This week will be a challenging one for gardeners; we will have night temperatures in the mid-20s Wednesday through Friday, before the next warming trend. We are also expecting snow and perhaps sleet. There are a number of ways to protect your plants including row cover, solar caps, upside-down pots. See below for details. [Read More]
Harlequin’s Gardens offers a lot of exceptional and unusual varieties of veggies that you won’t find anywhere else!
Our selection of cool-season veggies continues to expand daily as do
our perennials. There are many veggies, including onions, leeks, Asian
greens, bok choy, and heading type of brassicas (broccoli, cauliflower,
cabbage) that will yield larger and better results if they are planted
sooner, rather than later in the season. (Eve with Graffiti Cauliflower, right.) See our website for many of our veggie descriptions.
This is also the best time to get many types of seeds in the ground. Our collection of Botanical Interests, Seed Savers, and Beauty Beyond Belief seeds contain many interesting and heirloom varieties for you to try.
If
you’re unsure about the best ways to approach veggie gardening, or want
to expand your knowledge, we have two classes this weekend that will be
of great help. On Saturday at 10 AM, our own Mimi Yanus will guide you in her popular “Getting Started in Veggie Gardening” class. Then, at 1:00, Tracy Parrish follows with her “Succession Planting” class where you’ll learn how to maximize your garden space and keep your veggie garden in continual production.
On Sunday at 1:00, Mikl will share how you can have a successful lawn without using toxic chemicals in his “Organic Lawn Care” class. See below for more details and call 303-939-9403 to reserve your seat!
As of April 1 we’re now OPEN DAILY from 9 AM to 5 PM, and until 6 PM on Thursdays.
… will be arriving late next week! This year we will have German Butterball, Kennebec, Mountain Rose, and Purple Majesty selections. See our website for descriptions!
Neighbors, farmers, gardeners, citizen activists, the politically weary, the financially skeptical, the poetically inclined, pollinators, seed savers, CSA members, folks who want to know where their food comes from and where their money goes, and all who would like to put the culture back into agriculture and the civil back into civilization, all who would like to make our community healthier and our soil more fertile (which, as fate would have it, also pulls carbon out of the atmosphere, go figure!), all who take to heart the morning news reports about the collapse of insect populations and the urgency of climate change and who are no longer content to place all our bets on distant markets and distant political solutions. . .yes, you, us, we of Boulder, of the Front Range, of the environs between the Great Plains and the Continental Divide. . . we’re coming together to enjoy
—ADMISSION FREE—
. . .which could stand for Americans for Healthy Agriculture (AHA!), but doesn’t, because there is no such organization, but it stands for bunches of us coming together in a spirit of radical neighborliness, and for AHA! moments towards which we are heading, courtesy of these festivities, CO-HOSTED BY SOIL (Slow Opportunities for Investing Locally) and HARLEQUIN’S GARDENS, with help from our friends at Boulder County Farmers Markets, Savory Institute, Fresh Thymes Eatery, Organic Sandwich Company, Backpacker’s Pantry, Charlotte’s Web, and 78 individuals (on our way to many more, we trust) who have begun making 0% loans to local farmers and food enterprises, in the name of diversity and health, in the name of relationships putting transactions in their place, a small token of the esteem in which we hold those who are tending the soil and building the local food system. . .So, you are cordially invited to join in an afternoon of shared learning and community celebration, along with a few words from
and others, and. . . including poetry, music and other forms of cultural invigoration and mutual appreciation. Conviviality! Conversation! Door prizes! Radical neighborliness!
Who knew?! Something is afoot! AHA!
For more information contact woody@nullslowmoney.org.
Have you dreamt of starting your own backyard vineyard? Our friend, John Martin of Stonebridge Farm, will be teaching an introductory class this Sunday, April 7, from 1:00-4:00 at Stonebridge Farm. To attend email John Martin.
Interested, but not able to attend? Come to John’s Sunday, April 28 class at Harlequin’s Gardens: GROWING GRAPES ON THE FRONT RANGE at 1 PM.
In this class John will present an overview of varieties suitable for
this region, considerations for site location, trellising options, pest
protection measures, and a brush across two basic pruning techniques. Call 303-939-9403 to register.
