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Sustainability

No Mow May

Give yourself a break by putting away your lawn mower for the month of May with the additional benefit of feeding our early bees!

Lawns are generally a sterile environment for pollinators, but we can turn them into a temporary food source to give bees a leg up in the crucial spring season. By allowing plants typically identified as “weeds” (think dandelions, violets, clover) to flower they can provide food and fuel for our early pollinators that are emerging from hibernation. In turn, these bees go on to pollinate our fruit trees, shrubs, and wildflowers.  [Read More]

Earth Day 2022

This Friday, April 22 we will celebrate Earth Day, originally planned 52 years ago to bring a billion people into the streets to let our leaders know for sure that the health and resilience of our planet and our environment is of the Utmost Importance. Since then, a lot has changed on our planet. Fortunately, many of us have awakened to a new paradigm that respects, honors and stewards the planet and its intricately connected living systems. New generations are growing up with the inspiration to live more simply so that others may simply live, and to make the regeneration of Earth’s balance their life’s work. [Read More]

Caring for our Winged Friends

It’s nesting time for many of our little birds, and they are out there house hunting! Providing housing opportunities for them will bring benefits to your garden as birds eat large numbers of insects like mosquitos, scale, various larvae, etc., and give you the pleasure of watching them raise their broods.  

We have two styles of birdhouses for cavity-nesting birds like chickadees, wrens, nuthatches, and downy woodpeckers. These are locally made, designed to Audubon Society specifications, and are easy to clean at season’s end. Keep some of the small stems, twigs, dead blades of grass, combings from your shaggy dog, etc. from your spring garden clean-up in a corner of your yard for nesting material. Be sure to locate your bird houses where roaming cats can’t reach them. [Read More]

Celebrating 30 Sustainable Years!

Harlequin’s Gardens in 2000 as painted by Eve Reshetnik Brawner

This year, 2022, Harlequin’s Gardens is celebrating 30 years in business! Thanks to you and the many folks who have bought our plants and products and taken our classes, and thanks to a great staff, we have succeeded in becoming a valuable resource for Boulder County and beyond.

We’ve been focusing on growing and providing plants that are well-adapted to Colorado conditions and will thrive without applications of chemicals or excessive amounts of water and fertilizers. [Read More]

More than a Pretty Picture

Your landscape is not just something to look at.  It is an opportunity to support your values by:

  • Supporting global, local, and personal health
  • Helping to reduce the impacts of the Climate Crisis
  • Nourishing your family with organic, nutrient-dense food
  • Partnering with Nature
  • Expressing your artistic vision while increasing biodiversity
  • Experiencing the joy of sharing your goodness with the goodness of the natural world
  • Restoring habitat for our critically important beneficial insects, pollinators, birds, wildlife, and native plants

[Read More]

Pollinator Pathways: Rewilding Boulder Landscapes

We’re excited that the City of Boulder is gathering feedback from the community about how we use our yards, preferences for landscaping and interest in a citywide effort to create pollinator habitat patches and pathways. Pollinator pathways connect safe, pesticide-free native plant patches of habitat for bees, birds, butterflies, and other wildlife to provide food and nesting sites. Native pollinators are vital to our ecosystems and pathways support pollinator populations, as well as safe passage for movement across the city.

[Read More]

Take Part in PLASTIC FREE JULY

Eco-Cycle (Boulder County’s public recycling service) has alerted us to a world-wide challenge to stop producing plastic waste, which is causing so many problems with our environment and with Life on earth, including human health.

Started in Australia, PlasticFreeJuly.org has challenged the world. In 2020 the challenge attracted 326 million people from 177 countries. Sign up at their website to get weekly emails during July about how to participate. [Read More]

Earth Day 2021 – Thursday, April 22

We hope you will celebrate Earth Day, maybe all week. It is good to acknowledge that we have a planet and that it has been supportive of life and human life for a long time. Unfortunately, we humans have not treated Her well, Gaia, our Mother Earth. We were told the story that we humans are the masters of the earth and that all the creatures and resources are here for our use and glory. Not everybody believed that story. Chief Joseph told our ancestors: “The Earth does not belong to us; we belong to the Earth.”  [Read More]

Support our Local Beneficial Insects 

A couple of days ago, I decided to trim back the clumps of Narbonne Flax in my garden, which had been bent over by the heavy snow in March. I grabbed my hedge clippers and cut the first clump down to about 8”. Then I took a closer look at it. Something was in there, and it wasn’t a wad of dry redbud leaves. I had just missed cutting through a Praying Mantis egg case by about a quarter of an inch! A little shaken and much relieved, I inspected all the other clumps carefully before trimming the rest.

