Arbor Day was Friday, and we would have bought our new fruit trees that day, but we weren’t pleased with the selection at the one garden center that was open past 6 p.m.

On Saturday, we found our trees at Timberline Gardens. (Timberline is a lovely garden center. We were really impressed at how well-organized and well-tended it was. I wish I had thought to take a photo of the two miniature ponies and the goat that greeted us out front.)

We came home with a Reliance Peach tree, a North Star Cherry tree and a Pioneer Chinese Apricot tree. The apricot and the cherry trees are rated to hardiness zone 4, and the peach tree is rated to zone 5, but the variety is known for its cold-hardiness. Being foothills dwellers, we live right on the edge of zones 4 and 5, so we were trying to err on the side of caution.

All three trees are self-pollinating, which is why we were able to buy a single tree of each variety.

To make room for the peach tree, we had chopped down a large, 15-year-old aspen at the edge of the yard, a harrowing project that required borrowing the neighbor’s extension ladder and several cuts with a reciprocating saw and chainsaw. We are left with a large stump that we will have to tackle later. It hurt my heart to take down that tree, but it was nearing the end of its lifespan and a large section was already dead. A peach tree growing in its place will be worth it, I think.

Digging the holes for the trees was another challenge, as everyone who has tried to dig a hole in Colorado’s clay soil knows all too well. We both thought the hole in the middle of the lawn would be the easiest dig of the three, but we were oh, so wrong. Check out the mini boulders we extracted from that spot. (I admit that I lack a certain amount of upper-body strength, so I am thankful for my husband’s brute power at moments like these.)

We roughed up the root balls of each tree and treated the roots with Myke, a powder that contains mycorrhizae, beneficial fungi that create a symbiotic relationship with plant roots. We filled the holes with 1/3 compost and 2/3 native soil and finished with a protective layer of large bark mulch.

Now, we water and wait. In a year or two, we hope to be enjoying the fruits of our labor. Bad pun, sorry, but I really do look forward to our first cherry pie, our very own Colorado sweet peaches and some luscious apricots. Fingers crossed.

Even though my backyard is small, it’s still the place we all hang out. And that means our dogs, too.

After dealing with a failing backyard lawn for the last few years, we finally bit the bullet and replaced everything with a brand spanking new carpet of green. This time, I opted for a Shade/Sun mix. With a mini-rototill, compost, and a PH treatment for dog urine, we prepared the backyard soil for 700 square feet of new sod ordered from www.scienturficsod.com. A week ago on April 7th, the temperatures were perfect for such a labor-intensive job. We rolled up our sleeves, grabbed our rakes and shovels, and set out for a morning of “get-er-done”! The truck arrived promptly at 7:30am with 1 1/2 pallets of freshly rolled sod. We still had some prep to do before laying it all down, so away we scurried to the backyard, tools in hand. Decided one of the sprinklers should be raised up and Darryl set about the job of taking care of it.

Tick-tock, tick-tock.

The sod was patiently waiting in the driveway for us to get done.

Once we started putting down the sod and about 3 hours later, we were done. Exhausted and beat, but done. Even though it wasn’t an emerald green yet, I couldn’t have been happier with the results. The three of us, tired as could be, celebrated a job well done with a cold one at Old Chicago. And as soon as we came home, relaxed and satisfied, we crashed. Hard. Just not as young as we used to be. Next time, I swear I’m hiring some young strong  guys to do this for us.

A week later and it’s greening up nicely. I anticipate the first mowing will be next weekend. I am SO happy this is done!

And not to be overshadowed by the backyard, the first set of early spring tulips and other flowers are glowing and beautiful in the front, welcoming passers-by with their bright and cheerful colors!

Finally, it feels like Spring! Now…I understand we’re expecting an inch of snow by the morning. Such is Spring in Colorado.

Spring fever and garden fever are synonymous at our house. We have spent the past couple of months busily prepping for our year two veggie garden, new flower borders, fruit bushes and trees. I began by attending a day-long gardening symposium in February presented by the CSU master gardeners (an excellent way to spend a winter day for a garden geek), which prompted a new plan for this year’s garden: three plantings rather than one.

