Serving all of Eastern Laramie County since 1908
Serving all of Eastern Laramie County since 1908
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So last night we had our first freeze of the season. I have to admit I was surprised that it actually snowed, although we had very little at my place. Mostly we had sleet. I tried to get into the shop this morning and the door was frozen shut. Fortunately, there's a second door that's protected. I truly believed that we would get rain and the higher elevations would get all the snow. The three days leading up to this storm lead to a flurry of calls (pardon the pun) all asking what can be done to...
Harvest is here and I'm running late. That seems to be the norm anymore. My entire life I've made a point to be on time and now I always seem to be late for everything. Is that the real benefit of being retired? Never enough time to get everything done? Linda got me a small nameplate for my desk last Christmas. It says, "I'm not retired, I'm a professional Grandpa." True enough, but I can't blame me staying behind schedule on being Grandpa. I really do have more to do than I did before I...
A few months ago I was reminiscing about the days I would spend hiking in the mountains. I never hiked to get to a particular place, unless I was hunting, and even then I would often just stop and sit on the mountainside and take in the grandeur and beauty of God's creation that was all around me. I figured it had been about two years since I've been able to get into the wilderness and I was getting the itch again, regardless of what I had going on here at home. But the more I thought about it,...
Fall will be here before you know it and with it the time to plant your fall bulbs. With planting just a few months away the time to start thinking about what you want to plant is now. Now is the perfect time because the Laramie County Master Gardeners Fall Bulb Sale is in full swing. These are the bulbs you won't find in a store yet will grow well here. It's also time to plan your landscape design for next year. For some of us (and I include myself) that's pretty easy since we don't change...
Late summer, hot days, cool nights, little to no rain. Sounds like fall is on its way. The grass is turning brown and there doesn't seem to be any way to stop it. Flowers are drying up and starting to look a bit... well...ugly. But that's a perfect time for those of us who collect seeds. You won't be able to gather seeds from every plant, but there are many that you can. Why buy seed when you can pick it right off the plant and use it again next year? There are a lot of really pretty flowers...
A couple of months ago I wrote about 4H and it's importance to youth. It's one of the few youth programs that teaches multiple disciplines to give youth the opportunity to learn about areas that interest them. No other program that I've heard of provides a better method for youth to develop an interest in such a wide range of experiences. Sometimes these experiences develop into a chosen career or a lifelong hobby. They can choose from the standard set of projects or do something totally...
When I was taking a break the other day, my mind began to wander and I started thinking about gardening. Not unusual since that's what I was taking a break from. But I asked myself why I enjoyed working in the garden so much. Why did I put myself through the toil and effort that it takes? We all know how much effort it takes to have a nice garden. It doesn't matter if it's a vegetable garden, a flowerbed, a nice lawn, trees, or shrubs. All of it takes a great deal of work to look good or produce. The philosophical side of me asked, "Why?"...
Just in case you haven't noticed, it's been HOT the last several days. And it's only going to get worse. This is the time of year that everything dries out. We feel really good when we have plenty of rain in the spring and early summer, but every year the weather follows a similar trend. Mid-July to the end of August, maybe early September, it just turns hot and dry. Miserable you might say. Then those spring rains...well, they just provided fuel for fires when the vegetation dries out. The...
Infamous throughout the ages, poison hemlock has made its mark on history. From public executions to assassination, it has been used far and wide. Probably the most famous person to die from poison hemlock was Socrates in ancient Greece. Socrates had been convicted of corrupting young men and impiety which concluded in a death sentence. In 399 B.C. he chose to drink poison hemlock to carry out the sentence. Popular in ancient times, hemlock lost out to other poisons as history marched forward. Poison hemlock is still with us today, however,...
Summer is now in full swing and we're feeling every bit of it. I don't mean just the heat (and it hasn't been that bad) but the thunderstorms and hail, too. Just this week Cheyenne had hail nearly the size of tennis balls north of town. I had some small hail, but it didn't last long, thankfully. All I could do while it was coming down was watch and remember the hailstorm of August 5, 2018 when I lost everything in the garden. I was hoping and praying that wouldn't happen again. It gave me a...
It seems like every summer I end up writing an article about living in the country. Believe it or not, it's not the same as living in the city, or even a small town. In fact, most people who move to the country cite not wanting to live under the restrictions of being in a city as their primary reason for moving to the country. That is a good reason, but I can think of several more. This article is really for those living outside of a town, where the neighbors aren't so close. Look at the stars....
By now I think everyone can see it coming. Huge temperature swings early. A cool, but dry, spring. Hot temperatures and dry winds sweeping across Wyoming now. The western portion of the state is in a mild drought. We aren't. At least not yet. So far we're a small pocket that still has normal moisture. Or do we? I don't know about you but my pasture isn't coming out the way it normally does. By now I should have grass nearly two feet tall. It isn't even a foot. True, the goats are eating it, but...