This was a vivid reminder that our garden allies need safe habitat during their dormant and larval stages, and undisturbed places to hide their eggs. [Read More]

Feeding our Soil while Carbon Farming

Photo Credit: Aaron Favila – AP, and The Daily Camera.

Harlequin’s Gardens has become a member of the recently formed Coalition for Local Compost Climate Action. This is because Boulder County is getting ready to build a local composting facility to turn our organic wastes into fertility and climate action, which is very exciting!

For years we have been talking about the need for a local public composting facility. And now, driven by the pressure of Climate Change, it is even more obvious. We need to apply Nature’s waste recycling system, using microbes to remove valuable organic matter from the waste stream and turn it into healthy soil.[Read More]

BUILDING TOPSOIL AND SOIL FERTILITY by Mikl Brawner

“Where can I get some good topsoil?” That’s a question I hear frequently at our nursery. And I often look wistfully towards the plains and say, only half-jokingly, “You can get good topsoil about 800 miles east of here.” That’s where I grew up, in Iowa, and where two tomato plants feed a family of six. It’s not that local suppliers are trying to deceive us when they sell Colorado clay as topsoil; it’s just that the glaciers didn’t dump three feet of loam on top of our clay.[Read More]

Recycle your Planting Trays, Pots & Bags

Clear your shed and help us out!

Since Harlequin’s Gardens began in 1992, we’ve been dedicated to sustainability. In general, this means providing plants that are well adapted to Colorado conditions so they will be successful with less water, fertilizers and pest management. But Sustainability is also reusing existing products, helping to reduce new plastics being introduced into the system. Over the years, Harlequin’s Gardens has constructed 50% of our structures with recycled materials, we reuse and recycle nursery trays, pots, and our clear soil product bags, and we make compost with our biodiesel tractor! [Read More]

Seed Dreaming

By Eve Reshetnik Brawner

“Every day, millions upon millions of seeds lift their two green wings” (Janisse Ray)
(Okay, if it’s a ‘monocot’, it only lifts one green wing, but we can allow a bit of poetic license)

I love seeds. They’ve fascinated me since early childhood. Some of my earliest memories involve examining maple samaras, sycamore balls, acorns and pine cones, and planting peas and Sweet Alyssum and lima beans in cut-off milk cartons on the kitchen windowsill. I am still in awe of the power packed into a seed. [Read More]

Ready, Set, Plant!

What a storm we had last week!  With the windy conditions and record-setting low temps, everyone’s gardens looks very different this week and may need some attention.  If you haven’t already, this is a good time to review our blog about garden cleanup. The good news is that soil temperatures have cooled down to the optimal soil temperature for bulb planting, ~50 degrees.  And, our current mild daytime temps and above-freezing nighttime temps are ideal for planting perennials, and still good for planting roses, shrubs and trees. Inoculating with mycorrhizae and attention to fall and winter watering are the keys to success.

Bulb Planting and Tulipa ‘Paul Scherer’

Starting with bulb planting:  Recommended planting depths are to the bottom of the planting hole where the base of the bulb rests.  Planting depth can vary depending on how light or heavy your soil is – plant deeper in light soils, shallower in heavier soils.  (If you’re in doubt, a general rule is that planting depth is 3 times the height of the bulb.) 

You don’t have to dig a single hole for each bulb!  You can dig a large hole, say 8-14″ wide by 16-24″ long, to accommodate a large grouping, or swath of bulbs.  This is a great way to save time, to create a more naturalized look, and to combine two or three types of bulbs in one grouping. 

