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Lack of Gardening Space got you Down?

admin — Wed, 16 May 2012 00:52:17 +0000

In Colorado there seems like there is always a lot of room. But what if you are a renter or have just a small patch of soil in Colorado. What do you do about gardening?
Especially vegetable gardening. We all know veggies are important and we all know they are expensive.
Try growing veggies in plastic tubes (well black garbage bags) filled with soil in which you can poke holes. You have to have drainage holes and can line them with paper towels – which allows water to go through but not soil. Also, be inventive with containers. Anything you can put soil in will generally work. Tomatoes need five gallons of plant soil.
Find vegetables, labeled pixie, dwarf, baby, patio and tiny for your balcony.
You can try vertical gardening – on a balcony, The idea is to grow upward. Weave the plants around posts . Of course there are window boxes and hanging planters too.
Some of the above options give you the option of bringing them indoors for our long Colorado winter. All you need is a sunny window.

Lavendar in the Rocky Mountains

admin — Fri, 04 May 2012 22:13:16 +0000

Having problems with Flies, plant Lavendar
Supposedly Lavendar orginated in the mountains of the Mediterranean. It thrives in poor soil but should have full sun. That is something we seem to have a lot of lately. It grows well in dry well drained gravel or sandy soils. It should have a acidic soil with a pH of 4.5 – 5.5 will work well for this plant.They grow up to twenty inches tall and spread to three feet.
Seven varieties include, French, English, Spanish and Italian. There is a lot of color difference also. White, pink ,blue and purple. Also different kinds of foilage from greens to silvers.
It does not need to be fertilized and doing so will cause it to rot. It likes to be ignored.
This plant when made into sachets is a moth repellant in drawers.
There is lavender tea for relaxation and oil scents that can cure headaches and restlessness.Perhaps, too it can cure insomia if you put a few drops on your pillow at night.
Here in Bailey the warmth is producing a lot of deer flies, if you mix lavendar with water and spray curtains and couches and rubbish bins you will reply them.

Unique Mountain Artistry

admin — Sun, 04 Mar 2012 01:15:01 +0000

a finished landscape looks like it was there first

Kenny says, “The best time to landscape is in May and September. There is more from a beautification point of view, to landscaping than shrubs and other plantings”. Landscaping involves dirt work, grading and terracing which is needed to create retaining walls, patios, walkways, stairs and other aspects of your project. One should consider, plantings of the the alpine-type which are indigenous to the area with respect to climate and environmental compatibility. Xeriscaping (refers to landscaping and gardening in ways that reduce or eliminate the need for supplemental water from irrigation) and erosion control are also important.
Popular trees used in this area are blue spruce and bristle cone pines. Flowering Shrubs are also important. Plantings are placed depending on how much the client wants to be involved and whether they like to garden.
The final landscape design is based on the budget of the client, square footage, tonnages, types of natural material to be used and plantings. If the buyer wants to pursue the project then the company’s graphic artist can create a hard copy design of the hardscape and landscape ideas mutually for discussion before beginning the work. The idea being to give the finished project the look of the house or building being built around the landscape instead of the other way around.

Fall Plantings

admin — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 15:36:50 +0000

Spinach

Before the snow begins to fall in late October you can still plant seeds. YES, seeds that will come up in the spring which reap the water from the winter snows. Try spinach, mustard, radishes and some lettuces. When the temperature is above 40 degrees and the snow begins to melt they will begin to grow. You can also plant snap peas, which will grow when the temperature is above fifty degrees. And, while you are at it try planting some winter squash in October.Amazon has several books about growing seeds and vegetables in the Rocky Mountains which may help you.

Around here one never knows what our winter will be like, I remember last January and the sixty degree days that lasted for quite awhile. Who knows you might have radishes and spinach, maybe lettuce in January.

Flowering Mums

admin — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 14:37:33 +0000

Mums are perennials that come in a lot of different colors.

They can be small dwarf to a giant shrub.

Beautiful Fall Flowering Mums

They do best in the sun and need a well drained soil.

It is a good idea to put peat moss or compost into the soil during the spring planting.

