting is still on hold.)

- Typical weeds were not a problem. Those that came with the compost were easily pulled. But the straw produced its own weeds. This was wheat straw and it contained enough wheat seed to keep me pulling wheat grass most of the season.

Straw bale gardening is not a new idea. Seeing mine, an elderly neighbor told me he had tried it once – without success; I didn't question him on his process. On the Internet I found numerous references, some describing variations from the process I followed. Most of the reasons for straw bale gardening are similar to those of my magazine article writer, but there was one I hadn't thought of: it is more accessible to physically-limited gardeners.

I found two other variations I might consider if I repeat my experiment. Some of the writers believe the straw bales should be oriented differently from the way my article writer and I did it. They say the bales should be placed with the strings on the side – rather than on the top and bottom – for better water penetration and to keep the string from touching the ground and decaying. Others say that if the string is plastic or other synthetic, it can be on the bottom and that water penetration isn't much of an issue.

Secondly, some recommend chemical fertilizers high in nitrogen – ammonium nitrate or ammonium sulfate, specifically – to condition the straw for 10 - 12 days prior to planting. Over the course of that period several writers recommend adding more than two cups of the nitrogen fertilizer per bale and conclude with another cup of balanced 10-10-10 chemical fertilizer. I feel sure this would have a significant effect on the composting process, even in our dry climate. Some gardeners, of course, would prefer to stick with organic materials.

The Seed Cathedral by Elaine Lockey

2011-06-10T20:08:00.001-06:00

photo by Heatherwick Studio

In case you missed it, art and horticulture combined for an amazing exhibit last year. Called the Seed Cathedral, the sculpture was composed of 60,000 fiber optic rods with seeds implanted on the tip of each one. The Seed Cathedral’s goal was to raise awareness of the global race to save seeds and the growing number of seed banks that safely preserve these seeds. Created for the 2010 World Expo held in Shanghai, it was designed by English designer Thomas Heatherwick.

The structure was lit from within at dark and during the day the rods captured and funneled the sunlight highlighting the seeds within. The structure also gently swayed in the breeze giving it life. It was nicknamed pu gong ying or “The Dandelion” by Chinese visitors. How many seeds were in it? More than 217,000! Visitors could go inside it for a completely immersive experience.

photo by Daniele Mattioli

At 66 feet tall it took over four months to build at a rate of 536 rods a day. Seeds came from China’s Kumming Institute of Botany, a partner in Kew Royal Botanic Gardens’ Millennium Seed Bank Project. The Millennium Seed Bank Project’s goal is to collect 25% of the world’s plants seeds by 2020. A recent update on their website states, "Working with our network of partners across 50 countries, we have successfully banked 10% of the world's wild plant species."

While it is now dismantled, fortunately the sculpture is still being put to a good use. The preserved seeds in their capsules were donated to many schools and research institutes in China and England.

A beautiful video of the Seed Cathedral can be viewed at http://www.heatherwick.com/uk-pavilion/

Corn,Beans, and Squash in the White House garden

2011-06-09T14:55:00.000-06:00

Evan Vucci

I am always interested to see what the latest "goings on" in the White House garden are. Last week, Michelle Obama invited a group of Native American children to her plot on Friday to help plant what are called the “three sisters” — corn, beans and squash. They also harvested vegetables that were planted two months ago, and some of that will be used on Tuesday.

Here's the story.

Annual Miller Moth Migration from the Denver Post

2011-06-07T14:41:00.003-06:00

The annual migration of miller moths from the Eastern Plains to the mountains is in full swing, confounding house cats and annoying humans trying to enjoy warm evenings outdoors.

Photo courtesy CSU

But this, too, shall pass — very quickly this time around. Entomologists say cold weather, with little snow cover to insulate soil on the plains, killed larvae and cut the population of the fluttering pests compared with years past.
"It's not going to be a year for the ages or anything," said Whitney Cranshaw, a professor and extension specialist in entomology at Colorado State University. "That's not to say there won't be problems, but it's not going to be an epic year."

