Tag: gardening
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Year-round gardening: Consider this before adding artificial turf to your Colorado landscape
It seems like a dream solution. No more watering, mowing, fertilizing, aerating or raking. Seems environmentally friendly, saves water. Best of all it is green all year! If you think this is a great solution, there are a couple of things you might want to think about before replacing your turf with plastic carpeting (aka…
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Year-round gardening: Colorado’s harvest season is here
It has been said, “The heat of August produces nature’s candy. There’s nothing tastier than a vine-ripened August tomato.” Whoever said it, boy, did they ever get that right. Let the harvest begin! Now is the time to look around and appreciate all of your hard work … and then finish up chores. Vegetables •…
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Year-round gardening: Prostrate weeds a July nightmare
All of the sudden, you see them. They might be taking over bare spots between plants, or even under them. They can grow in the spaces between brick or paver pathways. They sprawl out at astonishing speed. Prostrate or spotted spurge (Euphorbia maculata) is a very low-growing plant, native to Eastern North America. The entire…
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Year-round gardening: How to attract bees to your garden
It’s no secret that pollinators are the key to plant survival. For those who have an appreciation for our buzzing brethren, there are various options to attract them to your home. With almost 1,000 native species of bees in Colorado, creating a hospitable space for them can be relatively easy. Some gardeners might hesitate to…
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Year-round gardening: These tasks await Colorado gardeners in July
”Everything good, everything magical happens between the months of June and August.” — Jenny Han Squeeze the ice cubes into the water bottle; July is a couple of days away. Many activities await Colorado gardeners in what’s typically the hottest month of the year, including maintaining, weeding and even harvesting. Lucky us! Early July •…
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Year-round gardening: Dealing with deer can be difficult
Deer can be a challenge to gardeners in our region. Physical barriers such as fences can be quite effective as long as they are tall enough that deer cannot clear (6-10 feet tall). Smaller barriers can be useful if you make the error of planting in a deer path. Several years ago, I planted a…
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Year-round gardening: Annual garden tour returns to historic Colorado Springs neighborhoods
Mark your calendars now and plan to attend this year’s highly acclaimed Colorado Springs Garden Tour. By popular demand, this year’s tour returns to the Patty Jewett neighborhood (last toured in 2017) and includes the nearby Bonnyville neighborhood. Both have easy proximity to downtown Colorado Springs. In fact, most of the garden tour can be…
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Year-round gardening: How to attract butterflies to your garden
With spring fully in bloom, butterflies will be popping up everywhere soon. While picking the right plants is a great start, there are additional ways to attract these fluttery pollinators to your yard. • Keep your plants insecticide free: Insecticides are a threat to butterflies in every stage. A great start is ensuring none of…
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Year-round gardening: June checklist for Colorado gardeners
“In early June the world of leaf and blade and flowers explodes, and every sunset is different.” — John Steinbeck By now, all of the prep work, planning, cleaning, pulling, sharpening, trimming and planting is paying off in a rich, healthy glow of green! Below are a few suggestions to “pencil in” on the calendar…
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Year-round gardening: Strawberries are the taste of summer
Does anything embody the sweetness of summer more than picking ripe strawberries from your garden? Create your berry patch now for summer harvest! Strawberries are divided into three types; June bearing, Everbearing and Day-neutral. June-bearing cultivars bear fruit in early summer, and are less cold-hardy and more susceptible to damage by late frosts. If frost…