We have a wonderful and expensive gem here in Wyoming that, in my opinion, is undervalued and underused. Perhaps that's because few people know much about it. That gem is the University of Wyoming Extension Service. The Extension Service offers value to all residents of Wyoming, not just farmers and ranchers. For example they play a major role in the various county fairs throughout the state and the state fair in Douglas. An integral part of Extension, and the fairs, are the 4-H clubs that...
This week I finished one harvest. Asparagus. Besides green peas, asparagus is one of my most favorite vegetables. In fact, just because the harvest is done doesn't mean that I'm finished cutting it. While I'm out weeding or working in the garden, I've been known to cut a spear or two and eat fresh, right there, as a snack. Just like picking the currants as a snack later in the season. Not only is asparagus tasty, but it contains a whole bunch of nutrients. And fresh asparagus is even better....
Last week we talked primarily about getting a lawn started and annual fertilizing. I had wanted to write the article on maintenance and diseases, but the topic, once again, got away from me and took on a life of it's own. So this week I'll do my best to stay on topic. The one thing I forgot to mention last week about fertilizing is that you should only fertilize in the spring and only once with a high Nitrogen fertilizer. If you use Nitrogen fertilizer later in the year it could slow down the...
It's that time of year again. We've had a really strange bout of weather so far this year, hot one day and cold the next. But I've noticed that the grass has certainly started growing with abandon the last couple of weeks. I spoke with a friend yesterday who was telling me that he has already mowed four times this year. I didn't know it was growing that fast. Of course, he lives in Pine and I'm south of TA. That's a fair change in altitude and climate. Plants usually are earlier coming out in Pi...
It's just about that time. Time to plant, I mean. I've had several calls in the last week that involved the question of when to plant. It's been a bit of a strange year with the warm weather, hot weather, cold weather, even a stray snowstorm. I may be crazy but it seems like the weather has been more back and forth than usual this year. It's no wonder that people are unsure of when to plant. The bottom line is. "Patience is a virtue." The Master Gardeners are currently having a "Virtual Plant...
The Laramie County Master Gardeners are pleased to announce their new seminar series, "Gardening for Success", starting Wednesday, May 6th. Yes, I know it's already started, but read on anyway. The seminars will be presented using Zoom so that everybody can attend from the comfort of your computer. Although the live Zoom class will only happen once, we will archive each class so that you can go back and watch it again or, if you missed the live feed, watch it for the first time. The only...
Good morning, Laramie County! Isn't it great to be waking up to these beautiful sunrises and warmer mornings? It gives me the itch to get outside and start planting. I've had to hold myself back for the last couple of weeks because I know better. That doesn't go for everyone though. Some people are new to gardening and some just haven't been burned by the weather often enough to wait. This week I think I'll rehash some basic tips about vegetable gardening. It will be old news for some but brand...
"Mary, Mary, quite contrary How does your garden grow? With silver bells and cockleshells And pretty maids all in a row." Mother Goose Remember that poem? It's been a long time for me and I suppose most of us. While it has many interpretations, none of which have ever been proven as fact, the literal meanings are those of flowers in the spring. But the line I'm focusing on is "How does your garden grow"? Most everybody knows of the old tried and true gardening methods...plant the seed in the...
If there's one thing we can count on every summer, it's fire. Each and every year we have fires crop up throughout the county. Most are small and burn only a few hundred square feet to an acre or so, but some are large and a few turn into a major fire incident and threatens structures and lives. As we start this topic, I ask you to take a few minutes and look around the outside of your home. What measures have you taken to mitigate the effects of fire? I remember as a young child our neighbor's...
Sometimes it seems like that, doesn't it? Weeds, weeds and more weeds. Every time we turn around weeds are just growing everywhere. I guess we can thank Adam and Eve. When they got themselves kicked out of the garden, God told them that they would have to contend with weeds. They've been with us ever since. And now we're getting into the weed season. If you have been out walking around your yards or checking your fields, you probably noticed that cool season grasses are starting to come up....
"Be Prepared". That's the Boy Scout motto. And it applies to every one of us. As I look back on the last several weeks, I've been appalled at the level of unpreparedness of Americans across the country. Even in Cheyenne, the mass hysteria over the COVID-19 virus has run rampant. I have been fortunate not to have to go out into that madness as I'm recovering from surgery. In fact, my doctor called me in early just to get it done before the hospital closed the surgical suites. I want to take a...
We love it! The clean air, unobstructed views, nothing between us and the North Pole but a few fence posts, and the beauty of the starlit night sky amplified by the lack of artificial light. That's country living at its best. But, there's a lot more to it than just the beauty and the wonder of it all. There is a lot of hard work and not just a few hindrances that thwart our enjoyment. Some are just part of life and others...well...others can be our neighbors. There are some common courtesies tha...
It’s in the air. I smelled it this morning. Did you? It’s coming. Not quite here yet, but Spring is on the way. I went outside this morning and there was a very different feel and smell to the air. It’s not something I can describe, but it’s something that I know. Spring and the change of seasons has a certain feel to it. Spring is nearly here. With Spring comes the anticipation of the gardening season and the question now becomes, “What do I do to get ready?”. This time of year, there really is a lot of opportunities for education and prepara...