Our weekends are loaded with great classes you won’t want to miss! Our customers tell us that our classes have given them tremendous value, with practical and current information from local experts who have spent years honing their skills in Colorado and will help guide you to success. We are charging $15 (unless otherwise stated) for our classes to support our speakers and Harlequin’s educational direction. It is best to pre-register for these classes both in case they fill up, or too few people register and we have to cancel. Pre-payment assures your place in the class. You can register at the nursery, by mail, or by calling 303-939-9403. We are unable to take class registration by email at this time. Most of our classes run from one-and-a-half to two hours in length, and sometimes longer for hands-on classes, or if there are a large number of questions. See the complete March Class listing below, or on our website.
If you are new to Colorado, new to vegetable gardening, or have been unhappy with the results of your earlier attempts, this class is for you. Learn from Mimi what you need to know to make your new organic vegetable garden successful and bountiful, even in Colorado conditions! (This is a repeat of Mimi’s March 16 class.) Class cost: $15
Learn the techniques and timing to maximize your garden space and keep your veggie garden in continual production
throughout the seasons. This class provides participants with an
extensive planting schedule table, outlining when and where to start
your seeds, the time to transplant out and when to expect harvest.
Tracey is an expert in culinary gardening. Class cost: $15
You can have successful a lawn without using toxic chemicals! Learn
how to support healthy soil and soil life using compost, organic
fertilizers, aeration, proper watering, and mowing, and how to avoid and
deal with weeds. Class cost: $15
Learn how to grow fruits, nuts, vegetables, vines and herbs in your yard, beautifully.
Learn which plants are the most successful and how to integrate them
into your landscape. Alison has been designing edible landscapes for 25
years; she owns Matrix Gardens landscaping. Class cost: $15
Drip Irrigation can be easy! Come learn a simple, easy way to design and install a system that can be connected to an outside hose bib with a battery-operated timer, giving you an inexpensive automatic watering system. We will also discuss how to convert an existing sprinkler system to drip irrigation. Class cost: $15
Do you know what parts of the world your xeriscape plants come from? Whether they’re adapted to spring moisture, summer monsoons, or winter snow-cover? In what type of soil conditions they thrive? How to group plants with similar needs so they will all succeed? Don’t miss this rare opportunity for an enlightening explanation of the sets of growing conditions in which our Colorado-adapted garden plants evolved, including prairie, steppe, desert, foothill and montane, with an emphasis on steppes. Panayoti Kelaidis is Senior Curator and Director of Outreach at Denver Botanic Gardens, one of the world’s foremost botanical experts, an internationally acclaimed, inexhaustible and enthusiastic font of knowledge, passionate plant-explorer and gardener, a founder of the Plant Select program, and lead author of DBG’s groundbreaking book ‘Steppes’. Class cost: $15
There are shrubs that should not be pruned in the spring and there are shrubs, roses and vines that are best pruned in spring. Learn which to prune when, and how to prune for strength, beauty, and production of fruit and flowers. (This is not a repeat of the Fall Pruning Class.) Class cost: $15
Eve will demonstrate and discuss why and how to prune roses in a fearless and confident manner. She
will also discuss feeding, watering, etc. to maximize your success with
growing roses. Wear long pants, long sleeves, gloves, and a hat and be
prepared to be outside. Class cost: $15
Many beautiful cacti, century plants (Agave spp.), yuccas, and their relatives thrive in our harsh climate. These
plants look as good in the winter garden as they do in the summer.
Kelly is well known for his work with these hardy plants and is expert
at using them in the garden. We’ll discuss companion plants, soil
preparation and garden construction. Kelly Grummons is a Horticulturist
and Owner of Prairie Storm Nursery (coldhardycactus.com and
dogtuffgrass.com). Class cost: $20
Thanks to recent development in grape varieties, you, too can
successfully grow table grapes and wine grapes on the Colorado Front
Range. This workshop will present an overview of varieties
suitable for this region, considerations for site location, trellising
options, pest protection measures, and a brush across two basic pruning
techniques. Whether you are interested in fruit or wine, let’s explore how the taste of your grapes and wineswill define this locality. John and his partner, Kayann Short, tend nine different varieties of grapes and make wine at their CSA farm, Stonebridge, in Longmont. Class cost: $15
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We’re looking forward to seeing you this week! In gratitude,
Eve, Mikl
and the super hard-working Staff at Harlequin’s Gardens
Welcome to Spring, to Harlequin’s Gardens and to another year of the challenges and joys of being alive on Earth, along with the opportunities, work, and healing rewards of gardening. It is both curious and common sense that as we nurture, we ourselves are nurtured.
