Community Garden Target of Bugs, Beetles ... Burglars

The folks into community gardening in Grand Junction, Colorado are not having the perfect summer.  Let's hope the thieves are merely hungry and not malicious!!

Community garden target of bugs, beetles ... burglars | GJSentinel.com

Iris, Iris Everywhere! Rejuvenating the Iris Garden

How's your iris looking?  Mine are pretty sad right now.  This article from a sister Master Gardener in Larimer County if filled with good advice on rejuvenating your iris garden.

Colorado State University Extension - Iris, Iris Everywhere!

Colorado Public Radio:Deep Freeze Seed Storage in Fort Collins

Here's CPR's continuing series. "Vats of liquid nitrogen and a tornado-proof vault protect the contents at the Seed Bank in Ft. Collins. In our Backyard Farmers series, guarding a genetic legacy for future farmers."  Listen here:

Deep Freeze Seed Storage in Fort Collins:

Give Your Garden Some Summer Love

Has your garden hit the mid-summer gardening “blooms and blahs”  as described in this article from CSU Extension?  "The high temperatures and long days have not only had an effect on our lives, they have encouraged some plants to strive and other plants to take a dive. "  Read here on tips to perk up the garden blahs!



Give your garden some summer love | Greeley Tribune

Shopping at Colorado Farmers’ Markets

CSU Extension has a new fact sheet with good advice on making the most of Colorado's many wonderful Farmers' Market.  Learn best practices here:

Shopping at Colorado Farmers’ Markets

Poisonous Weeds

Water Hemlock

A couple of weeks ago I blogged about eating the weeds in your garden.  Here's a cautionary article about being sure those weeds are the edible varieties.  There's poison in them there woods!! Be very careful when eating anything wild.


Horticulture - Poisonous Weeds

Colorado Public Radio Series: Backyard Farmer

 Colorado Public Radio is doing a weekly series "Backyard Farmers," about people who are bringing a little of the farm to the city.    This one is about people who don’t want to just eat what they grow, they want to sell it, too. But Zachary Barr finds that it’s nearly impossible to make a living as an urban farmer.

Click here to listen in:

The  City Farmer's Struggle

Hot Weather Garden Problems by Carol King and Donna Duffy

The Dog Days of summer are here. The Greeks and Romans believed the dog star Sirius, a prominent star in the August heavens,  was the cause of the hot, sultry weather. They considered this to be an evil time "when the seas boiled, wine turned sour, dogs grew mad, and all creatures became languid, causing to man burning fevers, hysterics, and phrensies" according to Brady’s Clavis Calendarium, 1813.

It’s also the time in the garden when hot weather causes all sorts of calamities as well and gives gardeners fevers, hysterics and phrensies!  Be on the lookout for these problems.

Crocosmia by Gardener Dave

Occasionally when I find a plant I like and am curious about, I like to research it for more information. Many years ago on a trip to the British Isles, I saw a plant in a garden that attracted my attention because of its bright color and unique bloom shape. I saw a name on a label, and determined to find out more about it when I returned home.  I found that most of its cultivars are not really hardy hereon the Front Range, but wanted to try it anyway.
Crocosmia – a perennial in the iris-gladiola family – is a South African native.

Colorado Gardener Summer Edition

Click on this link for the most current edition of the Colorado Gardener!
Colorado Gardener Summer Edition

U.S. Farmers Cope With Roundup-Resistant Weeds

 As weeds  become more and more "Round-Up" resistant, what's a farmer to do?  Read this article about this growing problem in the farming community.  It will no doubt eventually affect the home gardener as well.


U.S. Farmers Cope With Roundup-Resistant Weeds - NYTimes.com

Check Your Tomatoes! Psyllids Have Arrived by Mary Small

Better check your tomatoes!  Tomato/potato psyllids have arrived from the south and are wreaking havoc in area gardens. 

Psyllids are small sap-sucking insects. Their saliva is toxic to tomatoes and potatoes and can cause them serious damage.  Unless you know what you’re looking for and are checking regularly, the insects can go undetected until it’s too late. Here are some psyllid-detecting tips.