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Extend the Life of your Tools: A gardener's work is not over until the tools a cleaned and put away for the winter. Taking care of your tools before winter will make for a happier spring.
- Start with a medium-sized (10-qt) galvanized bucket; the cheaper the better
- Add sand and some cheap motor oil. Add oil until you can see a color change, but the texture is still sandy.
- Put them away for next year
- Plunge your gardening tools into the bucket until they are clean and shinny.
- Clean your gardening gloves, removing any caked on dirt.
- Store them in a plastic "Ziploc" baggie; this keeps them safe from bugs or spiders seeking a new home.
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Make those Cut Flowers Last: My gardening philosophy has never been "Look, but don't touch." I grow an abundance of flowers just so I can cut them and bring them inside. Here's a trick I found for keeping them looking their best longer.
- Cut flowers either early in the morning or late in the afternoon.
- In the late afternoon, the stems and leaves have the most sugar in them and this keeps them fresh longer.
- I change the water every other day and sip a bit of the stem.
- I dissolve a baby aspirin in warm water and add it to the vase water. Then add the bunch of flowers, freshly sipped at a diagonal.
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Stop Deadheading & Save the Seeds: During the growing season I spend time in my garden cutting off spent flowers (deadheading). Deadheading prevents the plants "going to seed' which causes the plant to stop producing luscious blooms. Around
August, I stop this practice and let the plants made seeds so that I can plant them next year.
- I have had the best luck with marigolds & zinnias. The trick is to let them turn brown and dry out. Just before they crack open to release their seeds, I pluck them and put them in a brown lunch paper bag for safe keeping until next
year.
- I have had success in cutting the stem with seed head, not fully dried. I generally bring them in a lay them out on newsprint. They remain undisturbed on the corner of by 8-foot craft table. Once complete dried out, I put the seeds in
a brown paper bag.
- Because I take so many pictures of my garden, I staple a photo of the Flower on the closed brown paper bag.
- I put all the paper bags with seeds in the extra large plastic jar. Place the bag inside a large glass jar to prevent rodents from raiding your garden before it's even planted. Store the jar in a cool, dark place until you're ready to plant
them for next year's garden.
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Wait for the Seed Catalogs: After the first frost and all the gardening chores are done, I anxiously wait for the arrival of seed and bulb catalogs. It is such a joy to page through the colorful pictures and plan next year's garden. I cut out
the pictures of the blooms I like and rearrange them on a poster board to get an idea of what to plant and where to plant them. Then when next year come, I toss out the plans and let creativity flow willy-nilly. |
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Experiences in Colorado Gardening: |
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