Read more: Pesky Miller moths back — but not as many as in years past - The Denver Post http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_18195880#ixzz1OLHwMtJS
Read The Denver Post's Terms of Use of its content: http://www.denverpost.com/termsofuse

Here's also a CSU Fact Sheet about the moths!


Millers on a Garden Hose: CSU

My Poor Beloved Currant Bush by Nancy Szilagyi

2011-06-04T14:17:00.000-06:00

I love my Black Currant bush (Ribes odoratum ‘Crandall’)! I have had it for eight years, and I have reaped several abundant harvests. I have sat under it on a hot day and picked off currants until my hands were purple. I have made currant scones and given them away to many friends and fellow gardeners. I have made three batches of Currant Liqueur (Crème de Cassis) which have all been wonderful, even heavenly! These have also made popular, sought-after Christmas gifts, although it is hard to share very much.

In spring I wait for it to leaf out. I wait for it to bloom with its lovely, yellow, clove-scented blossoms. I watch the blossoms wither, and wait for the berries to form. I have seen branches so heavy with clusters of the shiny black fruit that they are bent almost to the ground.

It has yielded an average of 8 pounds of fruit each year after the first two summers. I’ve been so pleased with the harvest, that I have recommended it to many people.

This year I watched it leaf out and I watched it bloom. But, alas! Soon, I watched some of the branches’ foliage pale in color (chlorosis) and crinkle inward (leaf curl). What could be happening! In the rush of spring garden clean up and planting, and the frequently rainy weather this year, it was a few days before I got out there to inspect it. I took out my magnifying glass, and, sure enough, currant aphids (Crytomyzus ribis)! NOOO!

The next day that it wasn’t raining, I broke out the insecticidal soap. I tenderly held each branch so that I could spray each cluster of leaves from all sides and directly into the cluster. My hands were covered with soap. So was the spray bottle. They were so slippery that I had to go in and rinse both several times before I was done. My hands were so tired I had to keep switching from left to right. It felt like an acute case of tendonitis! But, I was not going to let those aphids have my currant bush!

A couple of days have passed, and fortunately we did not have rain during that time to wash off the soap right away. I have once again inspected the clusters of leaves. I do not see any aphids that are moving. I will not be lulled into a false sense of security, however. The bush will have to undergo diligent and frequent inspections for a while, and probably more applications of insecticidal soap.
I have high hopes of my beloved bush yielding its usual glorious harvest this fall. I can already taste the scones. Maybe even with a small glass of liqueur!


Cheers!

British Parakeet Explosion: a Gardener's Concern? by Carol King

2011-05-24T14:55:00.007-06:00

I was reading an article about the rose-ringed parakeet which is taking over parts of Britian. The parakeets escaped or were intentionally released from cages and have survived and begun to thrive. "So what does this have to do with a gardening blog?", you might ask. I saw this one statement speculating about why they are procreating at such a phenominal rate:
"Is it that gardeners are planting more exotic ornamental plants, effectively providing imported food to match an imported bird species?"
So speculate on that, dear gardener. Another argument for native species!
Heres the whole article.

Herbacious Perennial Trials by Carol King

2011-05-21T19:03:00.002-06:00

Joe Pye Weed Photo Courtesy of Iowa State University

Colorado State University maintains perennial trial gardens at the W. D. Holley Plant Environmental Research Center (PERC) in Fort Collins, Colorado. The main objective of these gardens is to determine which herbacious perennials are best suited for growing in the Rocky Mountain area.

Check here for the list.

Superior Herbacious Perennials for the High Plains

Spring Lawn Care by Carol King

2011-05-19T18:43:00.001-06:00

Tony Koski, Ph.D. Extension Turf Specialist and Professor – Colorado State University, gives us this advice on lawn care:

Proper watering can promote a deeply rooted, healthier turf.

Let grass species and health, soil conditions, and weather conditions dictate irrigation practices, not the number of days between waterings.
Mow bluegrass, ryegrass, fescue and wheatgrass to a height of 2 to 3 inches. Buffalo-grass and blue grama lawns can be mowed to this height, but also do well unmowed.
Core cultivation is essential for all lawn areas, especially those that are thatchy or subject to high traffic.