One of the most powerful and telling lessons of 2020 has been how intimately we are all connected with each other. Now we are all aware that we share air and biology with the whole world. Our human bodies are, in reality, half human cells and half microbial cells. And these microbial partners do contribute to our digestion, immune system and even cognition. And the balance of organisms depends on who we are in contact with and what we are eating. [Read More]
Welcome to Spring, to Harlequin’s Gardens and to another chance to get your hands into the living earth and add healthy biology to your micobiome, and breathe fresh air and hear the birds and partner with Nature in gardening.
With some notable exceptions, we humans have seen ourselves as separate and superior to the animals, plants and insects. We have seen ourrole as users, not partners. And now with our atmosphere polluted with greenhouse gases and our soils, ground water, streams and oceans contaminated with toxins and plastics, we humans are going “whoops!” Of course there are enormous economic interests and habitual patterns that are resisting the changes that are necessary.
Rationally, it appears that we are stuck in the Dark Ages, but intuitively, it feels like there is a Renaissance emerging. This Renaissance is dependent on a greater humility and a broader awareness. It is being driven by climate disruption, the food revolution, the soil revolution and a view merging new physics with ecology and social justice.
Realizations are arising that we really are all connected. American power plants are affecting islands in the South Pacific. Poisoning insect pests is killing billions of insect and microbial allies, which leads to greater pest problems. And basing our economy on oil and arms sales is backfiring with climate crises and displaced people needing new places to live.
Read More
As usual we will have a great selection of organic veggie starts. Every winter Eve pores over the most interesting and reliable seed catalogs, searching for new and special varieties that resist disease and pests, are very productive, taste fabulous, and that we think will likely be successful and rewarding here on the high plains and in the mountains. We think you’ll find the very best choices at Harlequin’s Gardens.
Please give us your feedback on what you grow from us. We want to know what works and what doesn’t.Please go to our website under Plants/Edibles for a complete listing and descriptions of our veggies.
THORBURN’S TERRA COTTA Tomato – NEW! Very Limited Supply. ~75 days, Heirloom, Indeterminate
Our friend Thomas brought this very rare and completely unique tomato to our 2018 Taste of Tomato public tasting (where this remarkable new-old variety took second place in the Slicers category) and we’d never seen anything like it! Incredible color, flavor and history! Introduced in 1893, this sensational tomato has glossy/waxy terracotta brown skin, orange-pink flesh, and green seed mass. When cooked, it will yield a beautiful pumpkin-orange sauce with a floral aroma. (Pictured left.)
BRAD’S ATOMIC GRAPE Tomato – NEW!Very Limited Supply~75 days, OP, Indeterminate
Highly productive, open, vining plants with wispy foliage. Large, pointy grape tomatoes are borne in large clusters. Every fruit appears hand-painted! Lavender and purple stripes, orange turning to technicolor olive-green, red, and brown/blue stripes when fully ripe. Flavor? They came in second place after Sungold in the Cherry tomato category at our 2018 Taste of Tomato! Fruits are crack-resistant and exceptionally sweet.
TOMMY TOE cherry tomato – NEW!~70 days, Heirloom OP, Indeterminate
Tommy Toe is a great old heirloom from the Ozark Mountains that produces huge numbers of large, 1.5 oz red cherries with old fashioned flavor reminiscent of heirloom ‘beefsteak’ tomatoes.
Read More about ALL of our Veggies
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“The miracle is not to walk on water, but to walk on earth” Thich Nhat Hanh
Maeve Higgins
Here is an invitation to a FREE event that celebrates various awakenings in local food, farmer support, turning carbon into fertility, saving the insects and the planet, and more – are happening locally. With brief talks by local activators, music, poetry, conviviality and conversation.
Please Join Us:
A collaboration of SOIL (Slow Opportunities for Investing Locally) and Harlequin’s Gardens. For more details go to SOIL.
Helen Keller
On March 1 we opened for the Season and through the month are open Thursday through Sunday, 9-5.
Beginning April 1 we will be open everyday 9-5; Thursdays 9-6.
April 29 thru May 5: Harlequin’s Gardens May Day Plant Sale.
April 28 thru May 5: Harlequin’s Gardens Annual May Day Celebration and Cinco de Mayo.
On Saturday, May 4 at 10 AM don’t miss the Maroon Bells Morris Dancers who will bring us fertility and merriment. Then at 11:30 enjoy the duo Martian Acres playing classic pop and originals, and then at 1:30 move to Bistro Marimba with the music of Zimbabwe.
