Raspberry Comeback! by Gardener Cumax

Raspberry canes 2 days after the July 21, 2009 tornado

Over the past week the raspberry canes have been going nuts. It’s very heartening to see because last year the canes were stripped and damaged by the weather even that shall not be named. They didn’t look any better in the Spring.

The Impact of Water and Timing on Veggie Gardening by Gardener Cumax

Note: This is the third (and final) in a series by Gardener Cumax. You might also want to read: "The Impact of Soil on Veggie Gardening" (8/28/10) and "The Impact of Sun on Veggie Gardening" (9/9/10).

Life is a bowlful of tomatoes. Italian Heirloom, Mortgage Lifter, Crnkovic, German Pink (the original SSE offering) and Redfield Beauty compete for attention

Water
All plants need it. Duh! And yet do not overlook this important variable: save for xeric plants, plants use water in proportion to the amount of light they receive. Cloudy days means plants need less water, but only if your soil is poor! If your soil is absolutely awesomely fertile, then too much water isn't even an issue on overcast days!

The Impact of Sun on Veggie Gardening by Gardener Cumax

Note: this is the second in a series of blogs by Gardener Cumax. You might also want to read "The Impact of Soil on Veggie Gardening" posted on 8/28/10. 

Given that I've been fertilizing, the next variable is Sun. My garden is blocked from early morning sun by a huge silver maple tree. It's not until 11:30 am that the center of the garden gets full sun, and not until 1:00 pm that the area closest to the tree gets full sun.

Impact of Soil on Veggie Gardening by Gardener Cumax

Applewood Community Garden (32nd Ave. and I-70 in background)

It's been a week since the start of Fall weather, which started Saturday, August 14 with the cool weather. It was cool enough to start turning my tomatoes red. The recent warm up hasn't altered the rate of ripening.I've been the busiest I've ever been gardening this year. The seedlings kept me busy from March to June. Then gardening and yardwork kept me busier from June to even now. I've wanted to stop and write down my observations, some things I've learned this season as it happened but decided that each time I watered I would spend that time observing and memorizing what I've learned and see if those still apply throughout the season.

Building a Straw Bale Greenhouse: Phase 5 by Gardener Cumax

After the roof and side walls were up, we got snow again. I put my remote thermometer out in the greenhouse and it was no warmer than the outside. It made me think I made a wrong choice of roof material, but I brushed that concern aside and got busy with filling in that ridiculously ugly gap between the RBA and sill plate. I filled that gaping maw with a combination of insulation foam and spray foam. It's uglier than ever because the foam expands over several hours. That's a good thing because every single little crack needs to go bye bye.

Building a Straw Bale Greenhouse: Phase 4 by Gardener Cumax

Before I could even do the work I had to treat the lumber. Monday found me at Natural Interiors on Wadsworth purchasing a gallon of linseed oil based wood treatment. Tuesday-Thursday was spent oil each piece of 2x6x16' and 2x6x20' lumber with the oil. By treating the lumber this way I would ensure it doesn't rot. Water can cause rot, yes, but having the wood in contact with dirt is how soil organisms start slowly chomping away on your wood - which they view as food. Food, Wood, Whatever.

Building a Straw Bale Greenhouse: Phase 3 by Gardener Cumax

Editor’s Note: In September, 2009, Peter Bockenthien (aka Gardener Cumax) began construction of a straw bale greenhouse and shared his initial work on this blog. The next three blog postings will chronicle his successes and challenges in completing the project.

I'm happy to report that my greenhouse is 97% complete. I would be happier if we had some actual sun to warm it up but I don't control the weather. Let me explain what has transpired since November 2009.

In November I didn't get the stucco done because it was turning too cold. As a result the stucco I did complete cracked here and there. But that's normal for stucco that is drying in a freezing climate. I covered the entire greenhouse's lower straw bale walls in a large tarp I found on craigslist. Heavier snow dumped into the greenhouse interior onto the dirt. Not wanting the exposed strawbales to attract any moisture, I covered the entire wall system with black plastic. That's where I left off.

Building a Straw Bale Greenhouse: Phase 2 by Gardener Cumax

The straw bales were laid on top of the foundation. Then the RBA (roof bearing assembly) was laid out on top of the bales. The RBAs consist of 2 sheets of 20" wide by 22/32" thick quality plywood. They were screwed together, and then a thin 1" x 4" screwed to that to act as a rail or guide so the RBA didn't slip and slide off. Each corner was pre-assembled so as to be perfectly square. The tall X at the far end is my doorframe. It's 4' wide and perfectly centered.

How to Harvest Carrots in Your Basement by Gardener Cumax

What a great storm this is. Being a weather geek, I got busy 2 days before this storm hit. I usually wait until the last minute to harvest my summer carrots. With a spading fork to loosen this up, I put them in the trash, tops, dirt and all and filled it up with water. I let it soak overnight. The next morning, as the storm started dropping snow, I drained the water out, cleaned the bottom and brought it down to the basement. Thus the basement carrot harvest began.