Single Early, Triumph, Darwin Hybrid, and Multi-flowering tulips should be planted 8″ deep to perform as perennials, and fertilized each year just after bloom. Be sure to allow the leaves and stems to wither naturally before cutting them down.

You may want to sprinkle bone meal in the bottom of the hole so that it can touch the bulb roots.  We love Root Rally, which is a blend of bone meal and Endo/Ecto mycorrhizae spores and plant nutrients, providing mycorrhizae life support for all plants.  (See more on mycorrhizae, below.)  Refill the hole and water well. 

See Eve’s ideas for ways and places to use bulbs that you may not have thought of!

Peruse our complete list of 2019 bulbs and individual images and descriptions 

Monarda didyma ‘Jacob Cline’

Planting perennials, roses, shrubs and trees:  The fall is a great time to plant perennials, roses and shrubs as they can focus solely on root growth instead of trying to reproduce.  After gently removing its pot, gently swish the root ball in a bucket of unchlorinated water with water-soluble mycorrhizae  (let the water sit overnight to release chlorine and add the mycorrhizae later).   Mycorrhizae is a beneficial fungi that attaches to roots, allowing them to better absorb water and nutrients.  This results in faster plant and root growth, and better transplanting success.  If you only have granular mycorrhizae on-hand, sprinkle it on the roots as you are planting.  Read more about mycorrhizae in Mikl’s article, “Mycorrhizae: The Hidden Marriage of Plants and Fungi”.

By gently swishing the root ball in water, the root mass will loose its pot-shape and individual roots will be lengthened.  This allows the ends of the roots to be planted deeper, helping to ensure long-term drought hardiness. 

After late-season planting, be sure to (hand) water deeply and frequently, at least twice a month for woody plants, throughout the winter. 

For specific info on rose planting, see Eve’s rose planting instructions.

Zauschneria garrettii ‘Orange Carpet’

Finally, a quick additional word on garden clean-up.  Some of our Southwestern plants should not yet be cut-back.  Wait until April to do so, which will give them additional time to gather and store nutrients, and keep the crowns of the plants from getting too cold. These plants include, but aren’t limited to, Agastache, Salvia  (S. lemmonii ‘Desert Rose’, S. reptans, S. x microphyllus ‘Royal Ruby’, S. greggii ‘Furman’s Red’, S. darcyi), Zauschneria (Hummingbird Trumpet), Scrophularia macrantha (Red Birds in a Tree), Scutellaria suffrutescens (Cherry Skullcap), Gaura lindheimeri.

RELAX! RECONSIDERING GARDEN CLEAN-UP

Autumn has declared itself on the Front Range, and many gardeners are itching to bring a close to the gardening year by tidying up. But wait! There are some important issues to consider here before bringing out the rakes, blowers, clippers and shears.

Now is a great time to take a long look at your gardens and make notes on successes, disappointments, gaps, and changes that you’d like to make. Assess the ecosystem you have created, and think about how you can make it even more supportive of our precious wildlife, beneficial insects, pollinators and soil life.

A certain amount of garden clean-up is very important for reducing diseases and pests that are difficult to control. If you haven’t already done so, do remove diseased plants from your vegetable garden. You should have been removing and treating diseased foliage from roses or shrubs with fungal diseases like mildew, blackspot or rust before now, but if their disease-carrying foliage is falling now, keep them picked up and dispose of them responsibly.

But don’t be so quick to scalp those perennials and annuals! Many of them provide natural food and shelter sources that wildlife and beneficial insects depend on for winter survival. You may not have noticed, but so many beneficial insects and butterfly larvae spend the winter in the (often hollow) dead stems. If you throw them out, you’ll lose most of the beneficials that would otherwise keep the balance next year. Always keep an eye out for egg cases attached to stalks when you prune or clean up. There’s often an aesthetic side-benefit – many seed-heads look fabulous either crowned with snow or silhouetted against the snow-covered ground.

Some perennials die back to below ground (peonies, false indigo, gas plant, golden banner, balloon flower, desert four o’clock, gayfeather, leadwort/plumbago, etc.) leaving no basal growth and leaving a completely blank space. To make sure you don’t forget where they are and accidentally dig them up or step on them, leave dry stems until the new growth begins to appear in spring.

