Dry Ideas

Rain, Rain, Come Our Way. Please!

dryideas@gmail.com — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 18:18:00 +0000

"Summer Sun" by Ana--driveway art adds color to a drab concrete slab. Its a sacrifice to the rain gods, hoping to get washed away in a downpour. Do you have any rituals to make the sky open?

Lady Bug, Lady Bug Fly Away Home?

dryideas@gmail.com — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 02:50:00 +0000

Q. When is a beneficial insect not beneficial?
A. When they all fly away home, without passing go or stopping for a bite to eat.

I purchased a bag of 1750 lady bugs and set them out on Friday evening to see if they would take care of the infestation of woolly aphids on a limber pine (Pinus flexilis "Vanderwolf's Pyramid") growing in my back yard. You can see the white, flaky stuff on the needles in the photo to the right. By the next morning the ladies had spread about and appeared to be going after the fuzzy splotches, although the majority of the buggers were spread throughout the wild plums (Prunus americana) that have been nursing the pines along for several years. The plums are hosting a different aphid species that is causing some of the leaves to deform. With a smorgasbord of bug delights--I felt confident in my choice to defend my trees.

I had read in several places that lady bugs are collected in the hills of California come fall when they swarm in cool places, preparing to hibernate for the winter. Buckets full of these true bugs are scraped off walls and windows, chilled and distributed the following gardening season all over the country. There were reports that the lady bugs tended to take off for greener pastures, though one source suggested spraying the ladies with soda pop as soon as they are released in order to keep them in place for a few days. Supposedly the sugary liquid will stick the bug's wings together for a few days, so they can't fly away. (The thought of exposing these innocent creatures to the perils of Coca-Cola was too much for my conscience to bear--I refrained from dousing the animals in the syrupy fluid.)

I returned to the release site today and found four lady bugs left in the vicinity--camped out on some weeds--not a one was munching on the white, fluffy fare nor the juicy, pale green variety. I had also read that the lady bugs that are collected do not feed when released because they only have one thing in mind--to lay eggs. So now the $6.95 (plus tax) question is: did they lay eggs among the aphids before they flew the coop? We shall see.

Make a Clean Cut for Mother's Day

dryideas@gmail.com — Tue, 06 May 2008 19:32:00 +0000

When I had maintenance crews doing fine gardening, some of my gardeners had problems with repetitive motion from constantly pruning day after day--the women did, but it didn't seem to affect the men. My chiropractor explained that men and women use their bodies differently--men have greater upper body strength and when doing finer motor activities such as hand pruning, have a tendency to use more muscles like the upper arm and shoulder to power the tool. Women have a tendency to use their hands and wrists, but most women have weaker hands than men, so each cut with the hand pruner concentrates the strain into a more isolated area. This problem increases as women age and I've heard many concerns about older gardening mothers unable to use by-pass shears, like Felco #2 hand shears, because they require too much hand strength. My gardeners switched to the pruners I use, which incorporate a ratcheting effect to mechanically leverage your strength. Manufactured by Florian the ratchet mechanism is available on loppers, pole pruners, and hand pruners. So give mom a break this mother's day or rather a clean cut.

Make Your Own Solitary Bee House

dryideas@gmail.com — Sat, 03 May 2008 23:21:00 +0000

The honey bee (Apis mellifera) , which is suffering from a deadly disorder, is actually an exotic insect which was brought to this country from Europe to pollinate the food crops originating from Eurasia. One third of this country's honey bees disappeared last year, on top of the third of their population lost the year before--a frightening proposition for anyone who eats. But honey bees are not the only pollinators we have: native pollinator's such as moths and solitary bees are present and can be encouraged to expand their population by providing proper habitat, including nesting sites.

Solitary bees don't live in hives the way honey bees do and they don't make honey. They aren't aggressive like honey bees and don't sting unless you torture them. They are much more efficient at pollinating compared to their continental cousins. Two of the types of solitary bees we see in this region are Leaf-cutter Bees(Megachile spp.) and Mason Bees (Osmia spp.). These bees usually nest in hollow stems of plants such as roses and raspberries, rotten wood or other narrow diameter chambers. We found leaf-cutter bee sites in the narrow slots between old wood shake shingles. Leaf-cutter bees cut a small diameter circle--perhaps 3/4" across--out of leaves to roll up and line the nesting tube. The female lays an egg, deposits pollen, then seals the chamber with mud, then laying another egg repeats the process until the chamber is full. Leaf-cutter bees especially like redbuds, lilacs, and roses in my yard. Some people are bothered by the scallop effect they leave on the leaf, but I welcome them to my garden--smiling when I see evidence of another species able to utilize plants that I enjoy.

So I decided to build a bee boudoir. This is how I did it, an amalgam of instructions from several sites including an ag station in Utah and the general design from Robert Engelhardt's piece on Wikibooks.

My daughter and I built a solitary bee house from scrap lumber and a few basic tools in about an hour and a half. I started with three end cuts of 2" x 6" construction grade redwood--one that is 13" long and two at 10". The roof is made of two 1" x 8" x 4" long redwood pieces. You can see the tools, hardware, wood, finish nails, 5/16" drill bit, glue, and sanding bloc in picture below:

I started the 5/16" hole centers 3/4" apart on a drill press then finished their 5" depth with a cordless drill. Cut 60 degree angles on the tops, sand, then glue the pieces together. Glue and nail the roof with the overhang in front.

