By: Anne Wuerslin
Colorado State University Extension Master Gardener in Larimer County
Make your own seed tapes for fall-sown vegetables such as carrots, beets, lettuce, chard and spinach. Use tissue paper cut into thin strips. Mix a 1:1 slurry of water and flour as glue, and using a small paintbrush, dot and place seeds according to spacing directions on package. Allow the strip to dry and then place into a soil furrow, cover with screened compost or topsoil, water well, and wait for your perfect rows to emerge.
Going on vacation? Place houseplants in bathtub, water well, and cover loosely with plastic to retain humidity.
Check out PlantSelect® Petites (plantselect.org). Started in 2013, this program highlights small but hardy plants which are great for rock gardens, troughs, and border fronts. Silky Rock Jasmine and Purple Winter Savory make great focal spots of color.
Use ornamental sedges (Carex sp.) for areas you would otherwise plant hostas. Varieties of Japanese variegated sedges come in stripes of white, yellow and green. Grown for foliage, these deer resistant plants tend to be mounding and clumped. They like moist, humus enriched soil. Lighten up the darker areas of your garden.
The author has received training through Colorado State University Extension’s Master Gardener program and is a Master Gardener volunteer for Larimer County.
Larimer County is a county-based outreach of Colorado State University Extension providing information you can trust to deal with current issues in agriculture, horticulture, nutrition and food safety, 4-H, small acreage, money management and parenting. For more information about CSU Extension in Larimer County, call (970) 498-6000 or visit www.larimer.org/ext [1]
Looking for additional gardening information? Check out the CSU Extension Horticulture Agent blog at www.csuhort.blogspot.com [2] for timely updates about gardening around the state.
Visit PlantTalk Colorado ™ for fast answers to your gardening questions! www.planttalk.org [3] PlantTalk is a cooperation between Colorado State University Extension, GreenCo and Denver Botanic Gardens.