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Gardening ideas for Boulder, Colorado |
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October 23rd, 2009 . Posted in Avant Gardening Series, Flowers |
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.
October 22nd, 2009 . Posted in Avant Gardening Series, Fertilizer and Compost, Gardening, Vegetables |
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.
October 20th, 2009 . Posted in Avant Gardening Series, Flowers, Gardening |
 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.
October 16th, 2009 . Posted in Flowers, Gardening |
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!
September 22nd, 2009 . Posted in Avant Gardening Series, Flowers, Gardening |
Although you may be weary from a long summer of gardening, once the frost takes out your vegetable garden it’s time to clean up. Toss or compost wilted greens, till in some manure and compost. Rake your beds smooth. If you just suck it up in the fall you’ll be able to stroll out to your garden in thh spring and plant away. It really is a pleasure having done the hard work in the fall.
September 11th, 2009 . Posted in Avant Gardening Series, Flowers, Uncategorized |
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.
September 8th, 2009 . Posted in Uncategorized |
With Jack Frost on the horizon you can hasten the ripening of your tomatoes and extend the season in many ways. The easiest is to simply stop watering. Green tomatoes will ripen quickly and once ripe will develop an even more intense flavor. Or you can root prune, cutting a half-circle around the base of the plant with a shovel. If a hard frost is looming, collect all the fruit and sort them out. Eat the ripe ones. Set aside those showing a little red and study the remainder. Some will be a hard, uniform green while others will be slightly dark green on the top with a whitish cast. The latter are known as “milky green” and, if placed on a soft surface in a dark container along with the semi-ripe fruit, will continue to ripen. YOu can eat great-tasting tomatoes well into November.
September 7th, 2009 . Posted in Avant Gardening Series, Gardening |
One 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.
September 5th, 2009 . Posted in Avant Gardening Series, Gardening |
Fall 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.
September 3rd, 2009 . Posted in Uncategorized |
If you want a sea of daffodils and tulips next spring, you’ll have to plant them in the fall. And if you’ve got a lot to plant, we’ve discovered a simple, fast way to do it. You’ll need a hand drill, a bulb auger and a shop vac. First drill a series of holes to the proper depth with the drill and auger - mark the auger to the right depth. When drilling the holes don’t worry if some dirt falls back in. Then vacuum all the dirt out of the holes. Place a bulb in each hole, pointy end up. Then empty the dirt of of the vacuum cleaner and rake it around to fill the holes. You can plant dozens of buls an hour this way, without the usual backbreaking tedium.
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