Downy Mildew on Sunflowers by Donna Duffy

I always grow a few sunflowers at the edge of my yard every summer. They are a great conversation piece and a delight to the neighborhood kids and birds. Because of the rain, I got the seeds started late this year and they are up about 3" this week. I was checking them out and noticed a white fuzzy substance on the bottom of the leaves on two plants. After some research, I discovered this is Downy Mildew.

Snakes in the Garden by Donna Duffy

Every summer, I am greeted by garter snakes in my garden. I really do like having them there, I just don’t like to be surprised by them. Last year I was on hands and knees, reaching deep into some overgrown perennials, pulling out dead leaves and stems. When I pulled my hand out of the darkness, I discovered my fingers were wrapped around a snake. It wasn’t pretty for either of us: the snake went flying through the air and I ended up on my back. 

It was one of Colorado’s most common snakes, Thanmophis elegans, or the Western Terrestrial Garter Snake. Here are a few facts about this harmless snake from Colorado Herping.

Gardening Power to the People: Trellis / Vertical Gardening by Ed Powers

Watch this 4-minute video by Ed Powers, Jefferson County Master Gardener, about ideas for trellising and vertical gardening. Thanks, Ed!

Open Garden Day at CSU Horticulture Demonstration Garden by Patti O'Neal

CSU Master Gardeners of Jefferson County will be available for questions and tours of the gardens on Saturday, June 20th, from 8:00am until 1:00pm at the Horticulture Demonstration and Research Garden located at the Jeffco Fairgrounds.  

Master Gardeners tend this garden and build structures, demonstrate different planting styles and experiment with plants to show how to manage and increase harvest of produce in front range gardens.  They will be working in the garden this day and invite you to come and ask questions and take photos for ideas and learn about good gardening practices.  

Adjacent to this garden is our Plant Select garden where the public can see some really durable ornamental plants for Colorado.  We do not amend or water this garden other than what Mother Nature provides, so you can be sure these plants do incredibly well here.  

Come and bring questions, cameras or samples of plant problems from your gardens and Master Gardeners will help you to understand what’s happening this year and how you can help your plants to thrive. 

Please join us!

June Lawn Care by James Johnston

This spring we have had an abundance of moisture and our lawns and gardens are benefiting from it. With its deep green color, Kentucky Bluegrass is in its glory…for now. Leap forward to late June/July with the watering restriction and take into consideration how to maintain your lawn. Whether your turf is a bluegrass, ryegrass, or fescue, proper watering techniques can promote a healthy lawn.

Kentucky Bluegrass or ryegrass lawns need anywhere from 1” in shady areas to 2.25” of water per week in full sun. This may be difficult to do with the restrictions but the following information may help you get the best results for your lawn.

Growing Sunflowers by Billi Mavromatis-Jacobson

Sunflowers, bright and brash, they’re beacons for butterflies and bees in your garden. Sunflowers are a New World native that exists throughout the whole of North America down to Central America.  They can be found at archeological sites dating back to 3,000 BC.

  For those of us who have placed our faces or cameras close to a sunflower in bloom, we know that the sunflower head is not a single flower as the name implies but is made up of over 1,000  individual flowers joined at a common receptacle. It is commonly believed that the sunflowers turn their heads to follow the sun each day but only the immature and developing flower heads do this. Sunflowers will grow in a wide range of soils from sands to clays. They prefer to be direct seeded after all danger of frost.  Plant when day and night temperatures are above 50 degrees Fahrenheit and optimum temperatures for growth are 70 to 78°F. Sunflowers need at least six hours of full sun a day and should be spaced per planting instructions.

Support for Vines by Rebecca Anderson

Photo courtesy of University of Minnesota Extension

Colorado’s summer sunshine really makes the squash, cucumber and melon vines take off in the garden. One way to keep them from taking over is to train them to a trellis before they get too big. Besides helping manage space, produce harvested from trellised vines is cleaner and, in the case of cucumbers, straighter than ones grown on the ground. Varieties that have fruit that matures at less than 3 pounds are the easiest to trellis. Some larger varieties can still be grown vertically, but will require some extra support.  

Edible Flowers by Betty Cahill

Photo courtesy earthwards.com

Nothing sparks an "oh, my, how lovely" response more than beautiful, edible flowers in, on, or around food. It's a splendid presentation! Kids think it's cool to eat flowers (but only the ones you plant).

Gardening Power to the People: Growing Tomatoes in a Container

Did you know you can grow great tomatoes in containers? This video will show you how.

Successful Strawberries by Rebecca Anderson

Photo courtesy PlantTalk Colorado

Fresh strawberries are a sure sign that summer has arrived. Strawberries (Fragaria ananassa) do well along the Front Range, even at higher elevations, making them a crop that can be rewarding for home gardeners. When establishing a new strawberry bed, try to pick a site that has not had raspberries, cherries, tomatoes, potatoes or eggplants growing in the past 5 years. These plants carry diseases that can infect and decrease the productivity of the strawberries. Select a site that gets at least 8 hours of sun during the summer. A soil test prior to planting is ideal so the soil can be amended according to the pants' needs, but if not possible, work one to two inches of compost into the bed one month before planting. 

There are many strawberries varieties to choose from. They all fall in one of three categories: June bearing, ever bearing and day neutral. June bearers produce the earliest fruit that is the largest and some say the sweetest.  However, they bloom the earliest and are prone to blossom damage from our late frosts. Ever bearers are considered the hardiest for the Front Range. They produce a spring crop and a fall crop and a few berries in between main crops during the summer months. The day neutral varieties produce berries for 6 week intervals 3 times during the summer. For gardeners who are going to pick one variety, ever bearers are recommended. Varieties that do well here are Ogallala and Fort Laramie. Some gardeners like to plant a few of each type to hedge against any failures of a specific variety. June bearing strawberries recommended for this area include Guardian and Honeoye. Tristar and Tribute are recommended varieties of day neutral strawberries. 

Hardening Off Seedlings by CJ Clawson

Photo by Judy Sedbrook, CSU

Most of us are in Colorado because we love the sunny days but the cloudy, overcast weather in our current forecast is really a gift for gardeners at this time of year because it's the perfect time for hardening off.  This is the process of acclimating your seedlings to the outdoors - an important step in gardening success.

You spent hours looking at seed catalogues and carefully selecting the vegetable varieties you wanted to grow.  You've babied your seedlings with the best possible care and now they are beautiful!  Please don't skip hardening off!  

Onion Decision Tree by Rebecca Anderson

Photo courtesy PlantTalk Colorado

Onions are a good crop to plant when the weather is still cool and the garden is calling for some sort of action. Take a tour of any garden center or seed catalog and you will find a plethora of onion selections. How does a gardener decide which is best for a Front Range garden?