I coated mine with vegetable oil and attached a bracket on the back.

I was trying to decide where to hang the nesting block, so it was just left on the deck for a week or so. Sure enough, a bee has already begun to fill it. In the last photo you can see four holes--the top left hole has been plugged with a grainy substance that looks like soil. I'm going to hang the house on a south facing wall where I can pull a chair up and observe the critters coming and going.

Community Supported Agriculture Keeps Food Local

dryideas@gmail.com — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 00:53:00 +0000

My name is Susan Singley and I am the Assistant CSA coordinator at Grant Family Farms. Lise asked me to write a guest entry about Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) to help Colorado gardeners and eaters turn our minds to summer vegetable season!

Joining a CSA is a terrific way to connect directly with local farmers. If you enjoy the community connections and good food at the Farmers’ Market during the summer, you might want to check out a CSA. Here’s how it works: Based on an annual commitment to one another, community members purchase a “share” of a farm’s seasonal harvest (with our farm, that’s June through early December). The shareholder receives a weekly box of fresh organic vegetables and fruit throughout the growing season, harvested at the peak of ripeness and flavor. CSA farms are typically organic (ours is) and practice sustainable farming practices.

CSA shareholders love knowing that the food is grown just for them! And, CSA members enjoy getting to know one another during pickup times. It’s common to see local-eating organic-loving people exchange knowing glances and recipes over the gorgeous, classic bounty of tomatoes and sweet corn - and over the once strange but now beloved kohlrabi in their box!

To learn more about CSAs, check out Local Harvest

To learn more about Grant Family Farms, check out our website. Yes, we still have shares available, and we deliver to Denver!

Photo courtesy of Grant Family Farms.

Solitary Bees to the Rescue

dryideas@gmail.com — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 05:54:00 +0000

Happy Earth Day! I had a great time celebrating early with the Denver Botanic Gardens at the Sustainability Fair. Welcome new readers and thanks for taking time to check out Dry Ideas. Please feel free to leave comments as the spirit moves you.

My talk went well, but by far the biggest hit was the Solitary Bee House I built from scrap lumber I had in my yard. Stay tuned for instructions on how to make your own Bee Boudoir just in time for the busy bee season. Solitary bees have no hives and make no honey, but they are champion pollinators, native to our region but also well adapted to imported forage crops like alfalfa and many of our ornamental landscape plants. You'll know when one of the species--the Leafcutter Bee--is around because they cut near perfect 3/4" diameter circles out of the edges of leaves. Some of their favorite landscape plants are lilac, redbud, and roses. They don't harm the plant, they just strike lightning fast leaving their own sort brand--a Zorro style slash (circular in shape).

Visit Dry Ideas at Sustainability Fair

dryideas@gmail.com — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 05:36:00 +0000

Denver Botanic Gardens hosts a sustainability fair this Sunday April 2o from 9 to 5. I'll be there to talk to people about this blog along with some great landscape contractors like Art of the Land and Eco-savy. At 11:30, I'll be giving a talk on "Five Steps To Sustainable Gardens". There will be speakers on a wide variety of "green" subjects throughout the day, as well as, booths with information ranging from household cleaning products to solar to worm composting in the high desert. There will be garden tours and a probable visit by the Bag Monster. Entry is included with the price of admission, so come on down and greenify while you peruse all the bulbs and early spring plants in bloom.

April Garden Blogger's Bloom Day

dryideas@gmail.com — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 04:01:00 +0000

I was out of town last weekend and returned to a landscape of swollen buds on all the spring flowering trees. Today, while I was learning about insect scatology, temperatures of over 80 degrees and a warm, constant wind, coaxed the ornamental pears (Pyrus calleryana ‘Chanticleer’) into full bloom. A rapid change in weather is supposed to bring snow tomorrow---ahh, springtime in Colorado!

Last month I completely forgot that this is the season for one of my favorites--hellebores. This genus of plants is native to lime soils in Europe and Asia. Lime increases the pH of soil and we have high pH soils, so I suppose that is why they thrive here. I have several different species--all of which are in "bloom" now. Hellebores are members of the buttercup family which makes sense when you look at the flowers.Lenten Rose (Helleborus orientalis), shown below in the next two photos, starts blooming in March. Honey bees love it--they co-evolved in their native Europe and hellebores bloom at a time when fewer species are blooming.

The next species, Helleborus foetidus, sometimes called Stinking Hellebore (though I have never noticed an odor) or Bear's Claw is a fantastic plant. This plant is a truly xeric plant for me in shade and where it grows in near full sun, does happily with over spray from the lawn sprinkler. It is evergreen, has a wonderful palmate leaf , and a chartreuse panicle of flowers. It's not long lived, but reseeds readily--not obnoxiously--so it will multiply if you leave the seedheads long enough to allow reseeding.

