Rain, Go Away!

Gardeners appreciate summer rain, especially ones that live along the Front Range of Colorado.  We just don't get enough rain annually or seasonally to be happy, or should I say for our plants to be happy.  So we adapt and plant water thrifty plants, amend and mulch as told and hope for the best.  Every so often Mother Nature surprises us with too much rain.  She did this in September of 2013 with 500-year flooding in some areas and this week another round of cats and dogs.  My rain gauge measured just over two and half inches in less than 48 hours.  Please stop.  Below are some photos of some make shift shelters I tossed over the raised beds.  I figured that it was best to repel excess moisture and battering to prevent disease issues that may infect the plants.  I hope the humidity underneath didn't make matters worse, time will tell and I'll keep you posted.

  

Plastic Tarp on top of Tomato Cages, Shade Cloth Protection from Rain

Plastic over Hoops, Protecting Pepper and Eggplants

Laundry Basket over Small Okra Plants (three weeks old)

 

Battle of the Ash Borer

Read an excellent piece on the history and research that is currently taking place on the Emerald Ash Borer by Matthew Miller of the Battle Creek Enquirer. 
Battle of the Ash Borer: Researchers Looking to Slow Devastation Decades After Insect's Michigan Arrival

Dying Ash Trees, Boulder, CO July 2014

 

 

 

 

D-Shaped Adult Borer Exit Hole

Swiss Chard Charm

Spring planted Swiss Chard!  It was an excellent season for leafy greens.  They won't be missed for long, more plants are seeded.  Swiss chard can take the heat so I grow it all summer and use it like cut and come again lettuce.  Check out "Bright Lights," "Golden," "Peppermint" or "Electric Neon Blend" for some color pop and flavor. Baby leaf chard is ready in just 28 days or wait for the bunch in 55 days.  We steam it lightly then sprinkle with a nice balsamic vinegar.  Swiss chard is chock full of antioxidants, right up there with spinach... makes you nice and strong.   

From Tony Koski, PhD Weed Look-Alikes

Few gardeners are turf weed experts, but Dr. Koski from Colorado State University helps us with photos and explanations, check them out on the link below. He covers crabgrass, bromegrass, annual bluegrass, tall fescue, orchardgrass, yellow foxtail and bermuda grass. GREAT photos!  Bookmark it and refer back often, especially when you're reaching for some kind of broad spectrum weed spray, you better know what weed it is first!  And try digging it out, weed pulling is good for the gardener's soul.

Weed of the Moment: Crabgrass and its look-alikes

Time to Tidy up the Place

Ah...mid-July, no dog days of summer yet.  We're drying out after a few unsettled weeks of hail and moisture, plants are growing, and the days are flying by.  Summer has finally arrived in Denver.  Gardeners don't often complain about rain, but hail is a sure downer and can cause even the most optimistic gardener to feel a little blue. There's no time to cry in your ice-tea, be thankful for the moisture, now grab your shears and get outside, it's tidying up time. 

Spring and early summer blooming perennials and many annuals can use a haircut or close shave right about now (especially to clean up hail damage).  If you're not sure, take a look at your salvia plants, they are the easiest plants to practice on. The flower heads are crispy and sending seeds everywhere, not that that's a bad thing.  Re-seeders are easy to pull later or let them grow and fill up open space.

Does your plant look like this?

Salvia, along with catmint, blanket flower, coreoposis, cranesbill geranium and many more will re-bloom if regularly deadheaded or in the case of this salvia, taken down to the base of the plant. Once it's flopped open and finished blooming, nothing will help it re-bloom except a deep shearing. Or you can live with splayed plants for the rest of the summer until next spring after a long winter. Then remove the dead foliage as you do with spring clean-up. But that's a long time to wait for another flush of bloom and enjoyment. Cut it back now.

Below is what it looks like right after a heavy pruning, or what a long shouldered haircut would look like when cut to a bob length. Hair grows back quickly too, so in a few weeks this plant will be growing new locks!

Some perennials like peonies are once bloomers, nothing wrong with that, we enjoy their flowers then their foliage, which is lovely to view all season.  Check this list of other common plants for additional tips on deadheading or cutting back. To Prune or Not to Prune

Another helpful article on summer perennial pruning Summer Pinching, Cutting Back and Deadheading

There are actually five plants in this photo, all cut to the ground

  

Vegetable Planting Calendar

The third vegetable planting season is here - mid-July.  There is plenty of time to seed many different crops that will mature in about sixty days. This is based on a mid-October hard freeze.

