New gardeners’ advice
If you’re new to Colorado, or want to start vegetable or flower gardening for the first time, the planting season is here and it’s a cinch to get started. Whether you’re gardening in pots on a patio or breaking new ground out back, the satisfying fruits and flowers of your labor will welcome you wholeheartedly into the gardening fold.
Containers
• When go for a foot wide or larger (especially for vegetables). Small containers dry out too quickly. Drill or poke holes in the bottom for drainage. Cover the holes with a coffee filter and fill with quality, store-bought, fertilizer-free potting soil (garden soil is too heavy; fertilized soils tend to have too much). Add fertilizer pellets per package instructions and fertilize regularly all season.
• : www.ext.colostate.edu/mg/gardennotes/724.html
• : www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/garden/07238.html
• If you’re planting vegetables, annuals or perennials in-ground, remove weeds and large rocks. Work up the soil until it’s loose so air and water can reach the roots. Our mostly clay-like soil is remedied by adding homemade or store bought compost. Then mix in a slow-release fertilizer based on the size of your planting area. www.ext.colostate.edu/mg/gardennotes/719.html
• Shop and prepare now, but plant tomatoes, annuals and perennials after our last frost date, mid-May or later. Be prepared to cover new plants with a cloth sheet (not plastic) if nights dip below 55 degrees
Bulbs, roses and perennials
• Cut spent flowers from spring-blooming bulb. Keep the leaves to provide food for next year’s bulbs. Pull only after they yellow and come out easily.
• Mark the location where bulbs are growing if you want to move them in the fall.
• Finish cleaning up roses, pruning dead, weak or old stems to shape the rose. Apply the first fertilizer of the season. : www.denverrosesociety.org/education/CSU_Fact_Sheet7.416.pdf
Vegetables
• Harvest rhubarb stalks larger than ½ inch in diameter by gently twisting and pulling at the base of the stalk.
• Harvest asparagus stalks larger than 3/8 inch in diameter until about the end of June. Cut them just at soil level.
• Continue harvesting cool season vegetables – lettuce, spinach, radish and green onions.
Lawn
• Watering restrictions have begun in some areas along the Front Range. Got Kentucky bluegrass? That’s More: www.ext.colostate.edu/ptlk/1540.html
• Consider reducing water-thirsty turf by creating or increasing border gardens. Include shrubs, groundcovers, native and low water plants.
Trees
• Trees add value, beauty and appeal to our home landscapes. A tree is a very positive long-term commitment, so consider what features ring your bell. Do you want spring bloom (which may not happen every year), summer berries or fruit, green, yellow or even maroon leaf color? How about fall color or interesting bark you’ll see all winter? plant and care for it correctly and enjoy a long life together. More: www.denvergov.org/ForestryandTrees/RecommendedTrees/tabid/432238/Default.aspx
Pest watch
• Watch for tiny holes in the foliage of beets, radishes and potatoes. The tiny black flea beetles that produce them are only temporarily controlled with chemicals. Use tightly tucked in floating row covers to keep them out.
Reach Betty Cahill at bettycahill@ymail.com
