Have you ever heard the gardening phrase “trained to standard”? This is a method by which you convert a woody vine into a small tree. Over the course of a few years simply eliminate all the side shoots, retaining a single shoot supported with a pole. When the shoot hits the right height — say seven or eight feet — allow the vine to branch out. Pinch the tip of the original shoot to promote lateral shoot growth. This summer, check out the alley behind the Ares Thrift Store on Spruce Street in Boulder. Across the alley there are two trumpet vines that look like trees. In flower they’re phenomenal!
Nonstandard Standards!
July 5th, 2010 .Rain is Your Parade!
July 2nd, 2010 .The best time to weed is after a good rain. They pop right out! The best time to fertilize with granular fertilizer is right before one. The best water to use is rainwater, which when it falls has nitrogen in it. That’s why a good rain will green up your lawn faster than watering. If you live in a dry area, plant in furrows rather than raised beds, to catch the rain and facilitate irrigation. Tap water left standing out overnight will lose its chlorine, which is better for your plants.
Patriotic Plants
June 29th, 2010 .
Take a white carnation, cosmos or other simple composite flower. Cut the stem, split it up from the cut, lengthwise, about 3 inches. Take a vial of red food coloring and one of blue. Insert each half stem into the vials. Stabilize for a few hours. Within a few hours you’ll have salute-worthy red, white and blue flowers.
Hose Hassles?
June 18th, 2010 .Use stakes at the corners of your garden beds as hose guides so you can drag your hose through the garden with ease. Drive a sturdy stake into the ground and put a short piece of slightly larger diameter pipe on top of it and you’ll have roller guides.
Shake the Stake
June 15th, 2010 .When your tomato plants start to flower, it’s a good idea to give them a brisk shake once a week. This will send the pollen flying and increase fruiting. With honeybees in decline, tomatoes will need more help than ever.
Got Beans?
June 5th, 2010 .
Instead of planting the same old green beans, try some beans in Technicolor. There are beans in white, red, purple, yellow and mottled pods. Plant a variety! Nothing looks cooler then a yellow bean plant next to a red bean plant next to a purple next to a white. After you pick and clean them, steam them very briefly, cut them diagonally, toss them with perhaps some onions and oregano, and apply a vinaigrette dressing. Bon Apetit!
Sticks and Salts
June 2nd, 2010 .There’s and easy way to jump phosphorus levels for your tomatoes — toss in a couple books’ worth of match heads into the soil around the seedling when you plant. Growing tomato plants are hungry for magnesium, too. Water them once or twice a season with two tablespoons of Epsom salt dissolved into a gallon of water to provide it.
Mysterious Wisteria
May 25th, 2010 .
Although wisteria in flower are one of the most beautiful plants on earth, they can be problematic. Most common is failure to bloom. The answer is to never fertilize them, with one important exception.
Since they are legumes, members of the bean family, they produce their own nitrogen. But it’s phosphorus they crave, in the form of triple super phosphate powder. For a mature plant, sprinkle 4 to 6 cups in a large area around the base of the plant. This is best done late February to early March and usually results in a tremendous bloom. Forget all the other bad advise about wisteria, such as root pruning. Wisteria crave water, and the more the get the faster they’ll grow.
Japanese wisteria (Wisteria floribunda) grow in a counter clockwise fashion and come in blue, white, purple or pink. They leaf out soon after they bloom, somewhat obscuring the flowers.
Chinese wisteria (Wisteria floribunda) come in the same colors, but have an important distinction. They bloom on bare wood and don’t leaf out until much later, creating a breathtaking display that can last two weeks or more. They grow in a clockwise direction.
Wisteria are big burly plants and can cover literally hundreds of square feet. The flowers are edible and considered a delicacy in Asia. Any sturcture on which they grow must be extremely strong. They also can be trained to a “standard” in which all side shoots are taken off every fall, leaving a central leader. When the leader reaches 8 to 10 feet in height, they are allowed to branch out, in effect creating a wisteria tree.
Tomato News
May 18th, 2010 .
Did you know that the collapse of the Soviet Union was a titanic gift to tomato lovers? Tons of great tasting heirloom tomatoes came pouring forth. The black krim, perhaps the tastiest — and ugliest– tomato from the Russian Georgia. Stupice tomatoes come from Czechoslovakia and blow early girls right out of the water. Sasha’s altai tomatoes have a great cold resistance because they come from Altai mountains on the Russian-Chinese border. We have a great selection of all these heirloom tomatoes and more. And when you visit you can check out the biggest tomato plant in Boulder, 36 feet long and still growing. Pay us a visit, won’t you?
$5 Coupon Valid through 5/31/2010
April 28th, 2010 .
Our bedding plant greenhouses and store is in bloom with a beautiful selection of annuals, perennials, green plants, and cut flowers! Print this coupon and bring it in by May 31st, 2010 to receive $5.00 off any $100 purchase of bedding plants, cut flowers, or indoor house plants.