Here's the whole fact sheet!

Jiminy Cricket! by Elaine Lockey

2011-05-13T10:09:00.001-06:00

If you are one of the many of us who are torn between the childhood image of the adorable Walt Disney character of Jiminy Cricket and the not so handsome black bug sitting next to your toilet, you are not alone. I’ve suffered from trying to reconcile these two images for years now. I just can’t bring myself to harm crickets, I don’t care where they might be in my house.

Field crickets that are commonly found in homes don’t really want to be hanging out in our bathroom. But, they got lost somewhere along the way and would love to be escorted outside as they might have come in through a small crack due to bad weather or in search of food and can’t get back out. There are two main kinds commonly found to our dismay in our house that are both black and very similar but with different life cycles. Both are the genus Gryllus spp. and both sing.

You can impress your family with your identification skills, “Wow look at that Gryllus pennsylvanicus in the bathtub!” Whitney Cranshaw, CSU Extension Entomologist, differentiates these two by the time of year they predominate – G. veletis in spring and over-wintering as an adult and G. pennsylvanicus is our late summer species. Both species are approximately 22mm (.87 inch), males being black with dark brown or black appendages, females have more reddish legs.

Jiminy Cricket had his singing technique all wrong. He rubbed his legs together but in actuality crickets make the familiar noise by rubbing together veins on their wings that are specific for this purpose. Only male crickets can do this, females are mute. The cricket songs are used to attract sexually responsive mates. Female crickets are only responsive to songs of their own species.

Lefties are not common in the cricket world. 95% of crickets are “right winged” with the file used to produce sound on their right wing. The file is an enlarged vein with many tiny raised points. The other wing runs a scraper over the file which produces sound. The female hears the appealing call with her ears on her front legs - seems perfectly normal to me.

wing of male cricket

Jim Mason of the Great Plains Nature Center in Wichita, Kansas helps us distinguish what the different calls mean, “Crickets make several different chirps. The loud monotonous one we hear outside in the evening serves to attract a female. Another is made when a male knows a female is near and is softer and quicker. Yet another is made when two males encounter each other. There is even a ‘Look out!’ chirp that warns all the others to be quiet because danger is nearby. The careful listener can pick out these individual dramas by listening for the different songs.”

Crickets are omnivores eating decaying plant matter, fungi, small seedlings, other insects both dead and alive. They are generally considered beneficial in that they help break down organic matter contributing to decomposition similar to creatures like earthworms. They are also an important food source for other animals. They like to live under logs or damp places.

On nights when I have insomnia I always thought it would be comforting to have a cricket around singing his song. Since I don’t really want Jiminy Cricket hanging out with me, I found the next best thing, a phone app (there’s one for everything) that you can purchase to hear the cheerful song of crickets from all over the world. The app’s description is a bit concerning however: “It’s also pretty useful in awkward situations or awkward silences.” I suppose that Jiminy Cricket would be proud to know that he’s a comfort to those in difficult social situations.

Cartoon image of Jiminy Cricket courtesy of comicvine.com

Photo of cricket courtesy of tenerifeisland.org

Photo of cricket wing courtesy of somethingscrawlinginmyhair.com

Planting a Butterfly Garden by Stan Ames

2011-05-10T16:53:00.001-06:00

A Vanessa atalanta a.k.a. “Red Admiral”on a Purple Coneflower

Planning a butterfly garden this season? These techniques will help you plant a successful garden.

Before you invest you time and money in constructing a butterfly garden it is important to know what butterflies are common to your area. Identification of your guest is very important, as each butterfly has preferences for their “Caterpillar Host Plants” and their favorite flowers for a nectar source.

Attracting butterflies then becomes relatively easy. In addition to a place for their eggs and a good source of nectar, butterflies like flowers for some of the same reasons that we do, bright colors with sweet fragrance.