On Sunday, May 5, Cinco de Mayo, refreshments will be served, and from 11:00 jig and reel with the excellent musicians of the Boulder Irish Session. Then at 1pm local harpist Margo Krimmel will treat us to the tunes of O’Carolan and other fine melodies.
August 19 to 25: Members Fall Plant Sale
August 26: Harlequin’s Annual Fall Plant Sale begins for everyone. This sale continues every week in September and October.
September 7: Taste of Tomato: a tomato tasting festival; Harlequin’s Gardens with Growing Gardens, 10 AM-1 PM at Growing Gardens. Bring your favorites; call/see our website for details.
October: open every day 9-5, and our Sale continues. Closed for the Season on October 31.
November 29: Harlequin’s 2019 Holiday Market begins on GreenFriday with Local Artisan Goods and Goodies and will continue every Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday through December 22nd.
Vandanna Shiva
The Sierra Club
In our classes you will learn more than information. Our teachers are people who have spent years honing their skills and their experience in Colorado will help guide you to success. We are charging $15 unless otherwise stated to support our speakers and Harlequin’s educational direction. (Cash and check are much appreciated!) Pre-register at 303-939-9403 for these classes both in case they fill up or too few people register and we have to cancel the class. Pre-payment assures your place in the class. Classes are also listed here.
Sun, Mar 31 at 10 AM BUILDING TOPSOIL and FERTILITY with Mikl Brawner
Mikl will discuss how to support soil life, enrich poor soils, and improve plant health and nutrition from the bottom up: composts, fertilizers, mulching, worms, deficiencies, and tilth. (Rescheduled from March 24.) Class cost: $15
Sat, Apr 6 at 10 AM GETTING STARTED IN VEGETABLE GARDENING with Mimi Yanus
If you are new to Colorado, new to vegetable gardening, or have been unhappy with the results of your earlier attempts, this class is for you. Learn from Mimi what you need to know to make your new organic vegetable garden successful and bountiful, even in Colorado conditions! Class cost: $15
Sat, Apr 6 at 1 PM SUCCESSION PLANTING: OPTIMIZING PLANTING TIMES TO INCREASE YIELDSwith Tracey Parrish
Learn the techniques and timing to maximize your garden space and keep your veggie garden in continual production throughout the seasons. This class provides participants with an extensive planting schedule table, outlining when and where to start your seeds, the time to transplant out and when to expect harvest. Tracey is an expert in culinary gardening. Class cost: $15
Sun, Apr 7 at 1 PM ORGANIC LAWN CARE with Mikl Brawner
You can have successful lawn without using toxic chemicals! Learn how to support healthy soil and soil life using compost, organic fertilizers, aeration, proper watering, and mowing, and how to avoid and deal with weeds. Class cost: $15
Sat, Apr 13 at 10 AM EDIBLE LANDSCAPING with Alison Peck
Learn how to grow fruits, nuts, vegetables, vines and herbs in your yard, beautifully. Learn which plants are the most successful and how to integrate them into your landscape. Alison has been designing edible landscapes for 25 years; she owns Matrix Gardens landscaping. Class cost: $15
Read More
Memberships help Harlequin’s to do those extras that are so valuable to the community but that are not profitable, like: 5 demonstration gardens of Natives, low-water groundcovers, the New Western Garden etc; plus plastic pot recycling; plant and pest identification for customers; hand-outs on many subjects like pollinator plants, how to plant, what blooms in July etc; local seed collecting and propagation, and more.
Please become a member to support what we do, and receive special benefits too. Here is our expanded current offer: Members will give us $20 for a one year membership and in direct return will receive these benefits:
1) Half-price Harlequin’s Class of your choice. (Restricted to regular $15 and $20 classes.)
2) 25% discount on books all year
3) During the May Day Week get $10 off a $50 or more purchase of plants (except roses & fruit trees)
4) During May Day Week, take 10% off roses (except quarts), then
5) in August begin the fall sale a week early with 20% off most everything.
You can become a member anytime you are at the nursery, or mail a check for $20 to
Harlequin’s Gardens
4795 N.26th St.
Boulder, CO. 80301
We will put you in our Membership file. A membership is valid until the end of the calendar year. THANK YOU TO ALL OUR MEMBERS!!!
Anne Frank
We are very proud of our staff, so to help you to get to know us and our specialties, here are our portraits.
