One of the true joys of Colorado gardening is winter pansies. While all pansies are violas, only those with “faces” are technically speaking — pansies. In the spring and summer you’d be right to plant them in a shaded location. But come September, you’ll want to plant them in a sunny, protected spot with rich soil. Given enough water and fertilizer they’ll blossom all winter long and burst into glorious bloom when the weather warms up. Even heavy snows don’t faze them. Once it melts off they spring back up and bloom again. Going into a really severe storm you can mulch them lightly or protect them with branches off your Christmas tree. There are few other plants which offer such a stunning array of colors and patterns. So for some winter cheer now’s the time to plant pansies.
Archive for the ‘Avant Gardening Series’ Category
The Viola Variations -
Friday, September 11th, 2009Garden Row Cover -
Monday, September 7th, 2009One of the best ways to extend your vegetable season is to use row cover. Row cover is lightweight, breathable polyester fabric which will protect your garden from light frosts. Drape it over your plants and hold in place with clods of earth. You can plant spinach seeds in late fall and even early winter if you then cover them with row cover. They’ll sprout the minute things warm up and you can harvest a spinach crop as early as February. Row cover tunnels can also extend your salad green season in the summer. It protects the plants from the hot sun and can even air-condition them if misted with water twice a day.
Garlic Planting -
Saturday, September 5th, 2009Fall is the time to plant garlic. Break a head of garlic into individual cloves and plant them with just the tip of the clove showing, 6 to 8 inches apart. It will help to incorporate some compost and manure into the soil. Water the cloves in and when frost has killed the growing shoot, bend the shoot over and mulch lightly. Once the weather warms up growth will begin again. There are hundreds of types of garlic that fall into tow categories — hard-neck and soft-neck. Hard-neck varieties are best for Colorado because they are hardier and store longer. For a great selection of garlic take a look at the Seeds of Change website. Tehy have dozens of types from around the world.
Cold Frames -
Wednesday, September 2nd, 2009If you want to extend your vegetable season consider a cold frame. Cold frames are mini-greenhouses that cover part of your garden bed, keeping the soil and air warmer and fighting off frost. They can be as simple as an A-frame using storm windows and fabricated end caps. Keep in mind that on sunny days they can overheat quickly, so build them so that they can be easily opened and closed. If you maintain a uniform bed size you can leapfrog the cold frame sequentially in the spring, first to jump start salad greens, then to get a head start on tomatoes and peppers.
Fall Planting Tips:
Wednesday, September 2nd, 2009Fall is a great time to replant your vegetable garden, transplant perennials and reap what you have sown. Cooler temperatures mean less watering and weeding. And you can get a head start on next year as well.
Earwigs
Monday, August 24th, 2009Earwigs have been driving people nuts this summer. They’re brown insects with pincers in the front and a double tail. They favor green leafy crops in the vegetable garden and new growth in the flower garden. They work at night and can really carve up your garden in record time. You can treat the ground around your plants with diatomaceous earth which will kill them. You can also use rotenone powder, low toxicity pesticide, awhich is effective but also has the potential to harm beneficial insects as well. Or you can join the “acceptable losses” school of gardening, in which you adjust your parameters to the reality of gardening: every season it’s two steps forward and one step back.
Blossom End Rot
Thursday, August 20th, 2009Blossom End Rot is a common problem with tomatoes and some peppers. The buttoms of the fruits turn black and soggy. It can be caused by irregular watering or the presence of too much nitrogen and too little calcium. Although it tends to be self-limiting, it can be disheartening. A 2% calcium chloride and water solution will help. But as the plant grows it will usually find sufficient calcium and self-corrects. Tomatoes react strongly to nitrogen. Add too much and you’ll get beautiful plant and no fruit. Give them just enough to get a good dark color and then scale back.
Powdery Mildew, Rust and Fungus
Tuesday, August 18th, 2009Powdery Mildew, Rust and Fungus usually appear when the summer heats up. Powdery mildew starts with a whitish cast on the surface of the leaf. It turns the leaf brown and the leaf dies. Rusts can appear on either the tops or the undersides of leaves and, as the name indicates, are brownish red in color. Other fungus manifest as gray or black discolorations on leaves, stem or branches. All are treatable. A 1% solution of sulfur and water, with a little dish soap mixed in, works well. Common hydrogen peroxide is also a potent fungicide, which can be used straight up or diluted with water up to 50%. Be sure to test a small portion on the plant first when using hydrogen peroxide mixtures and, as with all sprays, never spray a plant when it is sitting in direct sunlight. Controlling water application is critical when you have fungus problems. Never get the leaves wet. Always water at the base of the plant, preferably in the morning. Roses in particular suffer from a lot of fungus problems and may benefit from trimming out crowded growth in the interior of the plant to increase air circulation.
Snails and Slugs
Friday, August 14th, 2009Snails and slugs have come out in force with all the rain. They’ll carve large raggedy holes in your plants and can consume entire seedlings in a night. There are many strategies to control them. Small bowls of beer,especially yellow bowls, will entice an drown them. Planks placed throughout the garden will give them a place to hide. In the morning flip them over and use an old spatula to scrape them off the bottom of the plank and into the trash. There are baits such as Sluggo, which are effective but not toxic to people or animals. But one of the best defenses against slugs and snails are ducks. They are merciless in their pursuit of the little buggers and they’re highly entertaining as well.
Guide to Avant Gardening: Part 12 - Manure Tea
Wednesday, July 15th, 2009One of the easiest and most efficacious ways to fertilize your plants is with manure and/or compost tea. Purchase an inexpensive plastic trash can and fill it with water. Take an old pillowcase and fill it with one shovel full of manure, one shovel full of good-quality compost and a tablespoon or two of Epsom salts. Tie off the open end of the pillowcase, toss it into the water and let it steep for a few days. Once the water has turned a medium brown color, take a sauce pan and pour it all over your plants, leaves and all.
Pouring it on the leaves takes advantage of what’s called foliar feeding, in which plants absorb fertilizer through pores in the leaves. It’s most effective when done first thing in the morning, when a higher percentage of the pores are open.
You’ll get terrfic growth with manure tea because essential nutrients reach all parts of the plant quickly, without going through the roots.