My husband also read “The Four-season Harvest” over the winter and he was inspired by that book to consider raised beds and cold boxes (for the third, fall planting). He worked tirelessly to design eight raised beds and he built a wrought-iron fence around the garden to keep out our veggie-loving Corgi.

We scoured seed catalogs for the first time this year, and ordered most of our veggie seeds from Bountiful Gardens. We also ordered grape vines, raspberry bushes, blueberry bushes and potatoes from Gurney’s (more to come on the fruit plants in future posts).

My husband also surprised me with a gorgeous hutch for my birthday that now sits on the back patio as my brand-new potting bench. I am genuinely giddy about that new addition – a true space of my own.

Our spring planting of peas, arugula, lettuce and spinach went in – direct sow - on April 5, and we’re seeing some sprouts now. Indoors, we have started beets, broccoli, cauliflower, tomatoes, onions, peppers, leeks, garlic and chives in preparation for the second planting in late May.

Of course, spring also brings flowers. The daffodils returned again this year, but we also were surprised by the gorgeous orange tulips out front. I am biding my time waiting to plant my new gladiolus and dahlia bulbs, columbine and poppy seeds.

I look forward to a new season of gardening adventures, and I’d love to hear what you all have planned for this year as well.

After the initial bumper crop of lettuce, zucchini and yellow squash, we are finally reaching the point of harvesting our other veggies (and sugar baby watermelons).

We have been really pleased with the tomatoes. Three of the plants have really taken off, and we’re expecting at least 100 tomatoes before the season ends. We planted Celebrity Hybrids from seed and the fruits are deep red, firm and solid almost all the way through (I am not a fan of the watery goosh in tomatoes, so I am especially pleased about that last part). We made homemade salsa with the tomatoes yesterday and it was delicious! We plan to can some as well.

The potatoes are also a nice surprise. We simply planted baby yukon gold potatoes that we had purchased in the produce section at the supermarket. We let them grow eyes and planted them whole. The ones pictured are the result of a single seed potato.

Elsewhere in the garden, the onions and beets are growing quite well. The dark green sugar baby watermelons have produced sweet, juicy rewards. The carrots grew masses of fingers in the hard clay soil, as expected, but we hope this year’s work will help break up that soil for straighter carrots next year. (We will power till again before the spring planting.)

The peppers were supposed to be red bell peppers, but they are growing long and lean, more like a hot pepper. We do have an Anaheim pepper plant in another section of the garden and we’re wondering if somehow they were cross-pollinated. We haven’t tasted them yet, so I will let you know if they have any heat.

Last, but not least, we are trying our hands at canning our hard-won harvest.

My husband bought the mother of all pressure cookers (I’ll share a photo in another blog) and he’s been canning everything from smoked beans to roasted peppers. He showed me the process when we canned a large box of peaches we picked up in Palisade, Colo. (if you have never eaten a fresh Palisade peach in August, you have not lived), and he made the zucchini/yellow squash pickles pictured.

More adventures in canning to come.

The garden is thriving (for the most part) and we are anticipating a good harvest. We have already started eating the squash blossoms, zucchini and yellow squash.

The rogue giant zucchini that always seem to hide under the leaves will be turned into bread, and the small, sweet ones have been excellent sauteed with a bit of olive oil and herbs.

I have been happy to see so many welcome bugs in the garden: lady bugs, daddy long legs and honey bees. We have been fortunate that the unwelcome bugs seem to have stayed away for the most part.

The carrots seem to be growing above ground, but I wonder how they are doing below. Our first-year, clay-packed garden may be turning those roots into odd shapes. You can see in this photo that the white carrot seems to be massive and the purple carrot seems to be growing multiple fingers. The fall carrot harvest will be good for a laugh, if nothing else.

We have lots of green tomatoes ripening, the corn stalks have healthy silks and the sugar baby watermelons are almost perfectly round and growing bigger everyday.
  

I have been watching flowers grow in our front bed since late spring, convinced at first that they were peonies. As they grew, it was obvious they were not peonies, but I could not place them. They finally began to bloom last week, and they are spectacular this morning.

From the research I have done online, I believe they are asiatic lilies.