Unless you have an ‘ornamental’ grass that self-sows aggressively, leave grasses and their seedheads standing. If they are ‘cool-season’ grasses, you’ll want to leave them until about mid-February, then cut them to 3” above the ground so they can begin making unimpeded new growth as soon as the soil thaws. Dormant ‘warm-season’ grasses can remain attractive until warm weather comes and don’t need to be cut down until April.

Leaving dry stalks standing in the winter also helps preserve soil structure. Snow collects between the stalks and provides protection from freezing temperatures by insulation for the crowns of the plants, especially important for marginally hardy plants. Captured snow keeps soil temperature more consistent, protecting from extreme temperature fluctuations, and helps prevent the alternate freezing and thawing that can disrupt mycorrhizal networks (and uproot plants, especially new and small ones).

Leave the leaves! The larvae of many butterflies overwinter in the blanket of autumn leaves, as well as other beneficials. The leaves also provide cover for frogs, toads and spiders. Songbirds eat more than just seeds; they search in the leaf litter for insect eggs and caterpillars. As leaves naturally break down over time, they feed the soil microbes that make nutrients available to plants. Worried about harboring snail and slugs? Before those leaves begin to fall, spread a non-toxic slug bait like Sluggo in areas of concern. You may want to remove leaves and twigs from patios, decks, walkways and lawns, and that’s fine – especially if you can spread them under shrubs or pile them in a corner where they’ll remain undisturbed through the winter. And very large, flat leaves from trees like Catalpa, Basswood (Tilia americana), Norway Maple, Sycamore/London Planetree) should be cleared from beds or they can form a slick solid mat that smothers the crowns of smaller plants.

Climate Strike 2019

“On September 20th, young people and adults across the US and world will strike to tell the UN and leaders across the world that we want climate action. By growing and uniting the multi generational climate movement, the strike is the launch of a new era for just and equitable climate action.”

– Rocky Mountain Peace and Justice Center

 

Harlequin’s Gardens is joining the Climate Strike, Friday Sept. 20th, by striking while the iron is hot, increasing the focus on the Climate Crisis.

At Harlequin’s Gardens we will not be leaving our jobs on September 20. Instead we will be at work for Harlequin’s where we are always working to help you and the planet. AND we will be giving away one Free bag of compost with each purchase, on Friday, the 20th.[Read More]

Insectary Plants: Let Nature Manage the Pests

It’s a common idea that Nature, left to its own devices, comes to some kind of balance. If one organism gets too numerous, something else will increase to reduce that population. In the case of monocultures created by humans, there is an enforced imbalance that has to be propped up with lots of energy and effort. So in the pursuit of sustainability, humans are opening our eyes to the possibility of biomimicry, imitating Nature. We are coming to the realization that biodiversity is far healthier and less energy intensive than monocultures born out of the aggressive hubris to control Nature. “Let Nature take her course.” But we can stack the deck in human favor first.[Read More]

Biological Farming & Gardening

A newer science that’s not tied to petroleum profits is emerging to challenge the industrial approach to agriculture and gardening. Enormously powerful, politically connected giants like Monsanto, Bayer, and Dupont will continue to make money, but after 60 years of dominance, the “Better Living Through Chemistry” model can no longer hide its fatal flaws. Mountains of evidence now point to the downside of chemical agriculture: poisoning the earth, driving global climate change, causing major health problems, killing pollinators, destroying the life of the soil. The good news is that a more long-range, wholistic view called Biological Agriculture and Gardening is starting to take its place.

This “new” method is based on an entirely different paradigm or model of plant culture. Instead of the bellicose mentality that birthed the pesticide-fungicide-herbicide and chemical fertilizer approach, the biological approach taps the same cooperative relationships that Nature herself has long employed successfully for survival and sustainability. Instead of seeing bacteria as germs, fungi as diseases, and insects and weeds as pests, the biological model sees Nature as brilliantly creative and diverse, and basically good. The scientific truth is that few insects, bacteria and fungi are harmful; most are beneficial or essential to plant development, plant health, and subsequently for human health.[Read More]

2011 Plant Select Winners

Plant Select is a 25 year old cooperative program combining the efforts of Denver Botanic Garden, Colorado State University and some members of the local green industry. Their intention is to chose, propagate and promote plants that are well-adapted to Colorado conditions, colorful and are either little known or underutilized. The 2011 choices are a particularly excellent group.[Read More]

Growing Roses Without Chemicals

Here is the basic approach which we use at Harlequin’s Gardens to grow hundreds of roses without using any pesticides or fungicides, and only using a few soft controls.[Read More]

A Soil Revolution

In this article, Mikl explains why Soil Health matters.