Scroll over to the right to view the Fall Planting column.  You may have to tuck in the seeds here and there, wherever you have room for them to grow.  Keep in mind that later in August, even early September you can seed lettuce, spinach, arugula and radishes, the quicker maturing cool-season crops. 

Cool-season vegetables and herbs that can be seeded right now include beets, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, cilantro, Swiss chard, celery, collards, bunching onions, parsley, peas.

Warm-season vegetables and herbs that can be seeded right now include basil, bush beans, slicing cucumber, okra, New Zealand spinach, summer squash.

Vegetable Planting Calendar for the Colorado Front Range              Add at least 2 weeks for higher altitudes For earlier spring planting (using Tunnels, Cloches, Cold Frames), move up all dates accordingly

 

CROP – COOL SEASON	DAYS TO MATURITY	START SEEDS INDOORS	PLANT SEEDS IN THE GROUND	PLANT TRANSPLANTS OUTSIDE	FALL SEED Based on Mid-Oct. Freeze
Arugula	30		April 15-June 1		Mid-August
Asparagus	Perennial			Plant root crowns April 15 to May 15
Beets	60-65		May 1-May 15		Mid-July
Broccoli	70	March 1-Mar15		April 1-May 15	End-July
Brussels Sprouts	80-95	March 1-Mar15		April 1-May 15	Mid-July
Cabbage	60-70	March 1-Mar15		April 1-May 15	Mid-July
Carrots	55-75		May 1-May 15		End July
Cauliflower	50-55	March 1-Mar15		April 1-May 15	Mid-July
Cilantro	55-65	March 1-Mar30	May 1- May 15	May 1 -  May 15	Mid-July
Chard-Swiss	50		April 15-July 15		Mid-July
Celery	85-110			Fall planted best	Mid-July
Chinese (Napa) Cabbage	48-55	April 15-April30		May 15-June 1	End July
Chives Onion	Perennial			May 15-Sept. 15
Chives Garlic	Perennial			May 15-Sept. 15
Collards	50-55	April 15-May15			Mid-July
Garlic				Use Planting Bulbs	Mid-September Mid-October
Horseradish	Perennial			May 15-June 15
Kale, Mustard Greens	50-55		April 15-May15		Early August
Kohlrabi	55		April 15-May15		Mid - August
Lettuce Leaf	40-45		April 15-May15		Mid - August
Lettuce Head	70-80		April 15-May15		Early August
Onion Bulb	100		April 15-May15
Onion Bunching	60-80		April 15-May15		Mid-July
Parsley	75	March 1-Mar30	May 1-May 15	May 1 – May 15	Mid-July
Parsnips	85-120		April 15-May15
Peas – shell and snap	50-65		April 15-May15		Mid-July
Peas Edible Podded - snow	60				Mid-July
Potato Tubers	80-120		April 15-May15
“New” Potatoes	50-60 days		April 15-May15
Radishes	20-30		April 15-May15		Early Sept.
Rhubarb	Perennial			May 1 –June 15
Rutabaga	90-95		Early August		Early Aug
Spinach	30-50		April 15-May15		Mid - August
Turnip	40-75		April 15-May15		End July
CROP – WARM SEASON	DAYS TO MATURITY	START SEEDS INDOORS	PLANT SEEDS IN THE GROUND	PLANT TRANSPLANTS OUTSIDE	FALL SEED Based on Mid-Oct. Freeze
Basil	60-85	April 15-May 15	June 1-July 15	June 1 – August 15	Mid-July
Beans, Bush	45-50		May20-July  15		Mid-July
Beans, Pole	60-65		May 20-June 30
Corn, Sweet	65-80		May 20-June 15
Cucumber Slicing	48-72		May 20-June 15		Mid-July
Cucumber Pickling	58-58		May 20-July 1
Eggplant	60-80	March 15- April 10		May 20-June 10
Cantaloupe	85-120	April 15-May1	May 20-June 10	May 20-June 10
Okra	55-65	April 15-20	June 10-July 15	June 10-July 15	Mid-July
New Zealand Spinach	50-60		May 20-July 15		Mid-July
Pepper	70-80	March 1- April 10		May 20-June 10
Pumpkin	95-110	April 15-May 1	May 20-June 5	May 20-June 5
Squash Summer	55-65	April 15-May 1	May 20-July 15	May 20-June 10	Mid-July
Squash Winter	55-105	April 15-May 1	May 20-June 10	May 20-June 10
Tomato	60-85	March 15- April 10		May 20-June 20
Tomatillos	75-100	March 15- April 10		May 20-June 10
Watermelon	75-100	April 5-15		May 20-June 10

Document by Betty Cahill, http://gardenpunchlist.blogspot.com/