Building a Straw Bale Greenhouse: Phase 1 by Gardener Cumax

The foundation corners were laid out last Sunday. The stakes were set at 18' x 12' but they weren't square. I had a friend come over and help me square the foundation lines. This is the single most important step. Over a 18' x 12' area we were able to get the diagonal measureme
 nts within 1/4 inch. Pretty impressive adjustment because one could go all day in tweaking the stakes 1/8 of an inch and never quite get it right.

35 Days After by Gardener Cumax

I've never been one to interfere with Nature, but that has never stopped Nature from periodically cold-cocking me to let me know who is really in charge. When the weak tornado that roared through at 10:35pm Monday, July 21st, Nature packed quite the punch for these parts. I hope I never hear the word "microburst" again because they are what they are: micro. No, this was a sustained macroburst if you will. How else are ping pong ball sized hail be sustained horizontally for 10 minutes? Yeah, right.

Wild About Wildflowers Part II by Gardener Cumax

Remember those cute adorable seedlings from 2 months ago? They've blasted from the soil to orbit their flower heads about 24" up. The annuals that is. Still green but in need of sunlight from the towering bachelor buttons lie some seven perennials. As predicted, when sowing annuals and perennials at the same time, annuals win out. Still be determined: if the perennials come back next year. To ensure that they will, I'm pruning back these buttons. I would pull, but everything is so tightly packed that I'll be yanking the perennials as well. In this 16' x 2' long "living mulch" I estimate there are about 500 Bachelor Buttons. I'll be happy to cut away half of them. But the gardner snake won't; s/he loves in down there.

Here's what they looked like in the spring.

Wild About Wildflowers

Soil Interface by Gardener Cumax

Years ago someone thought it would be a great idea to put down plastic mulch and then cover it with river rocks and dirt. Eventually this soil interface was 8" below the ground level. I'm not sure what the goal of this was because if it was for weed blocking, that failed. They all do because weeds have a powerful urge to reach the sunshine. I've seen bindweed roots go straight up 24". They were an easy pull though. This deeper plastic mulch was in a different category of futility and aggravation. First I had to shovel out heavy river rocks in order to get down to the plastic. Then I had to carefully and forcefully pull that up. There was no way to get all the rocks off of it beforehand. Is it any surprise that the plastic was littered with root holes? And that those roots were only from weeds? Never underestimate the power of weed roots. the first photo is the soil/plastic interface from the plastic side. This is the very bottom of the plastic. See how those rots are spreading all over? These are mostly bindweed and crab grass roots. In the second photo, look down and right of the shovel blade. There's a smooth area where the plastic used to be. There are some roots there. They're probably pretty weak but I'll bet you anything that right now, a day after, that they are growing like nuts. Free from plastic at last. Speaking of growing like nuts, dandelions do. I mowed the lawn and 24 hours later I had dandelion flower stalks ranging from 2-5" with most of them in the 4-5" range.

Double Digging With a Bout of Stomach Flu by Gardener Cumax

I got back into double digging. I needed two spots of yard dug out because I need sunny places. A huge silver maple blocks my garden for the first half of the day and where I dug is where the maple doesn't block it. I had a small area last year for squash. The dead grass was killed with leaves. I left those leaves on there from November to the first of May. I left it uncovered for 2 weeks to see if the grass would rejuvenate. It didn't, so on with the dig. I was dreading this dig for some reason but it went super smooth. It took me 30 minutes max to grid the grass cuts, dig them and make a small retaining wall with the grass chunks. I got this idea from visiting another gardener who tore out 1,000 sq ft of grass and made walls raised bed gardens from them. That seemed like an excellent idea to me. It takes less labor to move the grass chunks and since it's clay, it's pretty heavy and will eventually compact into its own little retaining wall. Then I got into the double-dig itself. I don't have pictures of this because if I stop, I'm going to take a rest and not really get back into the flow of it. It took an hour to dig it. Those white bags are top soil and composted manure from Ace Hardware. Since I've double dug this out, I need to amend the soil. This is a one time thing for both the digging and amendment. I did it last year to my main garden plot. One time amendment is only possible if you compost. Remember this: feed the soil if you want to feed your plants. Unless one has a compost in place throughout the year, your garden might not do so well in its second and subsequent years because most plants take nutrients out of the soil. These nutrients need to be replaced. You can learn more about gardening from the JeffCo Master Gardener's program. It's a great course with great people.

