Saturday, May 10, 2014

Springtime in the Rockies (AKA - A Gardening Challenge)

Gardening here in Denver can be... well... a bit of a challenge. Our weather tends to be a bit unpredictable, especially in the spring and fall, and without any large bodies of water around to moderate the temperature, extremes are not uncommon here... but they seem to becoming much more frequent these days.


So, I suppose it shouldn't come as any surprise that while last week this time we had high temperatures in the 80's, today we have a big storm moving in and predictions are for 4-8 inches of snow over the next few days.


It's a little bit hard to complain about this since we desperately need the moisture... but... really? 4-8 inches of snow on Mother's Day?


Anyhow, in keeping with my "gardening lite" plan for the year, I decided to skip starting seeds indoors, and purchased some seedlings from a nursery about a month ago. My goal was to keep them indoors until mid-May, but alas - they grew faster than I had anticipated.

So here's where my other gardening challenge comes into play - cats. My babies don't go outdoors, so window space is at a premium here. When you add in the fact that Smoky will eat anything green, whether or not it will kill him... well, protecting the seedlings from the cats and vice versa becomes quite a challenge.


The seedlings very quickly outgrew this first cat protection device. This system had the added disadvantage that the plants would overheat when in the direct sunlight, so I ended up having to move them inside and out every day... and still managed to singe the tips of the leaves on a few of them.

Sooo... then I had another brilliant plan. When I first rescued Princess she was pretty darned freaked out by the whole indoor experience. She didn't understand litter boxes at all, and she had to be kept separate from the other cats until we where sure she was FIV/FELV negative, and if left on her own in a room she would go hide, and I was quite worried that she'd end up getting hurt or getting into some tiny place where I couldn't get her out.

So I bought her a "stress cage" which is really just a big cage where you put the cat with a litter box, bed (in her case kitty heating pad) and food - and you can cover the whole thing with a blanket to help them get over the freakout factor.


There she is in her cage... poor thing, had to have most of her little body shaved because she was covered with so many mats.

Anyhow, the cage has just been sitting empty for the past 3 years, so I figured, maybe I could haul it upstairs and put the plants inside the cage to keep them safe from Mr. Marauder Cat. Seemed like a great idea... only, the cage was kinda... well, enormous!


Smoky rather enjoyed his new lookout, but I decided it was overkill, and that the hassle of dealing with the curtains and squeezing past it every time I went in or out was a deal killer... besides, by that point I'd already given up on the tomatoes and put them in the ground, so it was really just the peppers. Anyhow, maybe if I decide to go all next year and do early seedlings I could set it up in the basement with grow lights or something.

But for the moment... the plants all went outside in their wall-o-water plant protectors.


They're actually doing great... and that's my concern! If they were smaller they'd be fairly protected down inside the little shelter, but they're getting so big that the tops might get nipped by the cold, so I gave them all an extra covering this morning.


The only other things that are up are the peas and potatoes, so they also got covered.



Truth be told, the peas would probably be just fine without the frost cloth, but hey, it was easy insurance. It does feel like I've managed to make my easier & simpler gardening year a bit more complicated though! Oh well... best laid plans...


I suppose there's always the "make lemonade" approach...


So tell me... has anybody else started their garden yet? How's the weather in your neck of the woods?

19 comments :

  1. We had a wet but mild winter. so I started my garden a while ago.. well, I trimmed a hedge and planted some peas! The peas are now about tall enough to need some support now- should probably get on to that!

    A couple of weeks ago I was given an allotment by the local council. It was in surprisingly good condition (usually the previous person has given up the allotment/been made to give it up because it has got out of hand, but mine had plastic on the ground to suppress the weeds, so was not too bad. I have divided it up into 4 25ftx25ft ish plots. I have dug the first one over and planted potatoes (with help from my parents, who are much better at veg than me!). I have done about 2/3 of the second plot, which will mostly contain carrots when I get round to planting. Have been a bit of a slacker in the last week or so though, as it has been raining and windy.

    Going to try and show you the allotment with some Facebook links..apparently you can look at them even if you don't have an account..

    Here is the allotment (with rhubarb in need of a trim!) before we started working on it: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10100790073992793&l=5651e27971

    Here is the second nearly dug over plot:https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10100796910906563&l=958f846388

    Soil is quite clay-y (hence lumps!) but apparently grows good potatoes. I know my random pictures of mud are not very thrilling, but I am still quite excited by the allotment. It has a shed! A real shed!

    My plan this year is to dig it all over asap and plant all of the random seeds which I have acquired over the past few years and see what grows well. Next year I can start with a clean slate/new seeds. I have lots of carrot seeds, french beans, some onions, some cabbage and quinoa (random!). I also have some salad onions, lettuce and tomatoes to plant at home.

    Sounds like your garden is not 100% simple this year- but then if you are enjoying it, it doesn't matter! I am going to try and keep the allotment exciting, rather than a stressful chore. Fingers crossed!

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    1. Holy Moly... that's a HUGE plot of land! I hope it turns out to be productive for you. Maybe this isn't an issue where you live, but I just can't imagine having a garden away from home because how do you water it every day? But it sure would be nice not to have to dig up the grass before planting!

      Anyhow, we've got clay soil here too. Every fall I try to put as much organic matter as I can into it but it never seems to be quite enough! Sounds like you're off to a great start though!