From Peak Soil to Soil Revolution

We are having a real revolution in our relationship with our soils. The turning point is our change in focus from soil fertility to soil health. In the last 60 years of the “Green Revolution” (i.e. the petrochemical boom), soil was viewed as a physical structure and fertility was viewed as a measure of chemicals in the soil — primarily NPK, nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. The petroleum industry could make these macronutrients from natural gas, which make plants grow but often in poor health. Weak plants attract insect pests and fungal diseases, so more petroleum in the forms of insecticides and fungicides added to the success of the oil industry. But this approach has led to “Peak Soil” where land is losing productivity, crops are losing nutritional value, the soil is eroding at extreme rates, and the health of animals and people has declined.[Read More]

How Do We Manage Fireblight

Colorado is said to be the worst state in the US for fireblight, and 2018 was considered by many to be one of the worst years in Colorado. Fireblight is a serious disease affecting apples, crabapples, pears, Mountain Ash and hawthorn, and sometimes quince and pyracantha (supposedly up to 73 species of plants).[Read More]

Drought Resiliency

Drought resiliency is normally thought of as the ability to spring back after a drought or maybe it means tolerant of drought. But when a plant is stressed by having little water, its ability to survive and even thrive is influenced by other factors, some of which are Health, Vitality, Strength and Immune function.

The word Sustainability has become popular as a goal, but the word is too static. A more active word is Re-generative. We can “create” gardens that not only can maintain, but also support the abilities of Life to regrow, multiply, defend itself against predators and add to the vitality of other living things around it.[Read More]

Drought Water Restrictions

Drought, Water Restrictions and Gardening: How Can They Go Together?

I think we were all caught off guard by this drought, by how fast we were forced to see dying trees and brown lawns and by the difficult discipline of watering restrictions. This was especially true in Boulder and Lafayette where mandatory restrictions began in May. Actually, 2002 is the third year in a genuine drought, which some of us without city water supplies can confirm. This year all around Boulder, Red Twig Dogwoods turned brown, linden leaves were scorched, Norway Maples suffered, many viburnums were looking very stressed, and trees in medians defoliated or died. Gardeners caught in the crunch between weeks of hot, dry weather and few opportunities to water, held off most of their planting projects; some started talking about moving away to where they could garden. For Denver and other Colorado cities, next year could be much worse.[Read More]

The 2002 Drought

Drought, Water Restrictions and Gardening: How Can They Go Together?

I think we were all caught off guard by this drought, by how fast we were forced to see dying trees and brown lawns and by the difficult discipline of watering restrictions. This was especially true in Boulder and Lafayette where mandatory restrictions began in May. Actually, 2002 is the third year in a genuine drought, which some of us without city water supplies can confirm. This year all around Boulder, Red Twig Dogwoods turned brown, linden leaves were scorched, Norway Maples suffered, many viburnums were looking very stressed, and trees in medians defoliated or died. Gardeners caught in the crunch between weeks of hot, dry weather and few opportunities to water, held off most of their planting projects; some started talking about moving away to where they could garden. For Denver and other Colorado cities, next year could be much worse.[Read More]

Three Xeric Plant Select Favorites

Here are three hardy, xeric and floriferous plants that are successful in western gardens.

