|
|
 |
|
|
|
Gardening ideas for Boulder, Colorado |
|
|
Archive for October, 2009
Tuesday, October 27th, 2009
 The only plaid flower you’ll ever see is that of the Fritillaria meleagris a.k.a. The Guinea Hen Flower or the Checkered Death Lily. While other members of the family can grow three feet tall and sport impressive clusters of blossoms, the Death Lily is rather unassuming. At least until you look closely. Their inverted, tulip-shaped blooms are, by God, finely checkered in red and white. Only six to eight inches tall, they like lightly shaded areas with rich soil. Now’s the time to plant their bulbs for a show next May.
Posted in Avant Gardening Series, Flowers, Gardening, Uncategorized |
Friday, October 23rd, 2009
For those of you who want to grow something, anything during these dark months, amaryllis and paperwhites will give you heartening, long-lasting blooms in the depths of winter. They couldn’t be simpler to grow. Bury the bottom third of paperwhites in gravel, sand or even marbles in a low, drainable pot. Water them and give them some light and you’re off to the races. They’ll sport lovely white flowers within a few weeks.
Plant amaryllis to the same depth but in good quality potting soil. Once again, water and sunshine give the bulb all the help it needs to produce astonishingly pretty blooms. There are varieties like Red Lion, which can grow three feet tall and sport a quartet of blossoms 8 inches or more across. The pallette of amaryllis colors is amazing, featuring, red, orange, pink, white and even green flowers. Antey they can be kept from year to year, growing even better with age.
Posted in Avant Gardening Series, Flowers |
Thursday, October 22nd, 2009
Once a good hard frost has nuked your cukes, it’s time to get out there and clean house. There’s no greather pleasure than to walk out in spring and find a well-fertilized, perfectly raked and shaped bed in which to plant.
So now’s the time to rip out all the dead vegetation, add manure and compost, till,rake smooth and await the spring. Wtih cold frames and row cover you can extend your current season and get a jump on your next.
It’s always a good idea to sow some spinach, chard, kale, peas and even brococoli in the fall and cover them with row cover or a light mulch of straw. They’ll come up in their own sweet time, often much earlier than you’d expect. A good resource is Elliot Coleman’s The Four-Season Garden. Even he’s reduced to blanching endive in late winter, but there are a lot of good tips on extending your growing season.
Posted in Avant Gardening Series, Fertilizer and Compost, Gardening, Vegetables |
Tuesday, October 20th, 2009
 If you love daffodils, tulips, crocouses and hyacinths, now’s the time to plant them. It has gotten cool enough to be sure that they”ll be properly chilled to put on a great show in the spring. Select bulbs that are firm and blemish-free, with no sign of growth. It’s important to plant them at the proper depth. Plant some that will bloom at the first breath of spring, like crocuses, and others that will bloom later. There are spectacular parrot tulips, gorgeous Rembrandt tulips and quaint little species of tulips. Daffodils range from the tiny Tete-aTe to the hulking Dutch Masters. They come in yellow, white orange and pink, not to mention combinations thereof.
One of the best things to remember is that they look best in large groups - massed plantings. Find a variety you really adore and plant a lot of them.
If you’re going to plant a lot of bulbs, we’ve discovered a terrific way to do it. You’ll need an electric drill, a bulb auger, a shop vac and a piece of 1″ PVC pipe. With the auger in the drill, take a marker and mark on the shaft of the auger the depth you want to plant. Pick an area a few feet in either direction. Start drilling holds to the right depth and spacing, but don’t worry about dirt that may slide back into the holes. Duct tape the foot-long piece of PVC pipe to the end of the shop vac hose. Once you’ve finished a section, insert the pipe into the bottom of the holes and drop in the bulbs, pointy end up. They are all now at5 the same correct depth. Dump the topsoil out of the shop vac and rake the soil back into the holes. You8 can cover a lot of ground with this method and save yourself the agony of planting them one at a time. You also ensure that they’ll all come up and bloom at about the same time.
Though bulbs may seem expensive, keep in mind that you’re paying for a garden show that has potential to go on a decade or more. Once the blooms are gone give them a good feeding and let the leaves stand. This will give you an even better show the next year.
Posted in Avant Gardening Series, Flowers, Gardening |
Friday, October 16th, 2009
One of the delights of Colorado gardening is how well pansies grow here. They like cool weather, will tolerate heavy frosts and pop right back up after a snowstorm. It’s wonderful to see their cheery little faces nodding in the breeze. While you’d plant them in a semi-shady spot in the spring and summer they’ll thrive in a protected, preferably sunny and south-facing location in the winter. They like rich, humusy soil and a good watering when the weather warms up. If the temperature is headed for a big drop for a longer period of time - say below zero for more tan a few days - protecting them with straw, leaves, row cover or even limbs off your discarded Christmas tree is a good idea. No other flowering plant comes in such a dizzying array of colors and patterns. And they drop seeds everywhere. Plant pansies for a few years and you’ll have pansies in places you didn’t plant them. The colors may change, the blooms may get smaller and ultimately they seem to lose some of their intensive breeding. They revert to what can be assumed to be thier parent plant, the sweet little purple and yellow Johnny Jump-Up.
Once the spring arrives pansies put on their best show of all, witha burst of vigorous color. It’s still not too late to add some winter color to your garden!
Posted in Flowers, Gardening |
|
|
|
|
|
Copyright © 2005-2010 Sturtz and Copeland 303.442.6663 | 866.680.6663 Visit us on... |
|