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    2. Generally if you give it a good watering it will not need doing every day (maybe every 3 days in really hot weather. We generally get quite a lot of rain, and summer temps are probably mid 20s C- less most of the time- with the max being about 30C. When my parents were away last summer I cycled to their allotment to water it for them; now we have a dog, my plan it to walk there with him to water it when I need to, neatly combining two activities!

      I have plans to add lots of horse manure to my allotment over the winter :)

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    3. Also- the plot I had is actually half of an original allotment- they split them in half because the waiting list was so long! I think double the size would have been daunting, though.

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    4. Holy Moly! A full allotment is like a small farm! Anyhow, I'm seething with jealousy about your rain. I'm hoping that with lots and lots of mulch, fewer plants and a drip system I can get away with every other day watering this year. Hopefully June won't be quite a scorching hot and dry as it has been the past few summers!

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  2. I don't grow anything indoors for same reason as you - cats will eat everything! Except the one cactus. Outdoors I put in some bulbs last fall - I've had new crocuses, and the grape hyacinths are just out, and tulips will be ready soon. Otherwise my goal is to keep the perennials alive that the previous homeowner planted, including lilacs, hostas, Solomon's seal, clematis and day lilies. No vegetables!

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    1. Sounds like your yard is full of beautiful flowers! I'm slowly figuring out which things can survive with the scant water and neglect that seems to be my gardening style... at least where ornamentals are concerned. So far, sedum seems to be my friend! :-)

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  3. I'll have a post later this week about my garden - just finished planting seeds this weekend. I don't start anything indoors because of my cats as well. The cage idea sounded promising, too bad it was such a hassle!

    Best of luck with your snow! We just passed our last frost date, and I can't imagine below freezing temps this late, ugh. I am crossing my fingers that you'll be finished with snow soon! I really like the unassembled snowman sign, haha :)

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    1. I think the cage idea could have worked if I was more committed to the whole idea, and if I'd started earlier. But honestly, here's where my issues get crossed. The curtains wouldn't be much of an issue if I was the type of person who gets up early in the morning to open them! But as it is, I had to try to find a way to put the cage between the window and the curtains so the plants would get the morning sun.

      Anyhow... they're now saying that temperatures are gonna dip down into the low 20's tomorrow night, so I put an extra layer of blankets on the plants, with that and the wall-o-waters they should be OK, but holy moly! That's awfully cold for mid-May!

      Looking forward to your gardening post to get all of the deets!

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  4. I tried for several years to start seedlings inside with only limited success. The cats were the main problem. I finally gave up when after putting netting around the plant stand, the cats would spend however long it took to pull plants out with their paws and eat them.

    Also, for the last couple of years, I have only done limited gardening in our yard. After years of trying, I gave up after advancing shade, invasive weeds, and munching deer prevented success. Except for a few plants, I now lend my efforts to my brother-in-law's garden. He usually produces more than he needs, and is happy to share. Let's hope that the stink bugs don't eat all of his stuff again this year. If it's not one thing, it's another with gardening.

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    1. Ha! So it sounds like everybody with cats has the same problem starting seedlings indoors! I think you've got the ideal system there... lend a helping hand and reap some of the benefits without all of the hassles!

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  5. Cat,
    my brother lives in the mountains of Utah. Saturday he was out golfing. Sunday there was snow on the ground!

    You've come up with some good solutions for dealing with cold and snow. I've used wall o waters here, and liked them a lot. I'm using hoop-style row covers in my garden now. They're easier to get on and off than the WoW's, but maybe not as insulating. Hope you have a great garden this summer!

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    1. I've never tried those hoop things but I may have to investigate them. Do you use frost cloth or plastic over them?

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  6. I thought about you today when I heard about your potential snowfall on the news. I have absolutely no brilliant suggestions as I can't even keep my cat away from my bran flakes when I step out of the room ...

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    1. Ha! An unattended cereal bowl is just begging for trouble! My cat Jasper LOVES butter. I can't leave it out on the table or counter unattended for even a few minutes or he'll down the entire stick!

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  7. Those are wild temperature swings! I love that Snowman pic. For an Australian anything to do with snow is completely exotic.

    You're doing a great job to keep the plants rugged up / protected from cats / unsinged by the heat! Here, we're just getting into some proper cold weather so our growing season is tapering off. My growing criteria is "anything that survives serious neglect" so that mostly covers a wild patch of herbs. We also have some strawberries and tomatoes which don't do too badly if we remember to water them.

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    1. Ha! "Anything that survives serious neglect" I love it! I planted a lot of potatoes this year because I haven't managed to kill any of them yet - and I'll add a few zucchini too because they are pretty high on the survival scale!

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  8. I had to give up the community garden plot, because I just didn't have time with my commute, etc. Plus, assholes were stealing from me and/or randomly sticking plants in my plot (my former spot farther north did not have the asshole factor. LOVED that community garden). Bummed. But the glory of living in SoCal--just have to fight bugs. Weather is always perfect and cool weather crops (in my plot, anyhoo) can be grown year round. #spoiled

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    1. Ha! Well... I suppose we all have our challenges - I generally haven't had the asshole factor to deal with, although there was the year my neighbor decided to spray his weeds and all of his weedkiller wafted through the chain link fence and settled on my garden. I was NOT happy about that one. I don't think I could handle gardening if it meant having to travel to a community garden to do it - sorta like going to the gym... just not gonna happen!

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