Workbench by Gardener Cumax

When we bought our house, the garden had been neglected for maybe 15+ years. It used to be a rental. While it was remodeled inside, the outside had been neglected. There's many to list but I'll limit it the garden: it was overrun by a 40+ year old grapevine and Alium. Holding this chaos in more or less was an old red fence. It served no purpose but to frame the garden. Down it came and overwintered near the shed. It was reborn late last week as a workbench. I talked with my neighbor to make sure he wouldn't mind my workbench being installed directly onto the fence. He didn't care in the least, so I got it up in about 2 hours. Among other things, that involved removing the nails. Let me say this: they do not make nails like they used to. All of the nails came out perfectly straight which means I get to re-use them. And they don't make nails this thick anymore. I used a level to make sure the baseboards are level as the fence itself slopes down to the east. I made sure to get the heigh correct. I'm happy to report that this bench is ergonomic for me and much too high for my sweetheart - but she leaves all the potting and plotting to me. While I was removing the boards I came across several ticks and this large one, about 1/4" wide.

April Showers bring May Flowers by Gardener Cumax

In my case, April snow dumps can squash the flowers. It just depends on what kind of flowers they are. The tulips have some minor damage. Most were not open yet. In the case of winter hardy succulents, no amount of snow can dampen their enthusiasm.



Imagine that heavy snow crushing these delicate Delosperma 'Beaufort West' flowers. The bright sun revives them and they shine again. Heavy snow, bright sun, flowers again. Six words that aptly describe hardy succulents.



If you happen to see some pink in the foothills, it's Pediocactus simpsonii, a Colorado native that is just about done flowering. One can find these in various places on the southern flanks of Green Mountain. These two are currently flowering in my hardy succulent garden.




We call the Stomatium mustillinum (native to S. Africa) the Banana Taffy Flower because that's exactly what its fragrance smells like. Its flowers open about 5-6 pm every night for 4 months starting after the last snow. In this case the flowers started a week after that April 18th snow dump. As long as it's sunny most of the day, the flowers will open. A few cloudy days will simply close them up; the returning sun opens those same flowers again.

Anticipation by Gardener Cumax

I have 3 major projects happening at the same time:
- Prepping my veggie garden and getting ready for seeding
- Installing xeric and winter hardy succulents in the front yard
- Building 4 compost areas in the corner of the backyard.




The veggie garden prepping is basically finished. The area you see in the foreground can wait a few more weeks when I take possession of several tomato seedlings. A few weeks after that I have 6 more seedlings arriving and then I have black plastic mulch to install as well as drip irrigation.



The seed screen is that chickenwire frame you see here. The purpose of this screen is to help me plant veggie seeds. If you haven't planted lettuce and carrot seeds, then it can be rather stressful if you don't know where to look.

What I do is use the screen as a guide to poke my holes in the dirt and then drops the seed(s) in. I then pinch the hole closed.

Before I could even make this screen I had to completely dismantle a riveted patio umbrella than got knocked silly by a rogue wind storm last mid-July. Trimming trees is dangerous. I was 20' up in the huge 45 year old apple trees we have when the wind picked up. My intuition said to get down immediately; so I did. Immediately the wind blew from the south with such force that is took the umbrella and its 65 pound weighted anchor and slammed it up into the picnic table and hurled all 3 items about 25'.

Whoa!

I'm sure glad I got out of the tree because that was quite the powerful wind burst.

I retired the umbrella to the garage until I could figure out how to recycle its material; that's where the seed screen comes from. Turns out this umbrella is really, really old. The wood is teak. So I'm the proud owner of a teak seed screen that won't see much use but a few days a year.

Wild About Wildflowers by Gardener Cumax

I'm not content to just yarden veggies. I love creating landscapes, too. My third big project this Spring is converting our front lawn into a showcase xeriscape.

The seedlings here are 3 weeks old. They just started sprouting right when the huge April 17-18 snowstorm slammed into the West Denver Metro area. Because they didn't have necks to break, they survived intact.

As you can see from the pictures I have about one seedling per inch, which means I have some serious and tedious thinning to do in a few weeks. Gardening is work but it's the best kind of work I can imagine.

Their common names are below followed by their latin name if I have it. They are perennials unless noted as annual with (A).
Baby's Breath (Gypsophila elegans (A)), Blanketflower (Gaillardia aristata), California Poppy (Eschscholzia californica), Cornflower (Centaurea cyanus (A)), Dwarf Red Coreopsis (Coreopsis tinctoria), Lance-Leaved Coreopsis (Coreopsis lanceolata), Missouri Primrose (Oenothera missouriensis), Red Yarrow (Achillea millefolium, rubra), Drummond Phlox (Phlox drummondii (A)), Catchfly (Silene ameria (A)), Baby Blue Eyes (Nemophila menziesii (A)), Blackeyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta), Blue Flax, Clarkia, Corn Poppy, Indian Blanket (Giallardia pulchella), Lemon Mint (Monarda citriodora), Scarlet Flax (Linum grandifloram rubra (A)), Shasta Daisy (Chrysanthemum maximum (A), Upright Prairiecone, Siberian Wallflower (Cheiranthus allioni), and Painted Daisy (Chrysanthemum carinatum (A)).

The annuals will probably provide most of the color and then the perennials will do that the following years. It's just a little different for me this year as I prefer perennials over annuals; so planting this kind of mix gets me out of my comfort zone.