Adding Raised Beds to Your Garden By Joyce D’Agostino

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

Evergreen Earth Day Festival By Grace Olson

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.

The Peeple's Community Garden by Caroline Reardon

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

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. 

Pest Problems Abound After a Dry Fall and Winter by Mary Small

We’ve sure had a dry fall, winter and early spring! And alas, as I write this, I can hear the wind roaring outside.  Our persistent dry, warm, windy weather has stressed plants and this will make them susceptible to disease and insect pests in 2011. Many tree care specialists think there will be a lot of damage this year.

Here are a few problems we can expect to see:

CSU Extension

Winter burn on evergreens.  In fact, you can see it now. Look for brown needles, particularly on the south or on the windward side of the plant. Needles will be uniformly brown from the tips inward.  It’s the result of our dry, warm, windy weather that promotes transpiration, water loss through the needles. This isn’t a problem until there’s not enough water in the soil to replace what gets lost. Sometimes, though, water loss happens so fast (like on windy days!) that plants  cannot keep up with it. Needles lose so much water so fast, they dehydrate or “burn”. 
Little can be done at this point, except to water plants and hope for rain or snow! This spring’s new growth will mask most of the brown needles which will eventually fall off. Winter burn does not usually kill established plants, but may seriously damage younger ones.

The Care and Feeding of Outdoor Wooden “Chain Saw” Bears and Other Critters by Stan Ames

For those of us that enjoy these whimsical sculptures, there are some definite guidelines for their care and preservation.

When you buy your critter ask the sculptor what brand and color of spray paint was used to add the contrasting colors to it. Buy the same paint for your own application in current or future maintenance to your new or existing critters.

Where do you buy these sculptures? You can “Google” for them using “wooden chainsaw garden animals” as your search request, or there are several vendors just outside of Manitou Springs or in Nederland.

Cutting and Disposal of Tall, Dry Ornamental Grasses by Gardener Dave

Many ornamental grasses grow quite tall, to 5 feet and even much taller. They can remain quite attractive during the winter in their erect dry state, unless the snow breaks them down. Then they become messy. However, they can be cut down and disposed of after they are dried, in the fall, winter or early spring.

Handling these long dry grasses once they are cut off can be very messy, as the dry blades are pesky to chase and pick up, especially if it’s windy. Why chase loose blades when there is a better way?

Plant Select Announces 2011 Winners

Avalanche White Sun Daisy

Every year, Plant Select^® chooses new and underutilized plants to promote to regional gardeners and landscape professionals. New plants are evaluated on their ability to thrive in a broad range of garden situations in the Rocky Mountain region, their resilience to the region’s challenging climate, uniqueness, disease and insect resistance, ability to flourish in low water conditions, long season of beauty in the garden, and noninvasiveness.


You might want to take this list with you to the garden center!

Choosing Healthy Plants at the Garden Center by Carol King

Garden centers and big box stores are starting to be filled with tempting plants for your garden. How do you choose the healthiest plants; plants that will be successful in your landscape? Here are four steps to help you do just that!

1. Inspect the leaves.  Look for foliage that isn’t discolored, spotted, dried out, wilting or curling.  Spots can mean insect damage or  viral or fungal diseases. Curling, crispy or brown leaves can mean  drought stress or disease or insect damage.    Wilting plants indicate either too much watering or not enough.  Discolored foliage can mean that the plant hasn’t been receiving proper nutrition.  Check the back of the leaves also.  Don’t purchase if there is white fuzzy fungus or rust colored spots on the back.

"Perennial" Markers for a Square-Foot Garden by Caroline Reardon

Square-Foot gardens appeal to many of us who love some organization in our plantings. Marked off in square-foot sections, the garden is a visual grid for growing a variety of crops, one in each section. 

In 2006, my husband and I built four wood raised-bed square-foot gardens, and I came up with this system for marking the grids. The twines, stretched for spring planting and loosened for the winter, are still in good shape after five years.

Steamin' Compost by Elaine Lockey

A tumbler-style compost bin

 While visiting the Rooney Road Recycling Center this winter I happened to see a rather prehistoric-looking vision.  The huge piles of brush in their organic waste area looked like primordial vents as they emitted steam on a day that wasn’t warmer than 20F. 

For gardeners, the knowledge that in the middle of a compost pile, temperatures can be over 140F - well that’s just exciting! If you haven’t already started composting, there are many resources out there to help you get started including classes and internet information.  CSU Extension has a great Fact Sheet on composting yard waste.  

The statistics are rather shocking: grass clippings, leaves and yard waste make up 20% of Denver’s household trash.  Composting yard waste combined with kitchen waste can reduce by 300lbs per person how much we send to the landfill annually. (Source: Denver Recycles) Plants lose between 50-75% of their volume in composting so it is an effective way to cleanup your yard. 

Project BudBurst by Elaine Lockey

Prunus x cistena, Purple-leaf Sand Cherry

One of the neatest studies I’ve recently learned about is called Project BudBurst.  This project began in 2007 in an effort to monitor seasonal plant change by involving the public. Ultimately the goal is to see what effect climate change might be having on plants in different regions of the US. Project BudBurst is co-managed by the National Ecological Observatory Network, Inc. (NEON) and the Chicago Botanical Garden.

Citizen scientists carefully observe plants in their backyards or even while out in parks and other places and report data, such as, when there is a first leaf, first flower, first fruit, end of flowering or when 50% of leaves have fallen off a plant.  Anyone can participate and it is a great fun to go out and examine your plants and see what they’re up to for your own knowledge and also to share your information with others for research. The goal is to get as much diverse plant information as possible. There are reports in already for 2011 from around the US on their website and they are fun to read.  One is from Erie, Colorado, for a first leaf on an apple tree- dated March 1!