A spring storm in Colorado covers an apple blossom in snow; hardening off indoor grown seedlings; and how to warm a mini-greenhouse at night.
A spring of surprises and cozy greenhouses
Vegetables
Planting the Spring Salad
Now is the time to plant lettuce, kale, and spinach for a late spring salad. I will be planting these in the sunniest of my raised beds. You can also put out some flowers tolerant of low temperatures down to 32 degrees. Seedlings can be planted now, but its suggested to install a […]
Corn on the Deck
Container corn is a thing! Burpee’s ‘On the Deck’ corn has been planted in a container on my upper deck. Its looking really good for mid-July!
Straw Bale Garden
This week I have received my vegetable seeds and are starting plans for next years garden. I came across a new way to keep a vegetable garden weed free, the straw bale garden. The inventor of this method, Joel Karsten has written a book called ‘Straw Bale Gardens’ to show gardeners the method. Essentially […]
A November Harvest – Brussel Sprouts
Today I harvested the first of my brussel sprouts in November. And not the beginning of November, but the 30th! These plants were planted the second week of June and have been in the ground for over 145 days. I looked often in September and October but the sprouts remained only about a 1/2″ in […]
Heliostats for the gardener
What is a heliostat? Its an instrument that uses one or more mirrors to reflect sunlight with a mechanism to track the sun and move the mirrors allowing for continual reflection across the daylight skies. These instruments are most often used for solar power arrays to concentrate sunlight or heat to generate power. But now […]
Seeds 2013
Seeds for 2013 Vegetable Started Germinate Days to Harvest Harvest Notes Tomato – Black Krim 18-Mar 7 to 10 style=’mso-spacerun:yes’> 70 Few tomatoes but tasty!! Tomato – Fresh Salsa 18-Mar 7 to 10 65-75 Literally hundreds of them! Tomato – Mortgage Lifter 18-Mar 7 to 10 83-90 Took too long nothing harvested. Brussel Sprouts – […]
Seed Sowing Calendar
When to plant vegetable gardens is determined by the soil temperature a seed needs to germinate as well as its ability to withstand frost. Most common vegetables we eat do not fare well against frost. For Colorado, a safe time to plant is at the end of the second week of May, around Mother’s day. […]
First Square Garden – Lessons
This year was quite a good year for learning in my first square foot garden. Having so many lessons also means having little yield. But I would rather learn many lessons in a single year than struggle for years to come. Today is Day 70 Lesson 1. More Sun Veges other than leaf varieties really […]
Vegetables after hail, heat, and hungry herbivores
Happy to say many of the vegetables survived the early hail storm. Yesterday we were happy to see a big fat flower on the crookneck squash, and many more buds are appearing on all the squash plants. I believe the nasturtiums may yet flower to help protect the squash from bugs. The new jalapenos are […]