Get Ready at Garden Symposium

Get growing ideas at the Urban Farmers and Vegetable Gardeners Symposium scheduled for Saturday March 12 on the Auraria campus in Denver. The day includes presentations on specialty vegetable and fruit growing topics presented by the author of this blog, Carl Wilson, other CSU Extension personnel and Feed Denver instructors. You can choose six classes during the day from eighteen classes available as outlined below. For more information and to register, visit the Feed Denver website.

9:00
Connecting with Tasty Small Fruit - Joel Reich
Vegetable Seed Starting Secrets - Patti O'Neal
Sustaining Yourself in Changing Times - Kate Armstrong

10:00
Hear The Buzz - Bees and the Edible Garden - Beth Conrey
Lessons from the Vegetable Garden - Carl Wilson
Coming into Community through Urban Food - Kate Armstrong

11:00
Fruit Trees that Earn their Keep on the Front Range - Carol O'Meara
Tips and Tricks for Tomato Growing - Patti O'Neal
Urban Gleaning, Gathering and Foraging - Kate Armstrong

1:00
The Living is Easy Summertime Vegetables - Carol O'Meara
Troubleshooting Insects in the Vegetable Garden - Mary Small
Farming for Climate Change - Ariel Chesnutt

2:00
Vegetables are Cool in Spring and Fall - Carl Wilson
Healthy Soil makes the Vegetable Garden - Jean Reeder
Planting for Your Family's Food Needs - Sarah Marcogliese

3:00
Vegetable Garden Pests: More than Insects - Mary Small
Growing Vegetables in Small Spaces - Cathy Jo Clawson
Food not Lawns - Ariel Chesnutt

* Presented by: Colorado State University Extension, Feed Denver Urban Farms & Markets, Compost Auraria

Soil testing a good idea

Now that the latest snow has melted, it's a good time to collect and submit soil for testing ahead of spring soil preparation and planting. Do be sure to air dry soil first before shipment.

I've seen both extremes over the years - too little fertility to produce good vegetables and over-fertilization that causes problems. Nationally studies show over-fertilzation is more of a problem in home gardens.

Excess nitrogen applied to tomatoes, squash and other "fruiting" vegetables produces luxuriant leaf growth and few fruit. With root crops such as carrot, turnips and parsnips you will see many leaves and small roots. Little nitrogen when corn tassels produces poor ear production.

Excess phosphorus tends to interfere with vegetables' ability to absorb iron and other micronutrients. The excess shuts down the roots production of phytochelates, organic molecules that increase iron uptake.

You can see that a general broadcast of a 5-10-5 or 10-10-10 fertilizer without knowing where you stand on fertility is likely a poor idea.

Sample prior to adding compost or fertilizer and send to the Soil Testing Lab at Colorado State University or another analytical lab for analysis. The soil test results will inform you about whether compost should be added and what type. For example a salt-affected soil with low organic matter will require low-salt compost (often plant-based and not containing manure).

Testing your soil on a three to four year cycle is usually enough to do a good job of managing the fertility and organic matter in Colorado soils. For more information check the Colorado State University Extension fact sheet Fertilizing the Vegetable Garden.

Photo credit: Collecting soil sample - Carl Wilson

Roots time

With colder weather setting in Thanksgiving week, it’s a good time to explore your underground growing success by digging root vegetables. Beets are a good example, the cool weather causing them to be extra sweet.

‘Chioggia’ beets named for a town across the bay from Venice are pictured here. They are a 65 day, Italian home garden variety with festive red and white striped interior rings. Try them roasted with feta cheese. Sweet!

Carrots are another mainstay. ‘Nelson’ (pictured) is a half-long variety well adapted to growing in our shallow, clay soils. A Nantes type, it grows 5 to 6 inches long in 58 days. It consistently produces smooth, high quality roots with great uniformity.

Make fresh harvested roots a part of your November vegetable menu.

You can store roots in the garden longer into December and even January by covering them with a blanket of mulch. A foot deep layer of fallen tree leaves weighted with wire fencing or staked with netting to hold them in place should do the trick.