In the Garden

dryideas@gmail.com — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 06:01:00 +0000

I've been a pruning fool lately. My partner chipped a mountain of branches for me and my payback was to fill the bin for them way above the top, plus create more piles--caught short of being dispatched to the bin--when my daughter performed a necessary intervention. I was in a low sugar stupor when she found me and led me back inside. It happens every spring when I suddenly panic that the garden won't be "ready" in time--in time for what I do not know. It will take me a month or so to get back in the groove, but eventually I will have settled on a comfortable gardening uniform made up of various hats, a stained vest with pockets full of bits of old plastic, dirt, and broken irrigation parts, and old sneakers with grass seed crudely woven into the laces. I'll remember to drink plenty of liquids, take a break for something to eat before I become comatose, and dowse myself with sunscreen. I'll begin to move with more ease as I work through the stiffness that winter invited into my joints and muscles. But chances are my daughter will still find me at the end of the day lost in my thoughts, wandering through the garden stooping to pull at a plant that has chosen to make itself at home just in the exact spot where I do not want it to be. I'm eagerly anticipating weather that is warm enough to sit in the rain and weed. We all do outrageous things to accommodate our passion for gardening. My most extreme act for the love of gardening was to put up flood lights so we could continue gardening long after the sun set. What's your most extreme act in the name gardening?

Thank you to my daughter Ana for her "April Cat" drawing.

Contest Fails to Germinate Interest

dryideas@gmail.com — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 18:05:00 +0000

"The Pot with a Purpose Contest" has failed to capture the interest of readers, so there will be no winner. I'd like to thank Renee Shepard, owner of Renee's Garden for sponsoring the contest and hope some of you were able to get some usable information from the related posts. I plan to experiment this year with container gardening and hope to report on my thoughts about them through the seasons. I do hope that if you are planning to do any container gardening this year you'll consider adding some purpose to your pots. Some functions to consider include:

Edible--Renee has an article on the basics of container gardening, and the internet has a profusion of information on the subject. I think I'll try tomatillos in a pot this year, put it in a big pot with a simple support structure, and place it in a corner of a patio where it can burst forth with it's fruit--papery covered small green tomatoes that are great for green chili. I once planted them in a garden bed and the plant promptly took over spilling forth little fruits that overwintered in the soil and sprouted hundreds of tomatillo seedlings the following spring. Actually, I'm going for a Mexican food theme for some of my pots, adding chilies and cilantro to the mix. I'm also going to grow nasturtiums in containers to utilize the blossoms in salads and stirfry. Other blossoms that add interest to food include those of herbs such as chives and basil, as well as roses and violets. Read Renee's article on edible flowers, including some recipes here.

Habitat--Plants represent food to more than just humans, which can be a good news/bad news scenario. Insects and other arthropods feed on plants, and depending upon whether humans have declared them damaging to something we want, the critters are called pests. But there is another category--the beneficial insects--that feed on or parasitize the insects we don't want. These are the good guys/gals that keep balance in the garden habitat and prevent or minimize infestations by pests. An over abundance of pests in the garden is a sign that the garden is out of balance. Too many aphids on your roses? You might want to lay off the high nitrogen fertilizer that caused the rapid, succulent growth that attracted the aphids in the first place. In a healthy garden if the aphids had a sudden population surge, there would be a period of imbalance until a predator ramped up to tame the hordes. In this way, nature acts like a market economy--with supply and demand ebbing and flowing in a balance tuned over millions of years. When we interfere with the incredible, seemingly impossible fluidity of nature by spraying an insecticide, we kill the beneficial insects honing in for the kill, right along with the pests. Purposely providing habitat for the insects we do want helps assure they will be there working behind the scenes to work towards ecological balance in our gardens.

I'll be giving some specifics about how to provide habitat for beneficial insects in the next few weeks, as well as, look at a way to reuse nursery pots and build a bee house to attract solitary bees in order to improve the pollination of my fruit trees.

Nasturtium photo courtesy of redster.

Spring Has Sprung At Kendrick Lake Park

dryideas@gmail.com — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 03:13:00 +0000

I took a walk the other day at Kendrick Lake Park, not far from my home in Lakewood. There is a public garden there with a great collection of native and regionally appropriate plants, artfully juxtaposed with large boulders on low mounds. Pathways meander among the mounds creating islands of texture and color. The color is very muted right now, with most plants cut back to prepare for spring. Grasses are cut down to 6 - 12" and the yellow greens of Manzanita, Yucca, bear grass, and Agave species serve as a back drop for the brilliant blue Iris reticulata. My daughter and I strolled around the lake, moving in and out of clouds of midges, who undoubtedly had been awakened by the recent spate of warm weather we've had. Spring indeed has sprung.

Many people, when they encounter midges, think they are mosquitoes because they seem to swarm. But these primitive flies are non-biting and are merely swarming in a mating frenzy, waiting for a female to dash into the cloud and select some lucky fellow. The larvae float at the ponds edge, waiting for a warm day to burst into flight, if they are lucky enough to not become fish fodder.

I plan to return periodically to document the garden as it progresses through the seasons--showing the seasonal form of these beautiful plants that deserve a place in our gardens. I hope to tell a story about the plants that are at home in our region--picturing various plants throughout the seasons so you have an idea what the plants look like and how to take care of them.

New "Pot with a Purpose Contest" Begins

dryideas@gmail.com — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 02:48:00 +0000

I'm talking container gardening here, not medical marijuana. Container gardening is big these days. I've seen some very inventive examples at local garden centers and at the Denver Botanic Gardens that include unusual, showy tropical plants mixed with old standbys, as well as, beautiful groupings of single species of pots brought together based on color and textural themes. Timberline Gardens, in Arvada, CO has spectacular looking pots that combine succulents with drought tolerant annuals and perennials that truly elevates the technique to an art form.