The websites, below have useful photographs to help you identify your visitors and charts that will show you which plants are “irresistible” to which butterfly.
http://coloradofrontrangebutterflies.com/frontrange-checklist - has listings of over 100 varieties with links to photographs and details about most.
http://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/gallery - pictures for identification.
http://butterflywebsite.com/butterflygardening.cfm - chart of plants that attract, by specific butterfly.

In addition to the right choice of flowers you should incorporate a small source of water (a decorative dish) and perhaps a stepping stone or two for warmth.

Your site does not have to be very large, maybe only six to eight feet in diameter but it needs to be protected from wind and receive between four to six hours of sunlight a day.

Could that be a Monarch calling?
Too many look-a-likes to be sure.

In my garden, I used : Blanket flower), Butterfly bush) Tickseed (Coreopsis) – “Early Sunrise”, Purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea), Sedum spectabile, Zinnias (Zinnia laageana), Petunias and Snowdrift alyssum (Lobularia maritima, but also have Honeysuckle close by. This year I may add Cosmos and Joe Pye Weed.

Finding a “Butterfly House” ready for use is a challenge, but they are relatively easy to construct.
Use a good quality 3/8” plywood and protect the house with paint or varnish.

Construction is simple and the dimensions are not critical beyond having the height about four times the width. Just use a good quality 3/8” plywood and protect the house with paint or varnish. There is no need to teach your visitors they need to fold up their wings to get in the house. They will know it is just for decoration.

The size and shape of the garden does not need to be large, mine is only five by six feet with a butterfly house in the middle to add a little decoration. The flowers in my garden are indicated below and work relatively well, just keep the flowers bright and base the selection on the specific butterflies you have identified in your area. Again, make sure the garden is protected from the wind!

Caution on Compost . . . Can It Be Too Much of a Good Thing? by Patti O'Neal

2011-05-05T16:16:00.000-06:00

Amend, amend, and amend. It is the mantra we all chant when managing our Colorado soils. We here at CSU are constantly recommending that you add organic materials to your soils to improve water and nutrient holding capacity if you garden in sandy, gravelly or decomposed granite soils and to improve soil structure, drainage and filtration of water and nutrients in clay soils. Improving the soil is still important for good plant growth and production of fruit and flowers.

But can you have too much of a good thing? Much is being made, and justifiably so, of phosphates these days and their adverse effect on our groundwater supplies. As a result many states are adopting laws to prevent the addition of phosphates to many products for household and outdoor use.
It is very likely that one day we will see the content of our fertilizers change as a result of these laws, and hopefully the labeling of our compost products so we know what we are getting.

Photo University of Minnesota

First of all, let’s clarify what landscape soils on the Front Range do, for the most part, contain. Though varied in textures, our soils have a good mineral and plant available nutrient content. Plant available nitrogen and iron are the only properties that we lack sufficient quantities of. With that said, let’s look at the results of a recent study performed at CSU through the Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture and the Soil, Water and Plant Testing Laboratory. The study used randomly selected bagged compost products which were analyzed for plant based nutrients. Here are some of the significant results of the study and recommendations for how we should use them.

NOTE: The results of this study do not reflect either an endorsement or a condemnation of any particular product.

*Chemical properties of a given product may vary from bag to bag, both within a season and from year to year. The analysis represents just a “snap shot” in time, and do not represent a definitive assessment of any particular product.
*Composted manure products tend to be very salty, and often contain high concentrations of plant available nutrients.
*Nearly all the products analyzed, both plant and animal based contained 2-15 times more plant-available phosphorous and 3 to 110 times more plant available potassium, than are needed for good plant growth.
*Plant available nitrogen contents were highly variable in the products analyzed. Some contained nitrogen in nearly entirely organic form and contained little if any plant available nitrogen while others contained very high to excessive plant available nitrogen in ammonium and nitrate forms.

The moral of the story is that you may be doing something you believe to be wonderful for your soil, when in fact, you are not. You may believe you are gardening completely organically, when in fact, you are not.

Oh great, you say? So now what am I supposed to do? The good news is that there are several things you can do.

