A Different Approach to Growing Basil by Amy Norwood

 

Photo: Amy Norwood

Basil is a wonderful herb for the summer garden because it pairs so well with tomatoes and other summer garden veggies!  Left to its own devices, the basil plant will produce a spike of small flowers on the end of each stem.  The flowers eventually become seeds.  The conventional wisdom for growing basil is to pinch off the flower spikes when they appear.  If you want to eat the basil, by pinching the flowers you encourage the plant to put its energy into growing leaves, not making seeds.

Happy Saint Patrick's Day by Vicky Spelman

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

Tis a grand day to be Irish!
My wish for all of you!
May green be the grass you walk on!
May blue be the skies above you!
Pure be the joy that surrounds you!
True be the hearts that love you!
☘🍀☘🍀☘
May all your gardens be healthy
May all your gardens have wonderful veggies!
☘☘☘☘☘.

What Do Our Master Gardeners Grow? Part 3

We polled our Master Gardeners, and this is what they said....

Plants I'll Always Plant:  Verbena bonariensis

Plant I'm Itching to Try:   Salvia Dorris (Desert Sage)

Forget About It:  Hibiscus - I’ve tried about 6 times!
~Master Garden Cherie

What Do Our Master Gardeners Grow? Part 2

 

From Master Gardener Pam:

Plants I'll always plant:  Perennials, low water, deer and rabbit resistant, attract pollinators and hummingbirds. Butterfly weed (asclepias tuberosa,) Hyssop (hyssopus officinalis,) Caryoperis, Lavender cotton (santolina chamaecyparissus,) Kannah Creek buckwheat (eriognum umbellatum v. aureum,) Penstemon, Sedum, Yarrow (achillea,) Lavender, Tickseed (coreopsis,) Salvia, Rudebeckia, Pincushion flower, Blue fescue (Festuca glauca,) Dwarf fragrant sumac (rhus aromatic,) Lemon lace elderberry (sambucus racemosa,) Hostas, Sweet woodruff (gallum ororatum,) Roses – I usually look for zone 4 or Canadian.  Morden Sunrise and Dainty Bess from Hi Country Roses are favorites.

Plants I'm itching to try:  Salvia ‘maraschino’, Lead plant (amorpha canescens),  Englemann’s daisy (englemannia peristenia)

Forget about it:  Oregano,  New Mexican privet 

What do our Master Gardeners grow? Part I ~your Blog Team

We polled our Master Gardeners, and this is what they said....

Plants I’ll Always Plant:  Gwen's Buffalo Currant (Ribes aureum), Serviceberry (Amelanchier utahensis), Ninebark (Physocarpus monogynus), Blue Flax (Linum lewisii), Rocky Mountain Bee Plant (Cleome serrulata)

Plants I’m itching to try:  Dwarf Leadplant (Amorpha nana), Dotted Blazing Star (Liatris punctata), Dwarf Rabbitbrush (Ericameria viscidiflorus)

Forget About It????  NO! - I WON'T forget to leave a dead tree or 2 for the woodpeckers, who make holes for nesting habitat for over 30 species of birds.  And I WON'T be keeping my garden tidy.  Insects and birds need a messy habitat full of seeds, plant stems, leaf matter and hiding places!

~Colorado Master Gardener Molly  

Science Idea for young gardeners - beans sprouting by Vicky Spelman

Do you have some old CD cases around?  They are perfect for a science experiment to show beans sprouting with some potting soil.   No CDs around – use a glass jar, and some cotton balls or crinkled up paper towels.  Beans are easy to sprout and will benefit from presoaking for several hours – or overnight (up to around 12 hours).

Weather – Workin’ the Swing Shift by Patti O’Neal

 [Republished from February 2011]

What is a plant to do?  It’s February and all but a few plants should be peacefully enjoying the delicious dormancy of winter.  In the restful sleep of hibernation each plant sends good thoughts to its root zone where precious nutrients are stored to be called on when the sunshine of spring and early summer tease them to life by warming the soil and sending messages of new growth.  That’s in a perfect world.  But this year as well as others we are experiencing anything but perfect. 

Early Tree Sales are Starting Up by Nancy Shepard

“The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.” – Chinese proverb

Burr Oak (Quercus macrocarpa)  Photo: Arbor Valley Nursery

While it’s still only February, some Colorado communities are taking early orders for trees they provide to citizens free or at a low cost. Arbor Day is Friday, April 29^th and here are just a few examples of where you can get trees. Check with your local County or City for information specific to your area.

Grow This Cuke! by Amy Norwood

Salt and Pepper Cucumbers

Several years ago, I went to a local garden store in May looking for cucumber starts.  The store had two shelves full of cucumber plants, one shelf labeled “slicing” and the other labeled “pickling.”  I wanted to grow cucumbers for salad, so I grabbed some plants from the slicing shelf and bought them.

When I got home, I looked at the plant tags more closely and discovered they were pickling cucumbers, a white-skinned variety called “Salt and Pepper.”  Aaaaargh!  Why were pickling cucumbers on the slicing shelf? 

This is the 'Year of Salad Greens' - by Vicky Spelman

National Garden Bureau

Ready to plant a salad?  The National Garden Bureau has some great suggestions for salads.  This is the ‘Year of the Salad Greens’.

Get creative using the greens! Most greens can be served raw, wilted, blanched, sautéed, or grilled.

Basic Types and Variety Names...

Gardening Infographics by Nancy Shepard

The Ever Blooming Flower Garden by Lee Schneller 2009

When I was working in the technology industry, I saw firsthand how showing people information in a visual form was so much more powerful than looking at plain numbers and text. Now as a Master Gardener, I am thrilled to see artists interpret gardening and horticultural data into easy-to-understand graphics or what’s better known as infographics. Here are just a few I have come across and I’m sure you've seen great examples too.

2022 Landscaping with Colorado Native Plants Conference by Nancy Shepard

 

This year’s Landscaping with Colorado Native Plants conference is being held on Saturday, February 26^th and runs 9:30 AM to 4 PM. I attended the conference last year and found it to have very valuable information and I plan on attending again. The Landscaping with Colorado Native Plants Conference promotes the inclusion of native plants in our landscaping to benefit pollinators and songbirds, save water, and restore the beauty and health of nature in the places we live, work and play.