But my conscience pricks at my gardening mind with the thought that beauty in the garden just isn't quite enough rationalization for using precious resources. Containers can have a tendency to require more water than if the plants were planted in the ground because the sides of a container expose the interior soil to the day's heat and results in faster evaporation. Plastic pots can help alleviate this problem, but using moisture reserving polyacrylamide crystals has some serious detractors. Still, with my evolving interest in mitigating the environmental impacts of the built landscape, I am adopting a standard that compels me to make every effort and resource I use, count for something more than just a pretty face.

So with the goal of making beautiful container gardens that provide double duty--beauty and function--I am announcing the newest contest: The Pot With A Purpose Contest. The winner of the contest will receive a $25 gift certificate from Renee's Gardens for seeds of your choice.

The Rules: The purpose of the contest is to stimulate some thought about how we can use containers to create beautiful compositions that also serve an additional raison d'être. Each time you post with a description of a planted container you will be entered into the raffle to win the gift certificate from Renee's Garden. In each of your posts, include the purpose of the plant assemblage as well as the plants' names (common name and species name, if pertinent). Here's an example:

Purpose: Back Door, Need a Pinch, Herb Garden.
Plants: Chives, Peppermint, Pineapple Mint, Bronze Fennel, Edible Ornamental Oregano, Dill, and Red Leaf Lettuce.

The purpose of the container garden can be to grow edibles, such as herbs, flowers, and vegetables, medicinal plants, plants to attract beneficial insects or any purpose you might conjure. Be imaginative or nostalgic, there will be no horticultural judgments about your plant selections. The contest runs from today through March 28--ten days for you to post your possibilities in the comments section on my blog site. I will offer some resources about container gardening basics, design, and beneficial insects to spur your creativity ever onward.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

dryideas@gmail.com — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 23:41:00 +0000

Here's to wishing you a bit o' the green!

Thanks for the use of the photo stevekrh19.

Garden Blogger's Bloom Day March 2008

dryideas@gmail.com — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 03:55:00 +0000

There is an apparent tradition among garden bloggers to post photos of whatever is blooming in their garden on the 15th of the month. So in an effort in support of the tradition, here are my blooms.

Jasminum nudifolium is a great plant for the top of a wall as it tumbles over edges.

Yellow form of Iris reticulata 'Joyce'

Daffodils are so close to blooming.

A crocus peeking through winter cover.

Multiple colors of crocus bloom in a buffalo grass lawn.

Iris reticulata

The Clock is Ticking--Time to Order Seeds

dryideas@gmail.com — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 04:07:00 +0000

The clock is ticking. Time to order seeds.You can buy them in your local garden center or online. Advantages to getting them through your local independent garden center is that a reputable store has personnel who are really knowledgeable about gardening in your region and should have pre-selected the varieties of seeds that will do well in your region. Some garden centers have good depth of staff who are knowledgeable, though a few just have warm bodies. I recommend different stores to different people depending on what the person needs. Generally, you get what you pay for: cheap plants from Big Box retailers who seldom have anyone more knowledgeable than a cashier, mis-handle the plants because of this lack of knowledge, provide a very limited offering, which may not even be appropriate for this region. But you can get great deals on common plants if you are careful to check the health of the plants and are able to identify the plant you are buying. On the other extreme are the independent garden centers and nurseries that offer superior quality and service and guess what? They cost more. The only place you are going to get ripped off is the place that charges high prices for shoddy product and no service. If you don't know what something is or how to take care of it and can't find someone to answer your questions, don't buy it--it's a dead plant.

Buying through a catalog or online has its advantages, but with a few caveats. The internet is a bonanza for seed searchers--just type the Latin name into Google and you hit a jackpot--an undifferentiated jackpot--maybe potential jackpot is a better way to put it. All the caveat emptor's of buying on the internet apply or you may end up with weed seed, invasive plants, Zone 11 exotics planted in your front courtyard, or any number of problems. But the internet has so much information that it shouldn't be hard to get your questions answered--you just need to do it for yourself.

To get you started here are a few companies I've dealt with in the past:

One of the oldest seed companies in the region is in north Denver. Rocky Mountain Seed Company has been around since 1920. They finally left their old building off of Larimer Square and moved up to 6541 N. Washington St. Sales people are knowledgeable and helpful. Their web site is under construction, but you can get a catalog by calling 303-623-6223.

Reader Maryanne Grace and I both agree Pinetree Gardens is a great place to get small quantities of seed. It seems that at some places you are forced to buy enough seed for a market farmer and it goes bad after a few years--especially out west where it's so dry. Pinetree has a nice selection of vegetable and flower seeds, with a website that is much more colorful than the black and white seed list I'm used to looking at.

For rock garden plants, wildflowers and natives try Alplains Seeds out of Kiowa, CO. Their website is a lot like a seed list, with Latin names only and location where seed was collected. This is a serious spermologist's candy store. The listing of seeds includes information on how to germinate these obscure progeny. There aren't very many photos of plants on the site and no way to search by photo, but try pasting the name of the plant into Google Images and you should be able to find a photo of seeds you are interested in.