There are early and late season blooming mums.

They may flower late if exposed to high summer temperatures.

They are frost resistant and last long into the fall and hence are a perfect plant for this mountain area.

Several diseases and insects attack mums, so make sure to buy plants that are free of diseases and insects. Typical problems on mums include verticillium wilt, septoria leaf spot, powdery mildew, aphids, leafhoppers, plant bugs, leafminers, and spider mites.

Make sure you mulch these outside in ground plants before winter to a depth of si inches to insure survival.

Getting the Outside Pond ready for Winter by Home Depot

admin — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 17:20:20 +0000

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YA7YdgohqI4[/youtube]

Good and Bad Garden Bugs

admin — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 16:32:23 +0000

Praying Mantis - one of the good guys

Have you noted a lot of aphids lately in your garden? I have. Good bugs are lacewings (aphid lions) because they can eat as many as 1,000 aphids a day. Then there are nematodes that will take care of the grubs, and gnats. There are places online you can order these good bugs to kill the bad bugs in your garden. You also should have plenty of earthworms in your soil (we all know we can buy these) They aerate the soil with the tunnels they make and their poop fertilizes it. Praying mantises eat bad bugs and bees of course pollinate the flowers, as do butterflies. It seems for all the bad pests we have around there is a good pest to take care of the problem. Mother Nature sure was smart.
Most of us know you can control spider mites with a cold water shower on the undersides of leaves first thing in the am Insecticide soap is a good alternative also and can be used safely up until the day before harvest.
Recently I had a bad infestation of aphids on my miniature roses. A solution was found by placing a plastic garbage bag over each potted rose and spraying the insecticidal soap inside the bag – sorta bagging the roses. It worked!
Harmful insecticides as most of us know have done a lot of harm to the environment. Still bad bugs are no fun.

Rabbits can be bothersome, this time of year.

admin — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 22:32:07 +0000

Rabbits are cute, but not in your garden!

We all know winter is coming and so do the rabbits. They will be looking at your garden and outsides sheds and for food and places to live.

Rabbits do not like chili powder you can sprinkle your prized flowers with it and sprinkle it around where you do not want them. However you would have to reapply it everytime it rained.

You can hang moisy clanging things in your garden and that may also help. Any kind of clanging metal will scare them.

The best method for keeping rabbits from going and living undar a outside shed is to install a wire screen aroun the base and bury it in the dirt.

The only sure way to keep rabbits out of your garden is to make a fence a few feet high – but you would have to bury it down about a foot or so – rabbits like to dig. You could also plant lots of clover along the garden edges and hope they eat that first. Rabbits love clover. Another way is to get a pet – a cat or dog would help with this problem a lot.

The Time to Plant Spring Bulbs.

admin — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 22:01:46 +0000

Hyacinths are pretty in the spring garden

Its getting close to that time of year again when we should be thinking of planting the spring bulbs. Spring bulbs should be planted in September or October in the Evergreen area. Ideally wait until the soil temperature is below 60 degrees. Most bulbs prefer full sun for six hours in the spring and summer and not a soggy soil. Dig a hole three to four times the bulb height. Smaller bulbs can be planted closer together – look at the manufacturer’s instructions when you get your bulbs. Water the bulbs after planting to initiate growth. They should also be mulched to prevent early growth in our weird Colorado weather. First year bulbs don’t need fertilizer. After that. The following fall , maintain tulips and hyacinths by sprinkling 1/2 cup of the 9-9-6 fertilizer per 10 square feet. Daffodils and snowdrops thrive on a 5-10-20 mixture. Three-fourths cup of 5-10-12 mix per 10 square feet works on any type of bulb. Putting sharp gravel in the bulb holes around the bulbs will discourage gophers.

Landscaped beauty by the back door

admin — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 18:04:21 +0000

One beautiful landscape

Isn’t this lovely, its so nice after a hard days work to come home to a visual scene that is relaxing and beautiful.
This is a house by Evergeen High School, what you are looking at is high altitude plantings with large and not so large granite boulders. The client liked it so much we got a good recommendation to the house next door. What do you think?