*First, be conservative in the amount of organic amendment you apply.
No more than 2-3” of plant based compost mixed into the top 6-8” of soil or 1” of manure based compost worked into 8” of soil (especially if the salinity of the product is not known).
*Leach an organic product before use to help lower salinity.
*Use mulch as directed to conserve organic matter by lessening irrigation needed. The more you conserve, the less you need to add in subsequent years.
*Try using green manure instead (cover crops like buckwheat, winter rye or vetch) to improve the organic matter in areas where it is practical to do so like the vegetable garden.
*Make sure that there is a certified organic seal on any organic product that you purchase to insure that the contents are genuinely organic.

Probably the single best thing you can do is to make your own homemade plant based compost. This way you are assured of what goes in and what will come out. Amendments are a good thing if used with discretion. Until the labels are legally mandated, use caution and good sense for best results.

Use Caution When Pulling Myrtle Spurge By Joyce D’Agostino

2011-05-03T14:15:00.000-06:00

For the most part, weeds in our landscape are harmless and are just an annoyance that cause us a lot of work in pulling and removing. There is one weed however that can be found in our local landscapes that requires some caution.

Myrtle Spurge (Euphorbia myrsinites) is considered a Class A noxious weed and can be found throughout the state. It must be eradicated. It is a violation of the Noxious Weed law to grow this plant.

This information produced by Jefferson County has a good summary and pictures of this weed: http://www.co.jefferson.co.us/jeffco/weed_uploads/myrtspur.pdf

As you weed this spring, keep an eye out for Myrtle Spurge in your garden. The issue with this particular weed is that is produces a milky sap that can cause burns to skin. Use gloves to pull it, don’t touch your eyes or skin and dispose of it carefully.

Vinca Minor, Free And Easy by Caroline Reardon

2011-05-01T13:48:00.000-06:00

Do you have a shady spot in your yard that needs ground cover to hold back the erosion or to just cover a bare spot? If you or a friend are lucky enough to have a mat of thriving Vinca minor, you can easily propagate enough starts at home to solve your problem and save money to buy those spectacular plants you dreamed about over the winter.

Vinca minor, also known as periwinkle or creeping myrtle, propagates itself by putting out runners that take root in the soil, much as a strawberry plant does. You can use these runners to create healthy starts for those bare places in your yard. They will spread more quickly in areas that receive more water, and grow well in partial sun to full shade. An extra bonus‚this perennial remains evergreen throughout the winter.

On the outer edges of the existing ground cover "crop" you will find the young, newly rooted Vinca runners which are the plants' most vigorous growers. Locate a clump and dig it up with your trowel. Shake it lose from the undergrowth and other roots and lift it out. Locate the clump's primary runner, which goes back to the mother plant, and snip it free with scissors.

You may find one clump can be snipped into three or more little rooted plants. Separate their roots, trim off any long stems and plant them in individual small pot with good soil mix.

Pinch off any flowers so all the plants' energy will be directed to developing good root systems in their new homes.

Water carefully so as not to disturb the roots and place the pots in a pan to catch any water runoff. Move them inside to a location with indirect sunlight.

To keep their environment humid while rooting, cover the plants with plastic wrap. Mist them lightly every few days and check your little starts regularly to make sure the soil isn't drying out. Water if necessary.

After about three weeks, gradually withdraw the plastic wrap and then take the plants to a shady area outside for several days to harden them off. Pop the Vinca out of their pots and transplant into the bare spots you'd planned for them, leaving 6"-8" between plants. Mulch to retain moisture and remember to water these little starts regularly for the first year as they get established.

Your home-grown Vinca minor starts will spread to become a lovely mass of shiny-leafed ground cover with periwinkle blue blossoms within a year or two, all for free.

Adding Raised Beds to Your Garden By Joyce D’Agostino

2011-04-29T13:01:00.002-06:00

Those of us who live in the front range of Colorado know that our compacted clay soils are a true challenge to having a successful garden. In addition to the hard clay, the high pH of our soil
s here and throughout the state due to the free lime that naturally exists also can pose a problem.