Russian Hawthorn, Crataegus ambiguus was tested at the Cheyenne Horticultural Station and found to be well-adapted to the west. It is native to Armenia, Iran, Russia, Ukraine and Turkey. I have a 20 year-old specimen growing without irrigation along with many native shrubs. The mature size is 15′-20′ high and wide in our area. The branches grow quite horizontally which gives it natural character. It lends itself to a bonsai/character style, and I have been growing one in a big ceramic pot for 10 years. The finely cut leaves give a soft appearance and in May it blooms with profuse white flowers that are attractive to bees and butterflies and followed by showy red berries in August/September that are eaten by birds. Very dry conditions can result in fewer flowers and fruit. Like apples, to which Hawthorns are related, the seeds contain some cyanide, so should not be eaten, but the berries are edible and make a respected heart tonic.[Read More]

Xeriscape Perennials That Withstand Colorado

“The quality of mercy is not strained
 It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven.” Shakespeare

It was great to have a long cool spring with plenty of moisture, but since it followed the very hot temperatures and drought of 2002, it really felt like a merciful blessing. Now instead of dying trees and brown lawns, the streams are gushing, the reservoirs brimming, the wildflowers are extravagant and the birds are joyfully singing. Those plants and gardens that survived 2002 have never looked better. We’ll take it.[Read More]

Beyond GMOs and Petroleum Farming

Four years ago I was among the group of Boulder County residents who were asking to ban GMOs on our publically-owned farm lands. The Commissioners at that time voted to add GMO Sugar Beets to the already approved GMO corn, but they also increased the acreage of land to be used for organic agriculture and agreed to take another look at neonicotinoid use if there was new evidence. There is now new evidence on GMOs, Roundup that is used on 80% of GMOs and on neonicotinoids linked to the death and weakening of all our insects, including bees.

So in 2011, in order to find out if there were practical non-toxic options to manage larger pieces of farm land (like 200-300 acres), I traveled to Ohio to an Acres USA Conference. Attending that conference were over a thousand farmers and ranchers. ACRES has been guiding eco-agriculture for 45 years now; the last conference I had attended was in 1977. I met farmers and attended talks by farmers who were managing 100-1000 acres without GMOs and without toxic chemicals.[Read More]

The Drought Response

Responding to the worst drought in 100 (300?) years has been confusing, disturbing and difficult. The main unanswerable questions are, “How long is it going to last?” and “Is global warming or other conditions going to cause this kind of drought to be more common place?” Implicit in these questions is the question being asked by water utilities, city governments and members of the Green Industry: “How much money should we invest in changes that will conserve water?” If in two years the drought is over and will not be this bad again for 100 years, then why bother to reinvent our utilities and businesses? On the other hand, if water providers, city councils and the Green Industry are not proactive about water conservation, and the drought cycle lasts for a long time, consequences could be devastating, and the public could get furious.[Read More]

Champion Trees Show More Possibilities

Growing trees in Colorado, especially big shade trees, can be very challenging. Few of the specimens in our community “forests” are native to Colorado, and areas where big trees are abundant are often so different from our conditions that those trees do not adapt well here. Some of the difficulties trees face here are: alkaline soils, nutrient-poor and shallow soils, low humidity, hot and drying winter sun, strong winds, untimely wet snows in spring and fall, rapidly changing temperatures, and low rainfall. Add to these the confining root zones in which many trees are growing in urban environments, and it is easy to understand why our trees are often stressed, subject to borer and fungus problems, broken and short-lived.[Read More]

How to Plant a Tree

Planting a tree puts us in touch with one of the most essential parts of a tree that is often overlooked—the roots. When a seed germinates, the first part to develop is the root. The seed has stored nutrients, but if the plant is to live, it must immediately make a relationship with the nourishment of the earth. Then it can make the sprout that pushes into the sunlight to start photosynthesizing. So the first matter of importance in planting a tree is to honor its roots—their condition, their future environment and their nourishment.[Read More]

Sustainable Roses for Colorado

Tea House Roses, photo by Nikki Hayden

Roses are certainly one of the world’s most beloved flowers, and yet many people have given up on them because they have gotten the reputation of needing frequent spraying, feeding and fussing. They got this reputation because for decades, hybrid tea and floribunda roses were bred mostly for special colors, a particular flower form and repeat flowering. Their value was judged more for the exhibition table than for the garden. Now, as more people have become aware of the dangers of pesticides and as the trend has moved to “care-free” shrub roses for the garden, rose breeding has shifted in the last ten years towards more sustainability.[Read More]