Photo credits: Dug 'Chioggia' beet root, 'Chioggia' beet slices, dug 'Nelson' carrot - all Carl Wilson

Garden cleanup

Extended warm weather with many pleasant days has allowed ample time for garden cleanup. Though several hard freezes have killed warm weather crops, cool weather crops are still producing. If plants have overstayed their useful life, remove them. When cold-hardy cabbage family crops and others are finished, gather and dispose of all debris, preferably to the compost bin. If diseased or severely infested with insects, disposal off the property may be desirable.

One reason for a thorough fall cleanup is to avoid overwintering insects in your garden. For example, aphids overwinter as eggs as can be seen in the photo of kohlrabi, above right. Cabbage aphids (pictured left) and turnip aphids are the prime species found on cabbage family crops. Removing debris heads off an early spring aphid infestations. With some aphids on vegetable crops, it also eliminates the virus diseases that they can carry.

Photo credit: Cabbage aphids closeup (Brevicoryne brassicae) Whitney Cranshaw, Colorado State University, www.insectimages.org ; Aphid infested kohlrabi, Kale and kohlrabi debris, Raking debris – all three Carl Wilson

Hard freeze strikes late

When the first widespread freeze finally came, it froze hard. Officially it was 20 degrees F at 6:30 a.m. at DIA. Considering the average first fall frost is October 7, the 28th of the month is nothing to complain about.

Hopefully you rescued what you could from the garden before the freeze. Somebody commented to me that tomatoes they’ve harvested in the last few weeks have had little flavor. Forty degree nights are flavor killers for this warm weather vegetable. It’s a good lesson in harvesting earlier for fresh use, or using the late proceeds in soups or sauces.

The squash and pumpkins should be in by now. This Carnival acorn is kind of spooky looking for Halloween and pretty ornamental in the garden. Good flavor too.

All that remains tucked in to the side of the frozen tomatoes are the cold-hardy greens such as kale, and the root vegetables such as carrots and beets. They will be good for another month or more. The root vegetables are particularly adapted for in-ground storage late into January if they are mulched.

Photo credit: Tomato harvest, Carnival acorn, Frozen tomato and pepper plants – All Carl Wilson

Pumpkin hints

Many pumpkins seemed to mature early this year due to September heat. Pumpkins should be kept on the vines as long as possible IF the vines are healthy. If vines go down due to powdery mildew or frost, cut the handles from the vine to reduce shrinkage. This also avoids sunscald. Use hand pruners or long handled loppers.

Although we have had an extended period of warm weather, it will undoubtedly end soon. Pumpkins exposed to freezing conditions don’t store well. They should be harvested and brought indoors. You may have already brought them inside if they turned a solid orange and the rind was hard – a good move.

As long as pumpkins are starting to turn color, they will ripen and color off the vine. Recommended curing conditions are seventy degree days and sixty degree F nights. The area should be shaded, dry and well-ventilated. Remember that pumpkins for decoration are used through Thanksgiving so fruit late to color will still be useful. Cooking types can be cooked and frozen for later use.

Should you save seed from a particularly attractive pumpkin? Probably not since pumpkins cross readily with summer squash. Bees can carry pollen from as much as a mile away even if you don’t grow summer squash in your garden. Pumpkins don’t cross with fall squash.

Keep in mind that the pumpkins used for pies and eating, called sugar or pie pumpkins, have less water and better flavor than the strigy, Jack-o-lantern types. Most are a different species (Cucurbita moschata) as opposed to the decorative carving Jack-o-lantern varieties which are Cucurbita pepo. Grow different types of pumpkins for different purposes.

Check this “Pumpkin Eater” article by Shirley Perryman in the Food Science and Human Nutrition Department at Colorado State University for ideas about some novel uses of pumpkins and their health benefits.

What experiences did you have with growing pumpkins this year?

Photo credit: Pumpkin display, Pumpkins in garden, Just turning pumpkins harvested, Same green pumpkins ripened 3 weeks later - All Carl Wilson