One answer is to add raised beds to your garden. Raised beds allow you to grow your garden vegetables and flowers in quality soil and nutrients that will allow you to get higher yields and better results from your gardening efforts.

If you purchase a raised bed kit, you may notice that many of them are only about 6” deep and most suggest you buy more than one kit for the optimum depth. Outside of some small annuals, most plants want and need a deeper root medium, so you will need at least one more kit, or add purchased railroad ties or similar timbers to give you the right height and depth.

Most garden vegetables such as tomatoes and squash require full sun for most of the day. Check your seed packets or the information included with the plants you purchase to know how much sun is required. For example, if you choose plants that require full sun or sun for most of the day be sure that the placement of your bed will not have partial or heavy shade.

After choosing the location, we raked up all of the bark that was in the area and set it aside. Wood bark should not be incorporated into your soil because it takes a long time to decay and also ties up the nitrogen necessary for good plant growth. When your beds are completed, you can use the bark to make pathways in between the beds but be sure to not add the bark to the new soil.

The next step is to prepare your soil. The soil in the areas of our planned beds was covered not only with landscape fabric but bark mulch on top. Landscape fabric is often used by gardeners and landscapers to help control weeds, but over time the pores of the fabric become clogged from dust, debris and soil and torn. The result is that the fabric no longer allows the proper amount of air and water and this can stop the beneficial bacteria and organisms in your soil to be present and weeds can penetrate through the tears. It was necessary to remove this worn out fabric and discard it.

Since the soil under this fabric was very compact, we used a pitchfork to loosen and aerate the soil in the area where the beds will be placed.We added some new soil to this area along with a layer of leaves that we saved from the fall. As the plants grow, it was necessary to loosen the soil under these beds so that their roots will not stop at the compacted soil which could act as a hard barrier

The new soil was then added to the beds. Choosing a quality soil is crucial. Take time to read the contents on the bag of soil. If it states vague ingredients such as “organic matter” then you may want to be cautious. If you are in doubt, buy a small bag of the soil that you are considering, open it and and carefully examine the contents. Watch for topsoil that contains a large amount of things like wood bark and chips, rocks and other matter that was used as a filler. A good topsoil will be clean of debris. Many topsoils and composts are not regulated as to their content so can vary widely from high quality to soil that was scraped from construction sites which could contain harmful chemicals, nails, glass and other debris.

There are several good articles that can help you plan your new raised beds and choose the right materials. Go to http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/pubs.html and click on publications. There are many free fact sheets that can help you with all of your gardening needs. The following fact sheets discuss raised beds and choosing your soil: http://www.ext.colostate.edu/ptlk/1839.html; http://www.ext.colostate.edu/ptlk/1812.html and http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/Garden/07235.html.

Evergreen Earth Day Festival By Grace Olson

2011-04-27T12:05:00.002-06:00

Apprentice Master Gardener Judy Huckeby and Master Gardener Laura McReynolds (right)

    Saturday, April 23, rung in the Evergreen Earth Day Festival with a dusting of snow across the shores of the town’s lake. Volunteers from the Colorado Master Gardener program braved the weather with other non-profit organizations in order to represent the Jefferson County Extension at this popular annual event.

    “It’s important to let the community know we’re here,” said Master Gardener Laura McReynolds, who has been volunteering at the event for the past three years. “It gives us exposure, and lets people know we are always here to answer their questions.”

    And the slushy, April snowstorm outside made it clear that there are plenty of questions for the gardeners of Evergreen.

    “I’m a farm girl from Iowa,” explained Janiece Gallup, from the Shaklee booth, who had stopped to chat with the Master Gardeners. “There, you put a seed in the ground and the sucker grows. Here, it’s a whole different ballgame.”

McReynolds points out informational fact sheets to Cheryl Manning, director of the Evergreen High School Environmental Club. Manning dressed as Mother Earth in honor of the Festival.

