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This is my first gardening season on the Colorado Front Range. I've quickly learned that there will be many challenges ahead if I hope to have a successful garden. Mainly the rapid snow/sun cycle. This is also my first attempt at gardening at elevation (~6000ft.), and in such a dry climate.
Are there any Colorado gardeners with advice to deal with the elevation, and temperature fluxuations, lack of humidity, etc.? Any tips would be great. When can we take our plants outside for good? Are there any month-by-month To-do items that we should know about? Thanks in advance.
I live in Denver, at about 5200', so if you're at 6000', you may have more challenges. I have quite a variety of things growing and keep testing different types of broadleaf evergreens so I have something green throughout winter. These include two types of boxwood, inkberry, several types of euonamous, and 3 varieties of yucca. People comment on how great my yard looks in winter.
I have a 5' Spruce I planted last May that looked perfect up until 2 weeks ago. It died very fast and I have no clue why. They grow all over Denver and I've never seen a dead Spruce. Now I have to dig it up and haul it back to Home Depot for a replacement.
I prepared flower beds for annuals last weekend, but won't plant annuals until May 10th or so. I've had Pansies in my flower boxes for a month now (they're extremely hardy) and they're doing great for late Winter/early Spring color. Daffodils are blooming now too. I fertilized my grass about a month ago and already mowed it last weekend. The trick to early green grass here is fertilizer in early March and then hand water once or twice per week if you don't get precipitation until late April when I'll turn on my sprinkler system.
I have a 5' Spruce I planted last May that looked perfect up until 2 weeks ago. It died very fast and I have no clue why. They grow all over Denver and I've never seen a dead Spruce. Now I have to dig it up and haul it back to Home Depot for a replacement.
I prepared flower beds for annuals last weekend, but won't plant annuals until May 10th or so.
I fertilized my grass about a month ago and already mowed it last weekend. The trick to early green grass here is fertilizer in early March and then hand water once or twice per week if you don't get precipitation until late April when I'll turn on my sprinkler system.
Thanks for your comments! I think the house is at 5900, but close enough. Our neighborhood back to open space on the front range, so we're a little higher up. I'll definately look into the plants you suggested. This is our first year in the house, so we're interested to sort out what we have in the yard, and what we'd like to add.. etc. Like the mid-westerners we are, when we had high 60s and sun the other weekend, we did all sorts of yard work in preparation... then the next day we got covered in snow.
The May dates I've heard. Someone told me that Mothers Day is the landmark to start planting outside. Thanks for confirming that! Fertelizer eh, yea, that's a good idea. Should we be fertilizing the tree's as well? We have a few Aspens in the yard, some Spruce, and a few of the same type of tree that I have not yet identified (a deciduous of some sort). We don't yet have a lawn mower (we have rented before this and not needed one... now that we own a house, we'll get one of course). I guess that should be on the list soon! Also, being that we bought the house over the winter... we'll have to make sure the sprinkler system works properly when it warms up, but we are 100% new to operating the sprink.system (yikes). We have a water audit scheduled for June from the city. So, late April is the time to turn the sprinkler sytem on? Should we have it serviced, in case the prev.owners didn't winterize properly - or just turn it on and see what happens?
Never thatch your yard, never mow and pick up your clippings, Grass clippings are a natural fertilizer and mulch. Leave the lawn a little longer, I cut at the highest setting. All of this will cut down on your water usage. If you are handy with sprinkler systems and have time, just turn it on and fix anything that needs fixing . If not hire a good company, ask your neighbors who they use.
Colorado soils have a lot of clay so any organics you can add to a garden will help. I have grown all sorts of fruits and veggies here, you can too. What types of things are you interested in growing ?
Thanks for the good tips Wyomiles! Eventually, we'd love to xerascape the yard - green grass doesn't seem right in such a dry place... but we can't escape a yard completely (and def. not in our first year) - so the cutting setting tips to save water will come in handy. We're definately interested in having a veggie garden (we have two tomato plants indoors right now). I'd like to do some flowers too (more interested in perennials). Also, we're interested in some native privacy plants (maybe some tall grasses or other?). We'd also like some climbers (maybe grapes?). We do want to try to use native plants when possible. The yard slopes slightly to the house, and it's been suggested that we add plants to "soak" up water on the way to the house. Not sure what plants would be best for that. There's so much to learn!
We've never had a sprinkler system... so this spring will be a very big learning experience. We'll talk to some neighbor's, as it may be good to get a professional out for the first time... just in case, and to figure out exactly what we're dealing with.
[Also to note, we have some raised beds that run along the edge of the yard (boxed out by wood beams) that we can put new organic rich soil in... but we trying to figure out what's growing in there already before doing any demolition or pulling out plants.]
Last edited by geogirl82; 04-11-2008 at 12:23 PM..
Reason: added note
I normally turn my sprinker system on the 3rd or 4th week of April. As long as there aren't going to be any freezes down into the mid 20s, I think you're ok. You might want to wait a week or two longer since you're at higher elevation. I hate dealing with the sprinkers though. I never seem to quite remember how to turn it beck on, but figure it out each year. I shut them down in mid October and have someone professionally blow them out in early November.
A good catalog to look for would be from "high country gardens". Many other catalogs are starting to offer hardy plants and xeric plants. Actually if you don't get garden catalogs get some coming. This will give you some ideas. I think there was a thread here somewhere about favorite catalogs ?
The yard sloping toward the house sends up an alarm for me. If it is posible to redue this so that at least five or ten feet slopes away from the house it will be worth the work, might not be possible ?
Good point about waiting to see what comes up this spring. Might be some really nice plants , some you could devide and spread around if you like them. Others will give you seeds to plant too.
When you plant your tomatoes outside be sure to give them lots of sun, lots of water, and something to climb up on.
Our plan is to wait until May to investigate the sprinklers. We'll see if we can figure it out with the materials left when we bought the house... and (hopefully) common sense.
I ordered the high country catalog, it should be here next week. I've never seen that site, so I look forward to exploring.
The yard could be redone to get the grade leveled out, and we have toyed with the idea... we know that we definately need to add some soil around the house to get it back to it's original level. It really looks like the previous homeowners did nothing to the yard since the house was built 10+ years ago, in terms of adding soil as the yard "settled". ::Sigh:: Thankfully the foundation to the house is solid, and the yard grade doesn't seem to be affecting it. Our neighborhood is up on a hill, so no water problems in the house, even with the yard slope.
The tomatoes have been doing great with "day trips" to the future garden sight that has lots of sunshine! I was reading about the "wall of water" products and of course a tomato cage to let it climb.
I've turned on my sprinklers now, as have most of my neighbors and the park across the street. I don't have a lot of grass, but it's very green and lush at this point. I also planted annuals in hanging baskets, but brought them in last night just in case. Looks like it only got to 37 at my house, so they probably would have been ok.
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