Plant Maps
Links
This page contains the resources that I have found useful as I garden and as my personal chef (aka: hubby) creates his amazing dishes. Admittedly, it is an eclectic list. It contains everything from quotes and books that I like to podcasts, videos, and slideshows.
If you don’t want to scroll through the entire list, you can click on one of the links below and filter the resources by specific category.
I will update this list as I discover new resources. If you have a resource you think I should add, please email me.
Colorado State University Extention
Yes, there are some veggies you can put in the ground as early as April. But others need to WAIT until the temperatures at night are 50 degrees or higher. Check out the link above for information on what can go in the ground AFTER the last frost date here in the Front Range. If you are like me and don’t want to check the weather forecast, just shoot for Mother’s Day, knowing that there is little chance of a freeze overnight. Little chance, but not impossible.
Believe me, I’ve made the mistake of putting in peppers FAR TOO EARLY. But that is what you have to be willing to do when you garden — BE WILLING TO MAKE MISTAKES.
Colorado State University Extention
Here on the Colorado Front Range, you can have an early spring, a summer and a fall vegetable garden by planting cool and warm season vegetables. Cool season? Yes, you CAN plant vegetables as early as April (sometimes as early as March) for an early summer harvest and again in mid-to-late July for a fall harvest.
Cool season veggies like cooler weather. This is why they are labeled cool (or sometimes cold) season.
Go to the link above to read more about these vegetables who like to chill.
June 15, 2014
Please, pretty please go to the link above for a chart that indicates WHEN you can plant your veggies. Probably the biggest mistake a Colorado gardener makes is planting veggies at the wrong time. For example, it took me years to learn that I can plant peas in early April for a June harvest (and again in mid/late July) for a fall harvest!
June 15, 2014
I often find myself meandering over to Margaret Roach’s website. Click on the link above. This is a great place to learn. But to learn here you have to NOT be intimidated. Yes, she was a gardening editor for Martha Stewart’s Living magazine. But we must get past that fact and learn from her.
If you want a plant that comes up every year (called a perennial) you have to pay attention to the hardiness zone you are in. After reading here, click on the link above. This will take you to a great zone map.
Some plants sold in our Colorado gardening centers will have the zone marked, others will not. If the plant is marked with the name but not the zone, look the name up on the internet to find out in which zone it grows as a perennial. If the plants says it is for zones 6 and higher, know that it WON’T come up again here in the front range of Colorado. I do grow some of these plants. Some I bring in during the winter, others I just let die and buy again in the spring
Point is this: know your zone. And, know that not all gardening centers mark all their plants. I learned this the hard way with lavender, learning that only a couple varieties come up every year here in Colorado.