REBECCA WATERHOUSE is our excellent office manager who grew up on her family’s hobby farm in Oregon. She has become quite knowledgeable about plants and is indispensable around the nursery. Rebecca is integral to the success of our operations!
KRISTINA WILLIAMS has been a beekeeper for over 21 years and is our local expert on native bees. She is the current President of the Boulder County Beekeepers Assoc., is a trained entomologist and will be available to help people with beekeeping questions and beekeeping equipment.
ELAINE WALKER has a degree in landscape architecture with an emphasis in ecological practices. She has her own landscape design practice, and her recent work includes designing outdoor living spaces, retaining & boulder walls, native and drought tolerant plantings. Elaine develops and publishes our weekly blogs and maintains our customer database.
Read More
Big Foot Mycorrhizae – NEW! – combines 4 species of mycorrhizae with biochar, worm castings, seaweed and rock minerals to provide a strong population of plant allies to bring water and nutrients.
Endo Mycorrhizae – water soluble symbiotic fungus, innoculate roots to bring water and nutrients.
Biodynamic Compost Starter – speeds decomposition, adds nitrogen bacteria, helps make humus, improves mineral availability; for compost piles, manure, leaves; 55 microorganisms.
Biodynamic Field and Garden Spray – speeds the breakdown of cover crops or sheet mulch; planting can be 2-3 weeks after spraying & turning under, 55 microorganisms.
Organic Mushroom Compost – from a local organic mushroom farm. Premium food for soil life and wonderful in vegetable gardens, helps to loosen heavy soils and improve aeration and porosity.
Read More
One of our specialties is fruiting plants that are adapted to Colorado conditions. All the apples we carry are resistant to fireblight and good-tasting. And the cherries we sell are all proven successful in Colorado. Our grapes are the most hardy of any you will find, delicious fresh, in juice and a few are good for wine. And we have productive & good tasting currants, gooseberries, blackberries, strawberries, raspberries including:
Crandall Clove Currant and Gwen’s Buffalo Currant – both are 5’x4’ with very fragrant yellow flowers in spring and annual bearing of sweet-tart berries full of healthy phytonutrients and reddish fall color; these are native currants selected for better fruit. (photo, right)
Triple Crown Thornless Blackberry – late blooming so avoids late frosts, medium to large very sweet berries, semi-trailing, best pruned to 8’.
Read More
We are known far and wide for our selection of sustainable roses and for our expertise in helping people choose the best varieties for their gardens and landscapes. We sell roses on their own roots not grafted, which makes them more cold hardy, longer lived, with more flowers.
This year we will have more Austin English roses. And
we have many other great roses including Bill Reid, Marie Pavie, The Gift, John Cabot, Seafoam, Stanwell Perpetual, The Fawn, Abraham Darby, Applejack,Darlow’s Enigma, Henry Kelsey, John Davis, Golden Wings, Victorian Memory, Fairmont Proserpine, Joann’s Pink Perpetual, Golden Celebration, Champlain, Morden Snowbeauty, Henry Kelsey, Robusta, etc.
See our 2019 Rose List on our website.
Harlequin’s huge choice of pollinator-supporting perennials-including:
Sulfur Flower-Kannah Creek – mahogany fall color (Pictured right)
Eriogonum allennii – 3’ wide, very xeric, yellow flowers, a winner
E. jamesii – silver foliage, light yellow flowers, local native
Eriogonum umbellatum – yellow blooms cover xeric native mat, feeds butterflies, bees
Many Lavenders – Royal Velvet, Buena Vista, Grosso, Twickle Purple, Munstead, Hidcote
Asclepias incarnata – 1’-3’ Full Sun, Attracts butterflies, native & honeybees, butterflies
Asclepias tuberosa – Butterfly Weed, orange flowers, 1’-2’ high, Monarch food and nectar
Read More
The trees we sell are smaller than ball & burlap trees that are dug in the field, leaving at least 75% of their roots in the ground. Ours are grown in a container so they have a complete root system and begin growing immediately and are not stressed. Here is a sample of some of ours.
Russian Hawthorn – very tough and xeric, grows 15’ high and wide, white flowers and red berries, loves CO. (photo, left)
Rocky Mt. Maple – a native of our foothills, likes to grow in the protection of other trees, red fall color, 10’-15’.
Gambel Oak and Wavyleaf Oak – both natives that grow 10’-15’, with little water and poor soil, support birds.