Plants of the Southwest is another source for plants native to the western US, as well as vegetables, wildflowers, and shrubs. They have photos of flowers, drought tolerant food crops, and a wide choice of chili peppers.

A wide variety of grasses are available from Arkansas Valley Seed in Denver off of I-70 at
Colorado Boulevard and other locations in Colorado and South Dakota. Pawnee Buttes Seed in Greeley, CO also has a good selection of grasses.

I've been getting vegetable seed from Renee's Gardens for the last several years. Renee Shepard was owner of Shepard's Garden Seeds whom I used to order from, but she sold out to White Flower Farm. She's been back at it for awhile now, perfecting her offerings of vegetable and flower seeds. Renee has graciously agreed to sponsor my next contest, for which the winner will receive a $25.00 gift certificate to her online store. You can also find her seeds in some of the local garden centers. My favorite from Renee's Garden is a collection of gold, red, and orange cherry tomatoes--eat them right out of the garden.

If you can't find what you want from these companies, try a general search with Google. You don't need the Latin name for standard vegetables, but for something specific a Latin name is the only way to know you're getting the right seed. Before you buy, you can check Dave's Garden Watchdog to find ratings of most of the legitimate companies. I'd stick to these companies unless you have a personal referral to a particular company.

Finally, for a copy of what may be considered the seed starters bible refer to Norm Deno’s book, Seed Germination Theory and Practice, for details on over 4000 species. You can write him directly at 139 Lenor Drive, State College, PA 16801.

Thanks to emdot for use of the photo.

Five Considerations Before Buying Seeds

dryideas@gmail.com — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 23:39:00 +0000

I could be the poster child for Seeders Anonymous. I have a black thumb when it comes to starting seeds indoors. Every few years I get ambitious about using plants started from seed, drool over seed catalogues, spend entirely too much money and order more seed than I could possibly have room to start indoors. Once the seed arrives, I procrastinate, struggle with making a decision on how to start the seeds, and then ultimately forget to water at a crucial time in the seedling’s development. My first steps in overcoming my problem is to admit I am powerless over this ineptitude and plead with my partner to start the seeds for me—so far I have had little success.

Face it, growing a garden—flower or vegetable—from seed can be tricky: if it weren't garden centers would have little reason to exist than to sell seed. The upside to using seed to start plants is that the entire world of plants is at your disposal. Nurseries can only offer a tiny percentage of the plants that live in this world for sale as live plants. If a plant isn’t available in the trade, the only way you can grow it is if you can start it from seed. Starting plants by seed brings us much closer to the cycles of life than most any other activity we might choose. Here is an acceptable form of sexual voyeurism with a triple ‘G’ rating. We have the opportunity to observe the unfolding of a miracle—that a plant can encapsulate its full being in one small package and make life possible for animals on this planet. This is serious stuff, rewarding the gardener with a glimpse into the natural world.

I like to be rewarded for my efforts, so I’m at it again with my attempt to grow from seeds. The place to start is where everything in gardening should start—with a plan of course. Sitting fireside, seed catalogue in hand, we can dream of fields of flowers, baskets of ripe fruit and rafters full of drying herbs, but we’ll never get there if we don’t set some goals and guidelines. Take some time before tackling the seed lists to consider the following:

Experience and Skill Level: I have experience with no resultant skill level. There are differing levels of skill required to propagate different species of plants. One thing I like about the Thompson and Morgan seed catalogue is that they list the level of experience and care required to achieve best results—something I was unable to find on their website. In general, most annuals are pretty easy to start by seed, perennials take more effort, and woody plants may require advanced techniques. Of course there are exceptions to the rule, but one of the reasons we eat the foods we eat is because they are easy to propagate. So, if its veggies and pretty flowers you want to grow, chances are they will be relatively easy.

Room to Grow: Obviously, you need space to grow the plants but another consideration is whether the seed needs to be started before it is safe to plant outdoors. Many of the vegetable plants we grow are tropical or sub-tropical, requiring warm soil temperatures in order to grow. Seeds for tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, and eggplants won’t germinate in cool soils. In this region soils don’t get warm until June, so in order to grow these plants and get fruit before the hard freeze in fall, the plants need to be started indoors. Most seeds need a warm, moist environment to germinate and then require plenty of bright light to grow into seedlings. A simple method to germinate seeds is to start them on top of the refrigerator where it tends to be warmer—you can use anyplace that isn’t in direct sun, is consistently warm but not so hot it dries out the seeding medium too fast and most important for me—is someplace out of the way, but not out of mind--you’ll need to check on them daily. Once the seeds germinate they need a place in the sun or bright lights to develop from seedlings into viable plants. This is what takes some space and why timing is such an issue.

Timing: Dependent upon the climate conditions where it originally evolved, a plant has preferences for growing conditions—some of which are non-negotiable. One element that is pretty much cast in stone is the time it takes for a plant to reach maturity, and as with vegetables, the time it takes for the fruit to ripen. When the growing season—the time between freezing temperatures in spring and fall—is short, the gardener needs to select a cultivar that will ripen before fall frosts.

