Author: By Kerry Peetz Colorado Master Gardener
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Year-round gardening: 10 things for your gardening checklist during May in Colorado
May is here, and with it comes longer days, unpredictable weather and the countdown to summer. It’s a month of surprises. So, you’re contemplating wearing shorts in the garden? Bold move. You might want to bring your down coat just in case. Sun or snow, May is a busy month for gardeners. 1. Plant warm-season…
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Year-round gardening: It’s time to start working in the garden
“In March winter is holding back and spring is pulling forward. Something holds and something pulls inside of us too.” – Jean Hersey, American author What a deliciously cold winter we’ve had. Hopefully, March will bring us an equally delightful spring that provides rain, sunshine and perennials that have survived the winter temperatures. Here are…
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Year-round gardening: Some important tasks await Coloradans as gardening season winds down
“Now, let me see … There’s the large carpet in the main hall. Clean it! And the windows, upstairs and down. Wash them! Oh yes. And the tapestries and the draperies. Do them again! And don’t forget the garden. And scrub the terrace, sweep the halls and the stairs, clean the chimneys, and of course…
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Year-round gardening: Enjoy the fruits of your labor this September
September’s splendor is arriving in our gardens. By now, most vegetables have matured and are continuing to produce and most flowers have shown the same. Days are noticeably getting shorter, and the nights are getting cooler. Here’s a look at tasks that await in the day ahead. Early September • Now is a good time…
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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: Work to be done as gardens come back to life
Typically, March is our snowiest month. But if you’ve lived here for awhile you will have heard our ever-popular cliche, “If you don’t like the weather now, stick around for an hour, it will change.” Local meteorologists do a pretty great job of predicting our weather about 97% of the time, that “3% curve ball…
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Year-round gardening: Indoor plants still benefit from outdoor conditions
For gardeners, this is a melancholy time. We miss the splash of color from flowers, the scent of fresh soil and the magic of slicing garden-grown vegetables. Alas, another growing season has passed. Let’s turn to houseplants. For hundreds of years, we have been brightening up our homes and offices by adding plants. Even though…
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Year-round gardening: Steps to prep your Colorado garden for a new year
Much of what Colorado gardeners do from now through February is getting the garden ready for next year. Here are some things to consider. Cleanup • Discard fallen, spoiled or mummified fruits to reduce insect and disease carryover. • Prune and remove dead, diseased or damaged branches from shrubs and trees. Winter is an excellent…
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Year-round gardening: August to-do list for Colorado gardeners
As gardeners, we are entering a slower, more easygoing phase. There’s always something to do in the garden, but we don’t need to keep up the frenetic pace of planting-mulching-weeding that April and May demand. June’s blooms may have faded, but with proper pruning some may reappear in August. July’s heat is over, but there’s…
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Year-round gardening: Midsummer checklist for Colorado gardeners
”Everything good, everything magical happens between the months of June and August.” — Jenny Han July is usually Colorado’s hottest month. Many gardening activities will become maintaining, weeding, even harvesting. • Gardeners can still direct seed zinnias in early July. They prefer the ground warm before emerging. They are wonderful annuals with fresh blooms that…