Garden Success

Winter Fun

2008-01-08T10:46:00.000-07:00

Like most gardeners I get a little restless this time of year. Catalogs are arriving every day and my winter days are filled with garden dreams for the new season. I’ve compiled a list of tasks that could never be completed in one summer and a list of plants I don’t have enough room to plant! I’ve reviewed my saved seeds to prepare for ordering (still waiting on a few favorite catalogs) and started my onion seeds (I prefer those over sets so I can pick different varieties). The season can’t start soon enough for me.

The other day, while suffering through another cold winter storm I browsed the internet and stumbled upon some garden forums. I spent some time on one browsing the topics without joining (called lurking) to determine if I wanted to join. I did join and spent hours in the forums, posting occasionally. What fun!

Of course all good things have a price, right? While some sites have nominal fees, most are free. Many free sites come with ads and possibly spam or worse, so it’s best to be sure and investigate their policies before signing up. Many out there pose no risks and are just fun and informative. Keep in mind that people post from all corners of the world, so in addition to being jealous of those that can grow plants you can’t, remember that gardening techniques mentioned might not work in your area. Some of that can be narrowed by finding the right forum and/or the right topic threads.

If you haven’t explored the forums yet, you really should try it. There are topics for every gardener’s taste and experience level. The people out there are so friendly. Some, noticing I was a new poster, even sent welcome messages. So Google some garden forums today, it’ll scare those winter blues away and provide for some winter fun. You might just learn something, or better yet help others.

Great Garden Gifts - A Guide

2007-11-29T17:22:00.000-07:00

Buying garden gifts for the gardeners in your life? Relax, we play in dirt, we’re pretty easy to please.

Budget-minded Garden Gifts

Homemade coupons are great gifts for the weary gardener, especially the older they are. Gardening is hard work and help is always appreciated! Be specific to what your gift is – a morning of weeding, a load of compost and help unloading it, sharpening garden tools, carrying rocks, building a new raised bed, etc.

Bird feeders, baths and houses are also great garden gifts. Gardeners love to share their gardens with birds. Many go above and beyond to cater to the needs of their feathery friends. These can be home-made or very expensive so they fit every budget.

Gloves are great garden gifts, every year! Gardeners need a variety of gloves, heavy duty leather, thin leather, fabric, specialty (like the long sleeve leather for those who love roses). After a season of wear in dirt, water, and rocks we usually need to replace most pairs every year. Better the gloves than our hands! See my list of garden gloves that every gardener should have. (Coming soon)

OXO Garden Trowel This is one of my favorite tools. It’s large enough to scoop potting soil, so I use it to plant my pots as well as my veggie garden. It’s very comfortable in the hands for extended use in the garden. It has a serrated edge that is great for cutting twine off a straw bale, cutting down plant material, or cutting open bags of soil and mulch. I also use it to weed by scraping the weeds right out of the soil with ease. I’ve had this trowel for years and it still looks new – amazing since I’m very hard on my tools. Amazon also lists this tool under different item numbers B00023DIHM and B00008IHSM but they appear to be the same one to me.

Books always make great garden gifts! Very few gardeners can resist a good garden book. Whether it’s a picture book to browse on a cold winter day or a book of instruction to reference while gardening, we never seem to have enough. Here are a few great ones. Come back soon to see a list of my favorite garden books.

The Well-Tended Perennial Garden: Planting and Pruning Techniques

The Organic Garden (A practical guide to natural gardens, from planning and planting to harvesting and maintenance)

The Organic Gardener's Handbook of Natural Insect and Disease Control: A Complete Problem-Solving Guide to Keeping Your Garden and Yard Healthy Without Chemicals

Mid-Range Garden Gifts

A Felco Hand Pruner #2 is a must for every gardener. The leather belt holder is very useful too and helps protect your investment.

Wellies - only the best muck boots for slipping on to run to the compost bin in any weather, and tramping through the spring rains or deep snow. You can find them at Smith & Hawken.

A good worm bin to compost kitchen scraps even in the freezing temps of winter.

Magazine Subscription – See My Favorite Magazines

Higher-Range Garden Gifts

A good compost tumbler

A nice cedar bench to relax and enjoy your garden is especially nice. Two sources - Amazon and Smith & Hawken, where right now they're on sale and shipping is free.

Fall Chores

2007-11-12T20:55:00.000-07:00

By now I’m usually done with my fall chores. But this fall is so warm I’ve procrastinated big time. We had our annual freeze in September and then a few weeks more of summer, followed by some snow storms in October and regular 20 degree nights, even one 10 degree night. But now it’s November and at 8000’ we’re still getting highs in the 60’s, lows in the 30’s. This week the weather is changing so now I’m rushing to get things done and put away.