Supporting Trees in Colorado

Trees do a lot for us humans, so we shouldn’t forget to give them some support. When I look at the treeless ten acre lot next to our nursery, or when I see an old photo of the CU campus with bare land around Old Main, I remember why we can’t take trees for granted in Colorado. Trees really have it hard here, but there are things we can do to help them survive and thrive.[Read More]

Tree Roots 1: The hidden support system

The roots are the hidden support system of our giant plants, the trees. They anchor their woody trunks to the ground, store food and bring in water, nutrients and oxygen. In this article I will discuss what is going on down there. In the next issue I will discuss more practical applications of this understanding.  

Far less is known about tree roots than about the trunk, branches and leaves. This is understandable since the roots are hidden from our view, and once you dig them up, they are no longer what they were. We are awed by the massive trees swaying over our houses and streets, but usually we give little thought to what is going on under the surface. However, when spring thawing is followed by powerful winds and we see an 80’ spruce toppled over with its roots in the air, which are only 9” deep; that gets us thinking.[Read More]

Tree Roots 2: The hidden support system part II

What would we do without trees? What structures could we invent and construct that would hang over our houses and offices, providing shade and cooler temperatures? Such a structure would have to hold up under 80 mph winds and heavy wet snows, and would have to retract in the winter to let in light. Trees provide these values and much more, giving off oxygen, providing housing for birds, and protection for understory plants. Thus it is very important to take good care of our trees, and the most fundamental level of that care must be directed to the roots.[Read More]

Biological Farming and Gardening

A New Model for the 21st Century

A newer science that is not tied to petroleum profits is emerging to challenge the industrial approach to agriculture and gardening. Of course, the enormously powerful and politically connected corporate giants like Monsanto, Bayer and Dupont will continue to make money, but after 60 years of dominance, the “Better Living Through Chemistry” model can no longer hide its fatal flaws. Mountains of evidence now point to the effects of chemical agriculture: poisoning the earth, driving global climate change, causing major health problems, killing pollinators and destroying the life of the soil. The good news is that a more long-range, wholistic view is starting to take its place. This new approach is being called Biological Agriculture and Gardening.[Read More]

Biological Thinking

It has been suggested that this period of the 21st Century might well be called The Age of Biology, because the biggest challenges will be biological and the biggest breakthroughs will be in the realm of biology.

In this article, we will continue the discussion from the last issue on Biological Agriculture and Gardening, but this time going into specifics of biological thinking, biological discoveries and applications that improve plant and food success with biological solutions.[Read More]

Food Safety and GMOs

Food safety is one of the most critical issues of our time. What we eat is directly related to our health, and health care has a direct impact on our personal and national economies. Major chemical companies like Monsanto, Bayer, Dow and Dupont have introduced 86,000 synthetic chemicals into our environment, food, drugs, cosmetics etc and most of them have never been tested for toxic effects on human health and the environment. Since the mid 1990s, some of these same companies have been filling our grocery stores and feed stores with genetically engineered food products which may be causing serious health problems but are being approved by our government without safety testing.[Read More]

Gardening from the Heart

Most of us were taught that gardening is about control, about battling unruly, ravenous nature to succeed with our objectives. And a very complex and prosperous industry sprang up in the late 1940s to provide us with the power and weapons to meet those expectations. Petroleum products from World War II chemical weapons, defoliants and bombs were reformulated to solve our plant problems and feed the world. These chemical fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides have now had 50-60 years to show that this aggressive, heartless and poisonous approach has failed. Foods with little nutritional value and a polluted world are inspiring a strong international movement toward sustainability.[Read More]

Gardening without Chemicals

How can we deal with all the bugs and diseases without using toxic poisons, and how can our gardens really produce without high-powered chemical fertilizers? Many people wanting to garden sustainably are asking these questions. And it is not easy to find the answers, partly because the answers are not simple. I want to admit this up front, but don’t be scared off, because it’s not that hard to garden sustainably once you get the hang of it. However you must know that you can’t just exchange a slam-bam chemical approach for a slam-bam sustainable approach.[Read More]

Gardening Without Fear

The key to minimal maintenance and a low input approach is Gardening Without Fear. The solution to gardening without fear is twofold: being empowered to garden successfully and being relaxed and tolerant. If we are fearful, we will react to every little problem, worry and criticize ourselves. Then we might seek an immediate solution like some poison.

