Dear Friends and Fellow Gardeners,
Right now we have our biggest selection of the year: the most tomatoes, the most peppers, the most roses, the most fruit trees and berries, perennials, etc etc. At least 85% of our stock is free of the neonicotinoid pesticides that have probable links to the decline of honey bees and other pollinators. All of our veggie starts, herbs, roses and annual flowers are neonic-free.
Compost Tea is Here.
The soil is finally warming to activate the soil life, so now is a good time to inoculate your gardens with beneficial bacteria and mycorrhizae and other beneficial fungi. These not only break down raw nutrients in the soil, making them into available forms for plants, they bring water and nutrients to the plants and help to outcompete disease organisms.
What is in our compost tea?:
dechlorinated water, a biodynamic compost, kelp, a mineral concentrate, molasses, calcium and a lot of oxygen. Mix with Age Old Liquid Grow for more nitrogen, or with Age Old Liquid Bloom for more phosphorus and potassium. Apply within 6 hours of purchase and spray or sprinkle over the foliage or as a soil drench. It is particularly effective applied to the roots of the plants as you are planting.
The Rose Cane Girdler
is the insect that causes the swellings on the rose canes where they often break or die. Now is the time to remove the dead and damaged canes to prevent further damage. This bronze beetle emerges in late May and lays its eggs on the rose canes. When the eggs hatch, the larvae penetrate the bark and girdle the cane, causing the swelling. To discourage egg-laying, Mikl suggests spraying the canes with non-toxic Neem or garlic (with chili pepper). Spray end of May and 10 days later. Some girdling is considered acceptable since roses grow back so rapidly. 
Gooseberries:
There is a sawfly that eats the leaves of gooseberries and can defoliate to plant in a hurry if you ignore them. When you see damage, spray the leaves, top and bottom with Pure Spray Horticultural Oil, Veggie Pharm, Oil Pharm, Garlic Pharm or other non-toxic spray. Spray again a week later.
As with all organic pest management, annihilation is the wrong idea. Keeping insect damage to minor levels is the goal, so that we humans still have beauty and food, the beneficial insects have pests to eat so they live in our gardens, and so we have a safe environment and a healthy planet.
CLASSES for the rest of May
Sat. May 17, 10am AND 1pm: BEES, BEES, BEES with Miles McGaughey, President of Boulder Co. Beekeepers Assn. Miles has 20 years experience keeping bees. He will talk bees then demonstrate how to work with them using our live Top Bar hive. Wear light colored clothing and avoid scented body products. $15 Sun. May 18, 1pm:
SUCCESSION PLANTING with Tracey Parrish. Learn to maximize the use of your garden space & keep your vegetable garden in continual production.Tracey is expert in culinary gardening $15 Sat. May 24, 10 am:
DO-IT-YOURSELF DRIP IRRIGATION with Alison Peck. Drip irrigation can be easy! It is a key part of most water conserving landscapes, but it can be intimidating. Come learn a simple, easy to design and install system which Alison has been using for years, plus new efficient sprinklers. Save money, save water, reduce weeds and have healthier plants. Alison Peck owns Matrix Gardens, which has been designing and installing sustainable landscapes in Boulder Valley for 25 years. $15
Sat. May 24, 1pm: TIPS AND TRICKS OF XERISCAPE with Mikl Brawner. Gardening with less water is not that hard if you know how. There are tricks that will improve your success. Mikl’s xeriscape experience of over 25 years has taught him tricks that will cost you a lot less than it cost him. $15
Sat. May 31, 10 am: RAINWATER ‘HARVESTING’ with Jason Gerhardt. Jason will cover the legal issues of water harvesting in Colorado and focus on what we can do to benefit from the free rain. Harvesting water in the soil, instead of in cisterns, helps us make the best possible use of our precious rainwater. Jason currently teaches a permaculture program for Naropa University and has a service: Real Earth Design $15
Sat. May 31, 1pm: BEST FRUIT TREES FOR COLORADO with Mikl Brawner Learn which varieties are successful here, which are not, and which are good flavored: Apples, Cherries, Plums, Pears, Peaches, and learn how to care for them. Mikl’s 1st orchard was in 1976. $15
EVE is mending and the Sun is Shining at Harlequin’s Gardens
Do come out. Together we can do it yourself.
Sincerely,
Mikl, Eve and the Great Staff at Harlequin’s Gardens