Yet another pleasant surprise offered as we watch our gardens come to life during this first year in our home.

In the backyard, where things are still quite…um…rustic, there are a few nice surprises among the rogue grasses and weeds.

The plant I knew as “Indian toilet paper” as a kid, verbascum, is popping up everywhere. I love its velvety texture.

Several soft ferns are growing in the shade along with clover and these delicate white wildflowers. I am not sure what the flowers are called.

My only complaint about the flowers so far is that everything seems to be white, pale yellow or purple. Our house is also painted a light color, so it is too much of a monotone look for me. Next year, we will be sure to add some bright colors for contrast.

The vegetable garden is also doing well.

The alternating rains and hot days have done wonders for it, especially the corn, which is now well above four feet tall.

I am growing a vegetable garden for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is the satisfaction of growing my own food. Yet, I find myself reluctant to harvest some plants because they are just too pretty to eat.

Our lettuce right now is gorgeous. Stunning. I would like to frame it and make it art in our home. This photo doesn’t do it justice, because I snapped it more than a week ago. You should see it now!

I did finally break down and snip off several leaves for us to enjoy with dinner the other night. You know what? It’s delicious as well. I suppose I will have to settle for the occasional photograph and enjoy the “art” on my plate.

Am I alone in this eccentricity?

It has been a rough couple of weeks for our new garden. When we planted on May 15, I really didn’t expect the rain to continue as long as it did. We were socked in for days, and some of our tender seedlings paid the price.

The watermelon, zucchini and cucumber seedlings effectively drowned. We have planted new seeds in their place, so we’ll see. Now that the sun seems to have made a return and the temperatures are rising, I feel more confident.

On the plus side, the lettuce and spinach is doing well and we have corn, shallots and potatoes breaking through the surface.

The tomato plants are still holding strong. I will continue to fertilize (we’re just using Miracle Gro in addition to compost this first year; I have hopes of going truly organic next year).

The soaker hose system works beautifully and that will make all the difference as we face more 90+-degree days.

Elsewhere around the yard, we have planted a few flowers and we have added a bird feeder and birdbath. A metal rooster planter, an antique store find, is our new yard mascot.

Of course, after all the rain, we’re fighting a valiant battle against the weeds that threaten to take over our entire lawn. We are growing quite a lovely crop of dandelion and thistle.

In my email I have received a great offer that gardeners will love.

This one is a Groupon coupon from Groundcovers Greenhouse and Nursery. For $25 you get $50 worth of plants and gardening supplies. Coupon expires Nov 30, 2011.

Located at 4301 East Iliff Ave Denver CO 80222,  2 blocks east of Colorado Blvd on Iliff, and Iliff is 2 blocks south of Evans Ave. The Groupon coupon has a limited quantity available, so it might be a good idea to head on over and pick one up.  “A neighborhood garden center, Groundcovers Greenhouse fills its shelves with fleets of flora, gardening gear, and outdoor décor.”

Colorado gardeners, it has been quite a season so far, hasn’t it?

As thankful as I am for the much-needed rain (let’s not even talk about the May snow), I am ready to see the springtime sun, and I am definitely ready for warmer temps.

In spite of the cold and rain, we planted our vegetables this past weekend. May 15 has always been my target planting date, and I stuck to it. I have been hardening the seedlings for several weeks, so I have every hope that they will manage well even in the cooler weather.

Light of the moon

My 95-year-old grandmother, who comes from Iowa and Nebraska farm families, recommends planting above-ground plants in the “light of the moon” and below-ground plants in the “dark of the moon.” I had every intention of following that advice in her honor, but we were on a roll and just planted everything at once. The moon was waxing as we planted on May 15, so I hope our potatoes, shallots, beets, carrots and onions won’t mind.

We also have prepared our first round of critter control: Enemy number one being our sweet, but persistent, tomato-and-lettuce-eating Welsh Corgi mix. We devised a simple fence of plastic rods and coated chicken wire, leaving enough space to walk around the front of the garden bed. She has already broken in once, by pushing over a corner rod, so we have reinforced some areas with bricks and we strung an extra line of cord to the top of the rods.