For example, corn, depending on the cultivar, takes anywhere from around 70 to over 120 days from planting to harvesting. In Denver, the growing season runs between mid-May to mid-September—somewhere around 120 days, but corn is sub-tropical in origin, so it needs soil temperatures of at least 60 degrees. Most years, soil temperature hasn’t reached optimal temperature by mid-May, so a cultivar that needs 120 days probably won’t yield much before air temperatures drop below freezing and kill the plant in the fall. This is because the seed will sit in the soil until the soil warms enough for the seed to germinate, which could take several weeks. Ways to cope with the constraints of temperature include selecting a cultivar that requires a shorter time to reach maturity—in the 70-90 day range, warming soil by the use of a heating cable or Wall O’ Water, starting the seeds indoors or buying seedlings from a garden center just before planting time. To start seeds indoors count back 5-6 weeks from your area’s last frost date to determine when to begin—in Denver that would mean starting seed sometime around the beginning of April. You can start earlier, but the seedlings will probably get leggy unless you have a greenhouse or adequate grow lights. Non-tropical vegetables such as peas, brassicas, and greens like cooler temperatures and tend to bolt once the heat of summer sets in. Peas are planted in this area around St. Patrick’s Day, spinach about the same time.

Cultural Requirements: Of course the cultural requirements—light, water, soil & nutrition—are important to your selection of seeds to grow. Most vegetables need full sun, lots of consistent water, and well drained, nutritious soil with neutral pH. You can get away with planting leaf and root crops in part sun and there are selections of vegetables that are more drought tolerant by their nature, but water is generally another non-negotiable requirement. Vegetables can develop a bitter taste if they are not watered consistently, partly because the minerals that these plants need to develop fully are water soluble—no water, no nutrients. Tomatoes develop blossom end rot when there isn’t a consistent amount of water to transport calcium to the fruit during development. If you have a space you want to use that won’t receive regular water, it won’t be a good place for vegetables and you should put drought tolerant plants there instead. When growing vegetables in containers where the amount of soil is limited, so the amount of available water is limited, you must be vigilant about keeping the soil moist in the container if you want vegetables that taste good. I’m not a fan of bitter tastes and our broccoli sometimes becomes inedible if we have an extreme heat wave or a malfunction in the drip system.

Preferences: You might look at this as a half full/half empty kind of philosophy—you can choose what you like, then eliminate the plants that won’t grow under the limitations you established under the considerations above. Or you could limit the offerings first, then choose the plants you like.

To find more information try some of these resources:

Growing Plants from Seed

Starting Seeds Indoors

Not sure about frost dates in your area? Check with your state cooperative extension service. Colorado State Extension has lots more information available here.

Seeds Are For Sprouting

dryideas@gmail.com — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 04:07:00 +0000

There's been a spot of nice weather lately and my bulbs are starting to stretch through the surface of the soil. Buds are swelling, though the sun still casts elongated shadows.The air feels warm but the ground radiates its chill. People are starting to notice it is lighter later. There is hope spring is coming, but deep inside we know there are two good months before we can cautiously put aside our expectation of a freak snow storm or a 70 mph wind.

One way to divert ourselves from the varying weather extremes, is to get going with indoor seed starting. I'll cover some of the techniques for starting seeds indoors, as well as some sources for seed. Then we'll top it off with a contest in which the winners receive seed they actually want.

To get everything off to a good start, here's a little video to inspire you. A word of caution--the soundtrack to the video is a little over the top.

Thanks to mindlapse at YouTube for the use of the video.

One Degree Could Devastate Our Region

dryideas@gmail.com — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 18:29:00 +0000

I watched National Geographic Channel's "Six Degrees Could Change the World" last week and still have it very much on my mind. It is powerfully graphic with estimates of what could happen to the natural systems on the planet after each degree rise of Earth's average temperature up to six degrees warmer.

At one degree rise, scientists predict the plains of the western US will become hyper arid, wiping out grazing and dry land farming in the region. As the average temperature rises, areas of the world that are now productive agricultural land will see great reductions in productivity and areas such as northern Canada will become the new breadbaskets to the world. It hasn't been until recently that science has had computers powerful enough to develop models that could help in predicting the consequences of global warming, but knowledge of the fundamental principle of heat trapping emissions and their influence on Earth's temperature has been around since 1896.

One degree, or even six degrees doesn't seem like it could impact something as complex as nature. I certainly can't discern the difference between 50 and 51 degrees from one day to the next and our daily temperatures can fluctuate nearly one hundred degrees in a single day. But we are talking averages here, and in the case of climate change, scientists use air temperatures on land and the temperature of the ocean in determining the average degree of the earth, which is calculated on the Celsius scale. I never took a class in statistics, but in reasoning through what I learned way back in high school, when dealing with a lot of numbers it takes major change in many of the numbers to change the average significantly. Also, while air temperature fluctuates wildly on a daily basis, water requires significant amounts of energy to raise its temperature, especially when you are considering the volume of water Earth's oceans contain. I'd love to see a mathematician's explanation of just how big a change it takes to move the average temperature one degree.

Reliable data concerning global temperatures has only been available since the late 1800's. Since that time Earth's average temperature has changed just about .8 degrees--in part because the industrial revolution caused humans to start burning fossil fuels in large amounts. The last time it changed that much in this region, it took thousands of years to change, but the results were the same--the desertification of the western plains. When the earth's temperature changed as much as six degrees during the age of dinosaurs, it caused their extinction and required hundreds of millions of years for the Earth to sequester the increased amount of carbon from its atmosphere to create the environment with which humans are familiar. So temperature change isn't unprecedented on our planet, but the rapidity of change is. More information is available on the website of the Union of Concerned Scientists.

