Heirloom Vegetable Seeds by Sandy Swegel My gardening buddies had an ice tea party at a nearby market farm this week. Long hot summer days are ripening melons and we were eager to do some taste testing, but how do you know when melons are ripe? They all look great. They have a good size. We were crouching […]
Everything You Didn’t Know About Your Vegetables by Sandy Swegel This would be a better title for this fantastic new book that tells you how to double or even triple the nutrient value of your organic vegetables. At a time when it seems like grocery store prices are doubling and tripling, this seems like a […]
How to Recover Your Garden After a Storm by Sandy Swegel “Gardening in Colorado sucks” is how my friend described her garden after a violent storm full of hail and tornadoes passed through the towns east of Boulder this week. Much more vivid expletives were used by all as we surveyed the destruction brought by […]
Plant Milkweed Now by Sandy Swegel It’s Show and Tell time. It’s time to take the kids or some curious adults outside and prove your superior knowledge of the ways of nature and introduce them to butterfly eggs. It’s been a good milkweed year in the wild this year. Lots of spring rains followed by […]
How Do I Get Rid of This Terrible Pest? by Sandy Swegel I was so late writing my blog post this morning because I foolishly strolled out into the rose garden, where everything was delightfully dewy and fresh from rains last night. I thought I would deadhead a few late season roses that looked spent. […]
Trying To Get Along With the Squash Bug by Sandy Swegel Eww…Yet another bug thriving this year and ruining my food. Most of us have experienced our squashes suffering from powdery mildew that coats the leaves white, but knowledgeable gardeners are perplexed here in Colorado by squash that suddenly completely wilts and die (Asana wilt). […]
Taking Care of Your Plants in the Heat July can be hot in the garden. If you’ve kept up with weeding earlier in the season, there may not be too much work outside of harvesting veggies. Two midsummer tasks are important now. Fertilize plants that have been working hard. Tomatoes….because I want lots of tomatoes and […]
The Bees Favorite Flower by Sandy Swegel I visited one of my favorite suburban lawn alternative gardens yesterday. It’s a true pollinator’s heaven of nectar and pollen, right on a neighborhood street. Full of perennial gaillardia and rudbeckia, and reseeding annual larkspur, cleome, and sunflower, the garden uses about the same amount of water as your […]
How to Cook and Eat Your Squash Blossoms by Sandy Swegel The zucchini in our garden is just starting, so there’s not too much of it yet. So far, it’s still a nice dish to have sauteed or lightly grilled zucchini and yellow squash. But I know the day will be here soon when there’s […]
How To Know What to Plant This Month by Sandy Swegel As a gardener, I’m always surprised by the veggie seed sales in July. I know from a marketing point of view the prime seed-buying season has past and companies have to move product still in inventory. But from a gardening perspective, it doesn’t make […]