Read More
Thank you, local gardeners, for helping to cultivate a healthy 21st Century World!
Sincerely,
Mikl Brawner & Eve Reshetnik-Brawner
And the Great Staff at Harlequin’s Gardens
Nelson Mandela
Thank you to all those who helped us with a successful opening day, last Friday!
And a big thanks to those who braved the elements later in the weekend
to stop by! Throughout the month of March we’ll be open four days a
week from 9 AM to 5 PM on Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.
March is a great time to focus on soil enrichment and we’re
stocked with great products that will help you prepare for the season
ahead. You’ll recognize many products which we’ve stocked for
years and we’re also trying out some new and exciting items. As always,
we welcome your feedback on them all!
This weekend we’re featuring three great classes. We start on Saturday, March 9 at 10 AM, with two of our favorite Permaculturists, Tara Rae Kent and Daniela Escudero sharing some important principles to create more resilient and regenerative systems in our own gardens in their “Intro to Permaculture” class. Free Admission!
Stick around on March 9 because at 1:00 we have a one-time-only presentation on “Cover Crops: Why, How and Which” with Clark Harshbarger.
Clark who is employed with the USDA-NRCS as a soil scientist and
recently as director of Regenerative Farming at MAD Agriculture, will
soon be moving to eastern US. For this special presentation we are
renting a larger space next door at the Boulder Circus Center. This special class is only $20. (See the list of cover crop seeds that we’re offering, below.)
Finally on Sunday, at 1:00 pm, Mikl with share how to address “Fireblight” issues, which were a hardship for many gardeners last year. See below for more details and call 303-939-9403 to reserve your seat!
Our weekends are loaded with great classes you won’t want to miss! Our customers tell us that our classes have given them tremendous value, with practical and current information from local experts who
have spent years honing their skills in Colorado and will help guide
you to success. We are charging $15 (unless otherwise stated) for our
classes to support our speakers and Harlequin’s educational direction. It is best to pre-register for these classes both in case they fill up, or too few people register and we have to cancel. Pre-payment assures your place in the class. You can register at the nursery, by mail, or by calling 303-939-9403.
We are unable to take class registration by email at this time. Most
of our classes run from one-and-a-half to two hours in length, and
sometimes longer for hands-on classes, or if there are a large number of
questions. See the complete March Class listing below, or on our website.
Permaculture is a design science that is informed by cycles and patterns in nature. This helps us create more resilient and regenerative systems, whether those systems are gardens, farms, businesses, or events. We
will explore the ethics that guide a permaculture design and the
principles that help a design take form, as well as real life examples
and projects that are a part of our lives. The class will
include: 1) an introduction and exploration of the Permaculture Ethics
and Principles, 2) real life, active and diverse examples of
permaculture designs, and 3) a tour of Harlequin’s Garden’s Permaculture
Design. Free admission!
In
the current soil revolution, we are learning how to nurture and care
for our soils and the soil life that is the true source of soil
fertility. Cover crops are becoming recognized as one of the keys to soil fertility and soil health.
When our annual crops die in the fall, if we do not replace those crops
with living plants, then the microbes that depend on the nutrients
“leaked” into the soil from plant roots, will die or decrease. Besides
that, cover crops are a method to use photosynthesis to grow organic
matter and nutrients including nitrogen to add to the soil, so we have
to buy fewer amendments. In addition, many cover crops support beneficial insects which help control pest insects, and they reduce erosion.
But which cover crops do well in Colorado and when do we plant them and
when should we cut them, and how do we prevent them from becoming weeds
or competitors? And how best to combine them? Harlequin’s Gardens has been looking for someone to teach us these things, who really knows how to do it in our local conditions. And this year we found the right person. So this is a great opportunity that will not be available next year, because Clark Harshbarger will
be moving to eastern US. For the last two decades, Clark was employed
with the USDA-NRCS as a soil scientist and recently as director of
Regenerative Farming at MAD Agriculture.
We have rented a bigger space than our classroom, but people will have to register ahead of time to make sure they get a seat. Clark’s class will be held at the Boulder Circus Center, next door to Harlequin’s Gardens, south in the big metal building in the Trixie Room. Register by phone at 303-939-9403. This will be a 2 hour class and we will be charging only $20.