NGC's program made a profound impression on me because it translated an obscure set of statistics into concrete possibilities. Ever increasing severity of weather could cause massive starvation and relocation of hundreds of millions of people, the extinction of thousands of plants and animals, along with the economic and political fallout that results from the ensuing turmoil. It's not the kind of world I wish upon my daughter and her descendants. You can read about some of the schemes to reverse global warming here--all of which would cost billions and have potentially serious unintended consequences.

For anyone unable to watch the program--it is available in the Denver area through Comcast On Demand--I will send a copy on DVD. I'll send a copy to anyone pledging to show it to at least ten people and am happy to send multiple copies to anyone who feels inspired to expose greater numbers to this information. Just email with your mailing address at dryideas AT gmail DOT com. With the election coming up in November, it's important to understand the immediacy of this problem and work to ensure elected officials place a priority on climate change.

Photo: Thanks to catchke2ro

Sustainable Landscaping Symposium at Denver Botanic Gardens

dryideas@gmail.com — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 19:46:00 +0000

This Thursday, February 14, I will be speaking at the Sustainable Landscaping Symposium at Denver Botanic Gardens about the ways landscapes contribute to pollution. The title of the program is Passion to Action: Professional Practices For Now and the Future and includes national and local speakers presenting information on sustainable landscapes in the Front Range of Colorado.

Featured speakers will be Kim Sorvig, co-author of Sustainable Landscape Construction: A Guide to Green Building Outdoors and Garth Conrad, landscape designer, Environmental Chair for the Association of Professional Landscape Designers (APLD), and board member of the Midwest Ecological Landscaping Association (MELA).

For more information about the symposium and co-sponsor Front Range Sustainable Landscaping Coalition visit their wiki at www.frslc.wetpaint.com or visit DBG's site to register.

Six Degrees Could Change the World

dryideas@gmail.com — Sat, 09 Feb 2008 21:39:00 +0000

Just catching up on my email after vacationing in sunny Florida--well maybe it's not as sunny as Colorado--but it was definitely warmer. I'll be writing about my trip soon, but until then, I wanted to let you know about a show on the National Geographic Channel on Sunday, February 10 about global warming. Sure, we've all heard about global warming and you may have even bought new oven mitts to support the cause, but National Geographic is a respected organization and should do a good job sorting out the hyperbole from the realities.

The program is from 6pm to 8pm MST or 8pm to 10pm and is titled "Six Degrees Could Change the World." NGC describes the program as visualizing "the devastating ecological impact each single degree increase in temperature could have on our planet over the next century." More information and an interview with the author of the book with the same title is available here.

Regional Garden Gurus Site Launches

dryideas@gmail.com — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 21:59:00 +0000

SUSTAINABLE = REGIONAL

Creating a sustainable garden requires gardening in a manner appropriate to that site--soil, temperature, precipitation,and light all impact what type of plants will or will not thrive. The best gardening advice is definitely local, which is the driving principle behind a new website called Regional Garden Gurus .

Guru, here, refers to writers, teachers, and designers providing sound regional gardening information, using articles, podcasts, videos, and interesting links for the region they write about.

THE FOUNDING GURUS

Don Engebretson (pictured above), the Renegade Gardener, is an award winning garden writer and designer hailing from the cold regions of Minneapolis, Minnesota. Don writes with humor about the trials and tribulations of gardening in USDA Zones 2-4.

Susan Harris, of Sustainable-Gardening, is also one of the guiding forces behind the award-winning blog, Garden Rant. You can also check out her sustainable gardening videos at MonkeySee for general information. She writes and lives in the muggy region of Washington, D.C., USDA hardiness Zones 4-7.

Ginny Stibolt is a horticulturist and writer in the northern reaches of Florida. Her new book, "Sustainable Gardening for Florida" is due out in 2009. Adventures of a Transplanted Gardener is her site where her naturalist commentary also includes podcasts of her radio show.

And last, but not least, there is me--working on the high plains of the Rocky Mountain region.

We're looking for more gurus, if you or someone you know is interested in writing about a region in the US, just drop me a line at dryideas at gmail dot com.

Need A Vacation? Flickr Geotagging Takes You Away

dryideas@gmail.com — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 05:29:00 +0000

Been reaching the end of your rope? It's been mighty cold for weeks on end and it's just about time for the ice and snow to melt. But if you can't get away from the office right now you can still take a virtual break from our winter weather by using Flickr's geotagging feature.

Flickr is a photo sharing site that allows people to upload photos online so other people can view and use them. I use photos from Flickr for my blog and that is that is where I got this picture of a manatee. (Thanks, Talking Tree, for the use of your photo.)

Geotagging is the practice of labeling photos with geographic information--such as GPS data. At Flickr, photographers place photo locations on a map, which allows the viewer to search the map for a location and then be able to view the photos from that site. It is becoming quite popular with professional photographers as discussed here. I had a great break from the grind by just playing with the map.

So here's the part about vacationing--I am going on a trip soon to Florida and thought I'd check out where we were going to swim with the manatees. And since none of you can come with me, I thought I'd offer you the virtual option. So don your wet suits and take a dip in the Crystal River, but unlike me, you can rush off to Sao Paulo, Brazil if the manatees don't show.