    Indeed, volunteers spent the day fielding questions on fencing, the two-month growing season, elk, aphids and hail. Some visitors wanted to vent their frustrations. Others indulged in devising unique, four-letter-words for their resident voles and deer. Some even passed by the Master Gardener booth, professing that the unreliable weather and “critters” had beaten them into submission.

    According to six-year Master Gardener Chris Gray of Evergreen, there’s no excuse for admitting defeat.   “It’s a matter of wanting to, and wanting to learn how to do it,” she said.

    Gray, who has volunteered at the Evergreen Earth Day Festival for the past five years, has seen patterns in the questions put to herself and fellow Master Gardeners. Most recently, she said, the questions have been about native plants and how to grow your own food.

McReynolds discusses the Colorado Master Gardener Program with Rachel Vezina of Westminster.

The Colorado Master Gardener Program is designed to help people learn how. Through a series of fact sheets posted on its website, a call center and outreach programs like the booth at the Evergreen Earth Day Festival, the program seeks to educate the public. According to www.cmg.colostate.edu, the program is “committed to using horticulture to empower gardeners, develop partnerships, and build stronger communities.” And that, say volunteers, is a pretty great way to celebrate Mother Earth.

For more information on the Colorado Master Gardener Program, or to obtain tips on gardening in Jefferson County, visit www.ext.colostate.edu or call a volunteer at the Plant Care Center at (303) 271-6620.

The Peeple's Community Garden by Caroline Reardon

2011-04-26T13:00:00.000-06:00

Here's a little left-over Easter whimsy! Inspired by the Denver Post Peeps contest, Master Gardener Caroline Reardon set up a Peeps "diorama" on one of the straw bales that's getting ready for planting in a couple of weeks.

Northern Sea Oats – a great match for your garden

2011-04-24T18:34:00.002-06:00

Northern Sea Oats would make a great personal ad: pretty, flexible and low maintenance, likes relaxing in the sun or reclining in the shade (not sure about long walks on the beach), not over-bearing and not attractive to deer. Sound appealing?

Most ornamental grasses do best in full sun but Northern Sea Oats grass, Chasmanthium latifolium, is very adaptable to a wide variety of growing conditions including shade. It’s a really unique grass with interesting seed heads. Looking at the seed heads you are immediately reminded of fish skeletons hanging in clusters from each stalk or also flattened oats but I prefer the fish comparison.

It is a clump forming warm season grass growing to about 3’ tall by 1-2’ wide. The leaf blades are a pleasing light green color with a bamboo-like look. The seed heads grow in clusters starting out green and then turn copper-bronze in the fall finally turning a light tan or straw color. They will stay on the grass late into the winter adding much winter interest.

Native to the southeastern US and northeastern Mexico, it’s a perennial grass that grows naturally in wooded and riparian areas, but for us can thrive in full sun to partial shade from dry to moist well-draining soils. It does need occasional supplemental moisture in dry spots. It is adaptable to most soil types and also grows well in containers. It is considered deer resistant, hardy to zone 5 although I’m going to try and grow it in my zone 4 garden this year in a sunny spot.

Rick Darke, author of Timber Press Pocket Guide to Ornamental Grasses, lists Chasmanthium latifolium as, “a versatile grass for formal accent, groups, sweeps, groundcover, naturalizing, or container display.” That sounds like a very useful plant! Author John Greenlee, of The American Meadow Garden, notes a private garden in Missouri that uses it in a meadow planting with lilies and sedges for a naturalistic look.

One of the things you’ll either like or dislike about this grass is that it likes to reseed. I find that the seedlings are easily controlled and pulled where you don’t want them. Cut the grass back once in the early spring before new growth appears. If you don’t want the seedlings you can also deadhead this grass before the seeds scatter in the fall.

There are some fun things you can do with dried grasses including using them as a long-lasting cut arrangement. You might also use the seed heads to make a bookmark or a greeting card. Because these seed heads are already flattened they are easily pressed.

For additional ideas on decorating with ornamental grasses, visit http://www.learn2grow.com/projects/floral/arranging/UsingOrnamentalGrasses.aspx