One thing that differentiates here from the Northeast where I originate is the intense sun. Our sun is too intense at times, making a beautiful 70 degree day too hot if you’re working in the full sun trying to get your fall garden chores done. But the intense sun is great for growing tomatoes in a sunny window in the winter. I just picked my first indoor tomato – yum!

I also have a few cold frames filled with lettuce, spinach, rapini, golden beets, carrots, cilantro & parsley. & I still have chard growing in the garden. I’d have brussel sprouts too but the cabbage moth hit them hard this year so I pulled them. Growing up I always liked that pretty white butterfly with the single black dots on each wing. Never knew I’d grow up to find them to be a pest. I still like them flying around my gardens, I just need to pay closer attention to their arrival so I can cover my cabbage and mustard green crops with a light cloth.

Up here we don’t have many deciduous trees, mostly conifers. Each year I beg for bagged leaves from my friends in lower elevations. The intense sun here will cause frequent mid-winter thaws that can push shallow rooted plants right out of the ground. To prevent this, I use a thick coat of leaves to put my beds to rest for the winter after the ground freezes. What doesn’t blow away or degrade is incorporated into the soil or raked off come spring and put in the compost bins. I don’t do this to my rock garden since that has a thick layer of pea gravel and those plants are fine. On my veggie garden beds I use straw or grow cover crops.

I also toss out a mole repellent product I get at GardensAlive.com. It’s the best product I’ve found for controlling moles and other ground burrowing pests. I’m also experimenting with a cayenne repellent for the field mice (aka voles.) I adopted some feral cats but although they come to the house to eat the food I put out they seem to hunt everywhere but near my gardens.

I don’t do a lot of garden clean up in the fall, saving most of it for spring. I think many plants provide winter interest and others are more protected by the leaves and snow that collect in their foliage. But I do cut back the plants that need it. I also try to prepare my tools for spring, but I could be better about that. No more procrastinating, I better get out there before it snows. :-)

Happy Gardening!

My Favorite Magazines

2007-11-06T14:13:00.001-07:00

Every garden magazine is filled with beautiful pictures. I like the ones that give me more!

I like useful reminders of the basics, detailed technical coverage of the advanced, new plant introductions, and product reviews. I want to see pictures of plants I have a chance of growing successfully. So many seem to focus on the Pacific Northwest where they have so much rain & humidity my hair curls just thinking about it. I know gardeners there face their own set of challenges, but most of America is facing drought conditions. & I hate ads and all the pages they take up. I'd rather have a thin mag I read cover to cover the day it arrives. Some of my favorite magazines are below. They all meet most of my requirements and are a fun read. Check them out and let me know what you think. Or maybe you can suggest one for me to try?

Garden Gate Magazine http://www.gardengatemagazine.com

No Ads
Great articles, expert advice
Great website with "WebExtras"

Garden Solutions http://www.gardensalive.com

Very few ads
Organic gardening techniques
Free subscription when you sign up online to enjoy 10% off purchases as a member
Great articles

Mother Earth News http://www.motherearthnews.com

Most issues have a garden section
Focus is mostly on edibles
Annual garden issue is packed
Organic gardening techniques
Great website with access to their archives

Gardening How-To http://www.gardeningclub.com

Very few ads, mostly pushed to the back
Free with club membership, but also the best reason to join
If you're so inclined you can sign up to be a product tester

Happy Gardening!

Welcome!

2007-11-06T12:37:00.000-07:00

I’m CRAZY about gardening. Like many obsessed gardeners I have the ability to talk forever about plants, and dirt, and well anything garden related. I get online in a few garden forums and it seems many questions are asked over and over again. Those sites serve their purpose well but I’m looking for more. I love to share my gardens and tell my stories and teach successful gardening techniques.

My goal is to create a website that will document my garden successes (& failures) and provide an outlet for my obsession when I can’t actually be IN my garden. You know, when it’s too cold or too dark or when it occasionally rains. While I work on developing my website, I thought a blog would be a good start. I plan to keep this going even when my website is done so the site won’t get full with those wandering thoughts that can fill a blog. I want it to be full of inspiring photos and detailed instruction. I’ll be sure to post on the website development.

I garden at 8000’ in the Rocky Mountains west of Denver, Colorado. I practice organic gardening and believe foremost in the development of great garden soil. I have a beautiful rock garden, perennial garden, and vegetable garden. I have built raised beds and lots of retaining walls using our local rock. I extend our short season with cold frames and hoops and I plan to build a greenhouse next year. I have a compost bin and I also plan to start worm-composting indoors. So, I’ll be posting about each of those things and more. If you have any suggestions for topics I could address, please let me know. & please visit again.

Happy Gardening!