A Tribute to MLK

dryideas@gmail.com — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 02:05:00 +0000

My daughter has been studying Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I have a Dream" speech in school. Her assignment was to write her own speech about something about which she felt strongly. I want to share her words because they give me hope that the world will change for the better.

My Vision

I have a vision where we do not only respect all humans, but we respect animals, reptiles, and all living things.

I have a vision where we respect the earth, our only home and we see it as it is repaired from pollution--as a thing, not to rule, but to tend as a loved one.

I have a hope that all the future generations get to see a world without war or pollution. That they get to be judged, not by color, not by religion, not by type of family, but by what is in their hearts.

I have a hope that people of other counties and races do not have to put a boundary between them, but rush out to them.

I have a hope that no one's stomach keeps them awake because they are hungry. That no one shivers in the cold. That no one is sick because he or she is not protected. That no one can not afford to go to school because they do not have the money.

I have a vision where the ocean is clean and we share fish with ocean creatures. That we do not pour yucky water into the sea.

I have a dream where children can play hand-in-hand and not worry about the future.

So my friends, I would like you to help me with this vision, for I can not do it alone. I would like you to help me clean our beautiful home: earth.

Ana, Age 10

Book Sings Praises of Native Plants for Wildlife

dryideas@gmail.com — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 21:14:00 +0000

As I slog through my electronic nightmare, I've been trying to get in some non-computer reading. While I have gotten a break from high tech, I haven't gotten a respite from discouraging information on the environmental front. According to a new book I'm reading, Bringing Nature Home: How Native Plants Sustain Wildlife In Our Gardens by Douglas W. Tallamy, only 3 to 5 percent of land in this country remains intact as habitat for plants and animals. Research has shown a 1:1 correlation between habitat loss and species extinction--suggesting a potential loss of over 95% of plant and animal species native to this country. If we don't find a way to provide adequate habitat for wildlife, we will loose the majority of species that exist today. Where there are now hundreds of plants and animals in danger of extinction in the United States, there will be thousands lost forever. Tallamy doesn't say how much time we have to turn things around, but he believes that gardeners can have a major role in whether we will be able to sustain the natural world in any recognizable form.

His premise is that native plants are by far more efficient in providing biomass to support the food chain that exists in nature than plants brought in from outside their native range, such as plants used in ornamental horticulture and food crops. As an entomologist, he knows that native flora supports native fauna and because plants and animals evolved together, most of the animals (mainly arthropods) cannot feed on these alien plants. He states that over ninety percent of animal species are specialists--leaving only ten percent able to feed on more than a few species of plants. Without the native plants to support wildlife, they will disappear--forever.

So what if we loose the majority of creepy-crawlies? Few humans would be upset by the loss of roaches, mosquitoes,and pill bugs. But those aren't the ones that would be lost because they are generalists that have adapted to life with humans. Instead, it means we loose all those specialists that feed on those creepy-crawly specialists--moving on up the food chain to the "charismatic animals" that we would miss,such as panda bears and zebras and bald eagles. Its the diversity of animal and plant life that keeps natural services--the ability to cleanse air, water and waste products--intact.

Tallamy's solution to diminished habitat is for gardeners to plant natives. This would be a positive move toward sustainability, but alone it won't come close to solving the problems associated with loss of habitat. Urban land use only accounts for 2.6% of the total 2.3 billion acres in the entire US. Adding rural residential to urban use brings the total potential area to only 7% of total acreage. Grazing accounts for 35% of all land use and two thirds of all agricultural use. Wildlife would be far better served if we drastically reduced our consumption of meat (my apologies to my ranching friends)and/or restored marginal agricultural land to support native wildlife. I do believe we need to make our landscapes productive and sustainable. Our goal should be to use land in a way that supports as many species as possible.

Bringing Nature Home does a good job of educating about the importance of arthropods and plants to the health of humans and the planet, but the information provided about wildlife and plants has a decidedly eastern US slant. Most of the horticultural information is based on the author's home turf in Pennsylvania and Delaware, and there is no information specific to the Rocky Mountain Region. But I recommend reading the book for it's eye-opening information on the state of habitat in this country--probably best borrowed from the library (it's the sustainable thing to do).

Alien Plants

dryideas@gmail.com — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 23:20:00 +0000

One of the reason's I am passionate about changing the way we look at the natural world is because I don't think we should be leaving a broken world to future generations. I read a term the other day that institutionalized this problem: intergenerational justice. I had never heard the term before, though the old Native American saying about being responsible for future generations has certainly been popularized by Seventh Generation. My ten year old daughter cries when we watch shows like the BBC's Planet Earth because she's afraid so many of the animals will go extinct during her lifetime. It is a type of despair that I don't ever remember feeling--even when we were instructed as children to get under our desks in case of a nuclear explosion. So we decided Ana is going to help me write my blog by contributing to it every now and then. The first thing we want to share is a video entitled "Alien Plants", because sometimes when things seem really bleak with trying to save the natural world from utter destruction, we need to be able to experience a little wonder and chuckle a bit.

Note: I downloaded this video from YouTube, but do not know to whom to attribute it. I will try and ascertain the artist and the story behind the footage as soon as those aliens stop possessing my computer.