Last year was the worst year for this bad bacterial disease of apples and pears. Mikl has had over 40 years of experience with fireblight, and will teach and demonstrate proper pruning, and explain how to bring a tree back to health even if a lot of the tree is blighted. Class cost: $15
If you are new to Colorado, new to vegetable gardening, or
have been unhappy with the results of your earlier attempts, this class
is for you. Learn from Mimi what you need to know to make your
new organic vegetable garden successful and bountiful, even in Colorado
conditions! Class cost: $15. (This class will be repeated on Saturday,
April 6th at 10 am.)
The
importance of our native ‘solitary’ bee species to the pollination of
our crops, flowers, and native plants is receiving increased attention.
For over 30 years, Tom Theobald of Niwot Honey Farm has been propagating one of the most ‘useful’ species, Mason Bees (Blue Orchard Bees),
and will teach how to attract and care for these gentle native
pollinators. Mason Bees are not a replacement for honeybees, but they are excellent pollinators of the early fruits – cherries, apples, etc. They
stay close to home, don’t sting, don’t require the year-round
commitment of a colony of honeybees and provide a great way to introduce
children to the world of pollinators. Harlequin’s Gardens will have
filled straws (containing male and female adult bees in hibernation) for
sale for $12 a straw.
IMPORTANT: You must RESERVE your Mason Bee straws IN
ADVANCE by calling Harlequin’s Gardens at 303-939-9403. Pre-payment of
mason bee straws is required. Class cost: $15. (Note: this class is a repeat of Tom’s March 2 class.)
A renowned expert in conifers at Laporte Avenue Nursery in Fort Collins, Kirk Fieseler will discuss dwarf conifers for small landscapes and rock gardens. Learn the origins and propagation techniques for dwarf conifers as well as how to grow them in containers and in the garden. Kirk will talk about the most successful species for our climate and soils. Class cost: $15. (Pictured right: Farmy, P. edulis. Photo by Kirk Fieseler.)
For beginning and established beekeepers, alike! Kristina will demonstrate how to build and crosswire frames. Learn the lingo of beekeeping supplies and take a tour of our Bee Barn. Harlequin’s
Gardens is upgrading frames and foundation to be as strong as they can
be and still use beeswax. Our resident entomologist and Bee Barn Babe,
Kristina Williams, will share her vast knowledge with you! Free Admission! (Photo credit, right: Red Hot Pepper)
Mikl will discuss how to support soil life, enrich poor soils, and improve plant health and nutrition from the bottom up: composts, fertilizers, mulching, worms, deficiencies, and tilth. Class cost: $15
We are proud to present acclaimed CO horticulturist Kelly Grummons, director of Prairie Storm Nursery, a business that includes ColdHardyCactus.com and DogTuffGrass.com! An
expert in selection and propagation of rare and unique plants for
Colorado, Kelly will discuss a variety of exceptional new winter hardy
cacti, agaves, yuccas, and outdoor succulents, and include choosing
appropriate sites, soil prep, fertilizing, and ongoing care. Class cost:
$20. (Photo credit, left: ColdHardCactus.com)
Harlequin’s Gardens has been studying soil health for many years now, because
soil health is needed for plant health, for plant resistance to pests
and diseases and for nutritional value of plants. We believe
that a strong Soil Life with all the beneficial fungi, bacteria,
earthworm etc. is the goal to digest the nutrients in the soil and make
them into plant-available forms.
Our soils also are deficient in organic matter and available nutrients. Colorado
soils do have nutrients, but many are not in a form that’s available to
plants. So, Harlequin’s has sourced most of our soil-building products
from businesses as local as possible, almost all from Colorado. Local
products use our local wastes (like landscape wastes, beer wastes, food
wastes, beetle-kill pine, mushroom waste, dairy cow manure, chicken
manure). This supports local businesses to recycle and because trucking
distances are greatly reduced, we are cutting down on carbon emissions.
Putting these organic wastes into the soil also sequesters carbon. And
because carbon is one of Life’s main building blocks, these products
help build fertility.
This year we have many returning products and some new products that we’d like to tell you about.
This is a mined carbon concentrate that multiplies microorganisms and has the effect of making nutrients in the soil available. We have been using this for years in our potting mixes.
A non-toxic, weed-and-feed with 9% nitrogen. It
inhibits seed germination, but is harmless to plants with root systems,
people, worms, and microorganisms. The effect can last up to 6 months
and is especially useful in lawns. Apply in September/October, and again
in late February/March to prevent the majority of existing weed seeds
from germinating.