We have been guided to believe that we need these petroleum products by companies that sell them. In fact, these products weaken the support systems of plants and make them more vulnerable to diseases, pests and drought. The truth is—we don’t need them.[Read More]

Invasive Plants and Weed Profiles

Last month we raised the issue of invasive introduced plants and the idea of being responsible gardeners who respect our native habitat and make an effort to not release invasive plants into the wild. We began with obvious noxious weeds that are having strong negative impacts on our native populations of plants and animals. This month again I am profiling weeds which have been declared as noxious, but this time a question is beginning to arise about under what circumstances are some of the less aggressive weeds invasive? In other words, is it possible that we might find a middle way that guides us strictly with the truly harmful invasives and more leniently with the less aggressive and more useful weedy plants? These are questions I am asking myself and will be asking in future interviews. We also welcome your views on this issue.[Read More]

Invasives August Issue

In February 2000 President Clinton established the National Invasive Species Council. Agriculture secretary Dan Glickman, Commerce Secretary William Daley and Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt were asked to work together on a plan to minimize the economic, ecological and human health impact of invasive plants and animals not native to the US. The executive order on Invasive Species directs federal agencies to prevent the introduction of invasive species, to control populations of such species in a cost-effective and environmentally sound manner, to monitor populations, restore native species, conduct research and promote public education on invasive species.[Read More]

Invasives Intro

One of the hot subjects in horticulture these days is the issue of the invasiveness of introduced plants. Since they did not evolve here, they lack natural enemies, and whereas most are harmless, some have engulfed vast areas of wilderness, national forests, range and farm lands. This has led some people to campaign for “natives only” and others to attack the introduction of new plants as an ecological nightmare. In response to these attacks some in the plant industry have dismissed these fears as invalid over-reactions. As Colorado gardeners, most of us can be both excited by new plant introductions that are well-adapted to Colorado conditions, and feel very protective of our natural ecosystem and our native plants. In a series of articles, we hope to uncover some truths regarding these issues and to educate ourselves about how to work with this situation in a constructive manner.[Read More]

Nitrous Oxide

The forgotton greenhouse gas and how it relates to growing plants

Nitrogen is one of the most essential nutrients for plants. Nitrogen is required for building amino acids, DNA and RNA, in stimulating growth, supporting health and is a critical ingredient in chlorophyll, the chemical needed for photosynthesis. In our gardens, when nitrogen is lacking, plants are small and yellow, and roots do not perform well. In Colorado, almost all our soils are deficient in nitrogen and organic matter. So we gardeners often add fertilizers and composts to our soils.[Read More]

Bees, Beauty, and Biodiversity

It used to be that beauty was enough. If the lawn looked good and we had a few shrubs and a few flowers, we could relax, having done our duty to the neighborhood.

Now we have to be water-wise, save the bees and the Monarch Butterflies, and on top of that, we’ve got to have Biodiversity.

I think this is a good trend. Gardens are more than something to look at. They are a piece of Nature and the more diverse they are, the more like Nature they are.[Read More]

Feed the Soil, Not the Plant

It is widely known that nitrogen is essential for plants. It is a major component of amino acids, DNA and chlorophyll. It is necessary for photosynthesis, the alchemical process of turning sunlight, carbon dioxide, minerals and water into oxygen and sugars that is the food that feeds life on earth. In Colorado, most of our soils are deficient in nitrogen.

But too much nitrogen can be a problem, especially high nitrogen chemical fertilizers. Bill McKibben, author of The Art of Balancing Soil Nutrients states, “Although all plant nutrients are critical, none seem to produce such quick and dramatic effect on plant growth as nitrogen does. It is because of this reason that nitrogen has been over-used and abused.” A 20%-30% nitrogen fertilizer can make a spring lawn turn bright green practically overnight, and can make plants in a greenhouse or garden grow and look mature really fast. So what’s the problem?[Read More]