100% organic fertilizer for vegetables and ornamentals. Contains:
7% Nitrogen, 2% Phosphorus, 2% Potash, 1% Iron, 1% Sulphur, with a pH
of 6.2. Formulated in Loveland for Colorado Soils.
A 100% organic product comprised of dehydrated poultry waste.
It is listed by OMRI for organic use and is ideal for lawns, trees,
shrubs, annuals, perennials, vegetables and roses. One bag covers 2,000
sq. ft. of turf.
A Class 1 Compost made from leaves, grass, chipped branches, and beer wastes. It
has a healthy population of microorganisms and diverse nutrients. It
is very stable and will not burn or steal nitrogen. It is fine
textured, low in salts with some woody particles. The pH is 8.3; the
NPK 1-1-1.
Made from forest and recycled wood products composted with poultry manure. Use
Eko Compost in vegetable and flower gardens, on lawns, trees, shrubs.
to Improve soil’s physical, chemical, and biological health.
Finely screened compost perfect for top dressing lawns after aeration. Holds moisture next to the roots increasing drought tolerance. Supports microorganisms.
Symbiosis Potting Soil is a plant-based compost, made
from coconut coir, perlite, azomite minerals, calphos, rock dust, kelp
meal, oyster shell, dolomite lime, earthworm castings, mycorrhizae and
Alaska humus.
This compost-based potting mix is best for starting seeds and transplanting seedlings and houseplants. It
is composed of composted manure and plant material, peat moss, crushed
granite and basalt, blood meal, kelp meal, bone meal, gypsum,
vermiculite, coconut coir and biodynamic preparations. It’s best to wet
before use. Used very successfully last year at Kilt Farm.
A nutrient-rich soil for planting seedlings. It
performed well in our tests. Contains: composted bark, sphagnum peat,
fish emulsion, crab, earthworm castings, loam, perlite, bat guano,
granite dust, kelp meal.
A natural pine coop bedding (or cat litter!). Contains
recycled beetle-kill pine and activated carbon, making it very
absorbent, with powerful odor control. It outperforms and outlasts hay
and wood shavings. Expands up to 5X when wet. Reduces cleaning by 50%.
Not a soil amendment, but a local, recycled beetle-kill pine product to
help care for your poultry and other small animals.
A
mix of Biosol Certified Organic 6-1-1 Fertilizer, humate, molasses,
endomycorrhizae, and calcium. Increases root mass, top growth, soil
life, and productivity naturally. This is not just a fertilizer. The combination of ingredients and mycorrhizae act synergistically to support fertility. It has received rave reviews! Try it and let us know your experience.
From Salida, this broad spectrum of many different minerals that support
plant strength and immune function, including 11% Calcium, 6% Sulfur
plus magnesium, iron, and many others. The big difference with this
product is that its geothermal source makes these minerals much more available.
From a local mushroom farm. Dark, rich humus that feeds soil life, improves soil structure & aeration, saves water. Great soil amendment for veggies, perennials, roses & shrubs. Also, a superb mulch for roses.
Nutrient-rich compost made from manure of dairy cows – NOT fed hormones and only given antibiotics when sick. (No rBGH given.)
A superior coir-based potting media produced from coconut husks, making
it one of nature’s most abundant renewable resources. This mix also
contains earthworm castings, bat guano, kelp meal and oyster shell. It
resists compaction, easily rewets, and absorbs evenly for excellent
aeration and maximum drainage.
A highly adsorbent, specially-produced charcoal applied to soil as a means to increase soil fertility and agricultural yields and sequester carbon.
Two great publications by the highly respected Bio-Integral Resource Center (BIRC), who
specializes in finding non-toxic and least-toxic, integrated pest
management (IPM) solutions to urban and agricultural pest problems.
Glyphosate is the main ingredient in Roundup herbicide, and a probable
carcinogen. This resource is derived from the latest scientific
research.
Registered insecticides are illegal and toxic pesticides make no sense.
Having trouble with insects in your house? Catch
wasps, bees, moths, flies, spiders, beetles, even earwigs, one-handed,
swiftly, easily, without hurting them! Observe the insect through the
clear container, then open it to release them outside. This is the German-made Schutzgreifer that
we have been searching for. We had purchased a couple of these nifty
devices and used them for years, but couldn’t find a supplier. Now we
have them and you can too! They operate one-handed, like scissors: simply open, place over the insect and gently close. Even works on drapes and upholstery.
We’ve expanded our offerings of cover crops to better meet your gardening needs.
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